The collision of three worlds | CAR FEATURE

The past, present and future of cross-country racing meet in Dakar in 2022 – where Audi hopes to rewrite history, but the desert may have other ideas.

When we arrived, the dunes were empty. The dazzling orange sand waves stretch as far as the eye can see. In the distance, a few white SUVs are clustered on a high sand mountain, and their front windshield reflects the sunlight and becomes a bright spot. I felt like I'd come to Star Wars' Tatooine.

We bet those spectators in the distance must have known which direction the Dakar cars were coming from, and about 800 meters behind us was the finish line of today's stage, so we knew which direction they were going. But where should we watch it? Between us and the finish line, there is no track, no route, and no markings.

So we chose a tall sand dune. It was soon crowded with people. Below us, people got out of the car and started spreading out their blankets. Children playing in the sand. Right now, I'm not quite sure if the car will actually follow the route we predicted – like F1 racing picking routes in the trunk market.

But there was no time to move to another place, because we suddenly heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance, and it was the messenger of the race. Then we saw a cloud of dust drifting through the air. Here they come! Then there was the sound of a high-speed engine, much like a chainsaw. Suddenly a car rushed off the dunes, and it was the leading Toyota Hyalax, driven by Nasser Al-Attiyah, which dodged the spectators and their cars all the way, and the 3.5-liter turbocharged V6 engine howled in disbelief.

But wait... And 4 cars followed it! The Dakar races depart at 3 minute intervals, so they are not competing with each other, but against time. But Al-Atia was chased like a fox: the 4 cars were running side by side, all trying to get to the finish line before him. They created a loud noise, the sand was swept high into the air, and the audience retreated. It's as if a picnic on Brighton Beach comes together with a scene from the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. It's a wonderful mess, and it's the occasion audi chooses to show what its e-Tron electric technology can accomplish — or can't accomplish.

Part1

past

From the past

Powerful explosion

The 2022 Dakar Classic has 150 cars,

This Italian team's 911 is one of them.

To understand why Audi is competing in this competition, you need to first learn to appreciate the charm of Dakar. If this modern event feels a little confusing, it's because it was born out of confusion. Thierry Sabine, a French motorcyclist, got lost in 1977 while participating in a rally in the Ténéré Desert and wandered there alone for 3 days, but when the rescue team found him, he didn't shout "Get me out!" Instead, he thought getting lost in the desert was something that changed his life. So in the second year he organized his own rally, starting from Paris and crossing the Sahara Desert, ending in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. In the first year, 182 racing cars (80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks) departed on December 26, 1978, embarking on an adventure of nearly 10,000 kilometers.

This Peugeot 205 is based on Ari Vatanen

Converted from a rally car in the 80s.

This car looks on the surface as a Peugeot 404 pickup,

But mitsubishi's four-wheel drive system is used inside.

Only 74 cars completed the race: one Range Rover won the car group; second place was a Renault 4. This diversity has been with the event since its inception, and the classic group of the 44th Dakar Rally, held around the Saudi arabian capital Riyadh in 2022, showcased its enduring, animated Wacky Races-esque charm: in the paddock or "camp" we found the Safari-style Porsche 911, the classic Toyota Land Cruiser and Mitsubishi Pajero, the Peugeot 404 pickup, There are even a few Peugeot 205 and 405 T16s that shouldn't be in this race.

The Dakar Rally's reputation grew rapidly after its birth, and by the 1990s, more than 600 cars had been racing. In an increasingly pure, commodity-rich racing world, Dakar has become synonymous with untamed desert adventure.

Then, in 2008, everything changed: the event was cancelled because of the threat of terrorists in the Sahara. In 2009, the rally was transferred to South America (although the name "Dakar", which was not related to the location, was retained). The race in South America is different – less sand and less romantic, so in 2020, in order to recreate Sabine's original intentions, Dakar came to the vast sand sea of Saudi Arabia.

There's one more thing different in 2020: also in order to get Dakar back to its roots, the organisers postponed the letter until 5 minutes before the start of the race before handing it out to the drivers – in order to make every link of the race crazier.

