Team Volkswagen wouldn't comment on how many people it had in Lisbon for the event, but my co-driver, and freelance-journalist, Sue Mead, guessed 76 people, and that number was laughingly rejected. When I later suggested 100, even that number was deemed too low.
The rear suspension features Fox Racing remote reservoir shocks and the lower A-arms were covered with plastic sheets to protect the CV-shafts. You can also see that the mufflers have been replaced with a simple T-junction.
At 1:30pm local time we headed over with the press Touaregs to the tech inspection, an event aptly named "scrutineering" that was conducted by the A.S.O. sanctioning body. The press cars that we were to drive for the next 2 1/2-weeks were European-spec VW Touaregs with 3.0L V-6 TDI diesel engines. The Touaregs were converted into what VW refers to as "service cars" (basically chase trucks) by installing roll cages, Recaro seats, Fox Racing shocks, a 21-gallon auxiliary fuel tank, two spare tires, an air compressor, and a cargo area where the rear passenger seat should be. I was the driver of record for car number 922, which meant I got my name, blood type, and American flag on the top of the door. Getting in and out of a Touareg with a roll cage was a little tight (because of my size 13 shoes) but it felt manly once I was in it, like the cockpit of a plane.
Mitsubishi has been racing (and winning for the last seven years) with its Pajero race trucks. In the U.S. we call these SUVs Monteros. The Dakar race trucks are gasoline powered, but Mitsubishi's service trucks have diesel engines.
DAY 3, 2:40pm LISBON, PORTUGAL
Now, the excitement of what I was about to do was really setting in. There were 14 service Touaregs parked on the side of the Tagus river in front of the Belm Cultural Center. We were waiting in line for a group tech inspection of all the Volkswagen service vehicles. Along with the 13 other Touaregs like mine there were 4 Volkswagen four-wheel drive Multivans (with race seats, roll cages, and BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires), and 12 MAN TGA and TGS trucks. If you figure each of these trucks seat 3 people (the four vans seat 4), there were more than 90 people just in the support vehicles.