Here’s one for the muddy, manly men

The 2017 Dakar Rally was held in South America in January this year, starting in Paraguay and ending in Argentina.  Here’s a short video clip with highlights of the truck racing class.  As you watch, remember that these beasts started out as highway trucks, designed to haul freight.  Humongous rebuilds later, at a cost sometimes measured in millions of dollars, they’re capable of speeds exceeding 100 mph across all terrain.

I strongly recommend watching this in full-screen mode. It’s pretty spectacular.

Big beasts indeed!

Peter

6 comments

  1. My first thought was "why is the Paris to Dakar Rally taking place in South America?"
    The answer is evidently terrorism threat.

    But whatever happened to them using tweaked Land Rovers and the like? The trucks are a bit much.

  2. > Kinda weird to have such a race with trucks

    As I understand it, the Dakar race always required that the pit/repair crews setup in the wilds (and sometimes go out to where the race cars broke down), naturally the crews that were better able to move rapidly from one pit area to the next gained an edge for their team, and the trucks become more and more racers themselves.

    I hadn't realized that they were now a racing division in and off themselves (I wonder if the trucks are still required to be the pit crew and carry all the parts/supplies, there were a number of different truck sizes shown), but it makes sense that the competition would keep escalating until the 'support' vehicles became an attraction in and of themselves.

    David Lang

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