With the upcoming start of the high-profile 2024 China Tour Tower (International) Rally, BAIC Motor will participate in the T2 production group as a team with four consecutive championships in the Tower Tour, led by Glory driver Chen Zhen and the new BJ40, defending the glory of the family and creating another brilliant record in the Tour of Towers.
The Tour of Towers event has been upgraded again, and the difficulty of the desert challenge has doubled
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Tour de Tower, and the first year that it has been officially recognized by the FIA as an international automobile and motorcycle off-road rally.
In terms of schedule, the race will start from Kashgar on May 20 and end in Aksu on June 1, with a total of 10 stages (including qualifying) and a total mileage of 4,600 kilometers, including about 2,500 kilometers of special stages. Long-term continuous running has an extreme test of the driver's physical fitness, mental quality, and vehicle performance.
In terms of stages, the event includes canyons, deserts, Gobi, riverbeds and other landforms, of which 51% are desert roads, 15% are Gobi roads, and 34% are gravel roads. The most difficult desert stage is located in the hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert, with rolling sand dunes throughout the whole process, with soft sand on the surface, height, and a relatively large drop, and the terrain is complex, which has quite high requirements for the passage and escape of vehicles.
In addition, the event will also face extremely unknown climate change, and looking back at previous years, high temperature exposure, heavy rain erosion, sand turning into swamps, and smooth roads will become muddy at any time, which is self-evidently challenging for drivers and vehicles.
Beijing Automobile defended its title, and the T2 mass production team verified the ceiling of off-road plain cars
As an all-rounder in the off-road circle, BAIC Motor has won many awards in various events such as the Dakar Rally, the China Dongchuan Mudslide Cross-Country Race, CEVR, and the Asian Baja Off-Road Rally. Especially in the Tour of Towers, BAIC Motor has a proud historical record of four consecutive championships. As the four-time champion, BAIC Motor participated in the T2 production group this year, which is more interesting than the T1 group in previous years.
First of all, the pressure from the halo of the four crowns, under the attention of the outside world, with the hope of hitting the five crowns, every decision and operation must be more cautious, whether it is the driver or the team, are under great psychological pressure.
The T2 group, as a mass production group, means that the vehicle cannot be heavily modified, and the manufacturer needs to have absolute confidence in its own vehicle. Although the products of domestic hard-core off-road vehicles have been expanding in the past two years, and many manufacturers are competing to squeeze into this track, only real warriors dare to fight under the real big test. We can see that in this Tour of the Tower, the main engine factory is the only one to participate in the T2 production group, and the new BJ40 of BAIC Motor is one of them.
When it comes to participating in the T2 group, it is the consumers who benefit the most. The vehicle that you see in the event that can directly challenge the difficult road conditions and win the championship of the ring tower is the new BJ40 original car that can be bought in the future, which can be called the champion car in one step. It is reported that on June 1, the end date of the event, the new BJ40 Ring Tower Champion Edition will be on pre-sale, bringing consumers a more professional and powerful choice of off-road vehicles, so that the champion car can accompany them to start an off-road journey of exploring the secrets and dangers.
Glory drivers once again join hands to start a new journey around the tower
There was an upgrade in the previous event, and then there was a T2 group of plain cars to face the test, which was already quite difficult, but BAIC's more bullish operation was to invite Chen Zhen to join the team and participate as a glorious driver, which can be said to be constantly difficult for himself.
As one of the most influential car critics in China, Chen Zhen has more than 8.3 million followers, and his "Off-road Road Book" column, which has been updated for more than 12 seasons, has been well received, leading everyone to travel all over the country's large and small off-road routes, and even has a self-driving off-road experience that reaches the Antarctic glacier.
But he is not a professional racing driver after all, and this is the first time he has participated in the Tour of Towers. For BAIC, this is a big test without the opportunity to make up the exam, and it is not difficult to see that this is to have absolute confidence in its own products, so as to dare to let non-professional racing drivers lead the team to hit the five consecutive championships.
Of course, it is not the first time that Chen Zhen and BAIC have cooperated to play at the limit, and BAIC has enough trust in him. As early as 2022, Chen Zhen drove the BJ40 to complete the ultra-difficult black slope climbing challenge in the Lotus Mountain Ski Resort, which is nearly 700 meters long and has a vertical height of 134 meters. This time, the ring tower joined hands again, which can be called another extreme challenge, full of highlights, and worth looking forward to.
The 2024 China Ring Tower (International) Rally is about to take place, and although we can see that BAIC Motor is full of confidence, this year's changes are really not small, with new schedules and stages on the outside, as well as new vehicles and drivers on the inside, all of which make the prospects of the event confusing. The charm of sports competition lies in the unknown, and off-road is even more so, and I hope that the Beijing Automobile Team can play its own advantages in the competition, create new achievements, and add another good story to the off-road circle. The game is back in action, and the excitement is about to be staged, let's wait and see.