This Baja-style racing car is based on the 1967 Volkswagen Beetle,

It is equipped with a 2.2-liter engine.

Douard Boulanger, the navigator of French driver Stéphane Peterhansel, known as "Monsieur Dakar", won his 14th Dakar trophy (the first 6 in the motorcycle group) under Boulanger's guidance in 2021. In 2022, he and Boulanger joined the new Audi team, and in addition to adapting to various new technologies on the car, they are also trying to solve the pilot problem.

Boulanger, who also "changed careers" from a motorcyclist and has 8 years of experience as a navigator, told me: "It wasn't like this in the past. We used to get the road book the night before each stage, like 6 p.m. At night, we can completely redraw the roadbook notes, writing them one by one on satellite images. It's different now – basically having to be 'live' pilot. ”

This DAF truck with cabs at both ends competed in 1985.

This time it was the Classic group.

That's why such a special scene as mentioned earlier appears in the desert. Can you imagine any other motorsport with such a picture? The rider who was running in front of him slowed down... The body swayed a few times... Left...... No, wait... Turn right... belch...... Then he turned around, went back to the track, faced the oncoming car, found the missed pilot point, then turned around again and rushed to the finish line... Surprising, somewhat absurd, and very comedic.

The first title in Dakar history was a Range Rover.

Part2

Right now

When electric dreams

Encounter reality

If Audi's e-Tron technology works here,

Then it should work anywhere.

Audi had never been in Dakar before, but it had an idea: to use a new range extender and rename it "Energy Converter." Compared to the range extenders of the past, the difference now lies in the quality of several new or improved technologies.

Having only one gear per electric motor means there is no shift lever

But there's a huge handbrake.

So Audi uses the latest high-density lithium-ion batteries, coupled with two high-power motors, which Audi itself developed for Formula Electric, one on the front and rear axles. Generating the power is a lightweight 2.0-litre petrol racing engine from DTM Racing, which is set to prioritize efficiency, so it runs at a fixed speed, which is about 5,000 rpm. The energy conversion function is a generator, which converts the power of the engine into electricity, charging the battery while on the move. Putting these units together and writing hundreds of thousands of lines of software code, you get an electric four-wheel drive system that can run long distances.

Next, Audi had to find some suitable place to test the concept, and it chose Dakar because the event enjoys prestige in many ways but has not shown much technological progress in recent years. Most cars still use high-displacement petrol or diesel engines – there are no charging stations in the desert.

Until the start of this year's competition,

No one knows how competitive Audi will be.

Even Audi himself didn't know.

In terms of fleet operation, Audi chose to work with Sven Quandt. Sven comes from the Family of BMW's majority shareholder, Quandt, but he himself made his mark by running an X-raid team that has won multiple championships in multiple rally events, including Dakar. This time he set up the Q Motorsport team, Audi's partner in Dakar. Together, they developed a racing car for a completely new group. Dakar according to the body form of motorcycles, quad bikes, cars, trucks and other large grouping, each group is further grouped according to the power system, of which the car group T1 group is Dakar's top prototype group, basically the engine of the mid-mounted four-wheel drive off-road vehicles; this year more T1 + group, this group of racing cars can have a larger suspension travel, using larger 37-inch wheels, the weight of the car is not less than 2000 kg; but there is a new group T1U (U refers to Ultramate is "ultimate"), It was set up to attract new energy racing cars, and Audi was the first brand to enter this group with the RS Q e-Tron, which embodies Audi's ambitions. According to the complex "performance balance" formula in the racing world, the T1U could have been in direct competition with the T1+, but until the start of this year's race, no one knew how competitive Audi would be. Even Audi himself didn't know.

The technology in this Audi car comes from DTM,

Formula E and crossover rally.

Al-Atia's 4th victory

A testament to toyota's strength gained by traditional methods.

By day 3 (14 days in total), it was clear that RS Q was very fast, with former WRC champion and 3-time Dakar champion Carlos Sainz (father of F1 driver Carlos Sainz) winning Audi's first-ever Dakar stage. The team was happy, although they also encountered some serious problems. In the first official stage (and before that there was the opening stage), Peter Hansel hit a rock that got stuck on his rear wheel and broke the axle. He waited for hours before the rescue truck came to fix it. Sais and navigator Lucas Cruz then got lost in the desert and it took two hours to find the right direction. Sainz was angry and blamed Lu Shu's notes for being too messy.

Carlos Sainz was angry but frightening.

Part3

future

Audi's RS Q: Too fast,

Too violent?

In the end, the new Audi team and their innovative electric car failed to get close to the 2022 victory, with three cars finishing 9th, 12th and Peter Hansel far behind in 57th place. But looking ahead to next year, such a performance is still full of hope.

The Dakar Rally is hosted by Saudi Arabia

Part of the push to end the economy's dependence on oil.

In the second half of the race, after fixing the initial suspension flaws, the Audi RS Q won 3 of the last 5 stages, enough to upset some people in the camping area, and The Prodrive team's team leader David Richards doubted whether his T1+ group would still be competitive enough next year – his own BRX Hunter finished 2nd in the car group under Sébastien Loeb, The first place was the engine driven by Nasser Al-Atia, the toyota Hilux.

Loeb played in Dakar for the 6th time and finished 2nd

- The champion is still out of reach.

Richards said: "Everybody knows Audi is much faster than all the cars we have now. It is the fastest and has great advantages. So we have to find a balance where everyone can compete on an equal footing. This is what the FIA is up to. Otherwise, Audi would have ruined the sport. So we have to solve this problem. ”

But there's also good news for Audi: Mattias Ekstr m,, a relatively young driver with relatively short seniority in rally racing (43, Sainz 59, Peter Hansel 56), has proven himself to be strong. The Swede is one of the most versatile drivers in the world, having had success at motorhome racing, DTM, WRC, crossover rally and even NAZCA. In order to help Audi prepare for the attack, he came to Dakar for the first time last year to drive a small two-seater Yamaha on behalf of Quandt's X-raid team to compete in the light prototype group, but unfortunately did not finish the race. This year, Ekstr m found its rhythm, winning consecutive stages 8 and 9.

After a less than ideal debut in 2021 (5th),

Prodrive's Hunter showed off his pro-turf this year with runners-up.

When I met him at the camp, he was humble about his progress. "We're fine on a normal gravel road, but I'm still learning how to deal with the big dunes." He admitted: "If there are a lot of sand dunes on the route, I will be very careful, so it is too slow." If the speed of the car is too fast through the top of the slope, it will overturn, and then this trip to Dakar is over. One dune can scrap a car, and there are thousands of dunes here! So, interpreting the dunes well and using the right speed at the top of the slope was my most tangled part. ”

Ekstr m is a cute guy. He revealed that he and his navigator, Emil Bergkvist, like to listen to music on the road stages, and they will connect headphones inside their helmets to spotify, a streaming music platform.

"That's right, we played a lot of music!" He laughed and revealed: "We will play the works of [Swedish DJ] Avicii and Ed Sheeran. This is to put us in the right state of mind. If the energy is too vigorous, there is danger – for the car, the navigator and the drivers themselves. But if the vitality is too low, it is too slow! So the point is to balance the mood and put it at a healthy level of vitality. Ed Sheeran's level. ”

So it seems that Dakar in 2022 is in good shape – it has been revived by moving to Saudi Arabia, the new cars are cool, the competition is fierce, and the drivers have real personalities. Audi will continue to compete in 2023 – as long as Sainz doesn't get lost, Peter Hansel doesn't crash his car, and Ekstr m can rediscover the magic that Ed Sheeran brought him, we have the potential to see the greatest, craziest, most technologically diverse Dakar to date. Audi plans to continue racing in 2024 – when at least one team intends to use hydrogen.

Sainz won the team's first stage title;

The best overall score was Ekstr m.

This outlook is exciting, but it is also dangerous and even a little silly. But Dakar is also undergoing a modern transformation – the 2022 event gives us a new dawn. The desert is moving toward electrification.

Text:Mark Walton/Shang Hongxin