The Dakar Rally is an off-road rally race where hundreds of motorcycles, ATVs, cars, trucks, and support vehicles compete in daily stages that take place over a two-week period. The entire race covers more than 5,000 miles, but unlike the famous Baja 1000 off-road race in Mexico, the competition stops each night, and all of the competitors, race vehicles, and support crews come together to camp for the night in one location. They call this massive roaming campsite/pitstop a bivouac. And every night the teams set up the bivouac in a different place.
Every morning each competitor gets a new route map (GPS navigation is not permitted) and they race the day's stage. Each stage is comprised of an untimed portion called a liaison, while the actual race stage is known as a special. Traditionally, the Paris to Dakar race ran from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Over the years, the route has varied, and the race's start and finish lines change locations. Last year the race was scheduled to run from Portugal to Dakar, but the event was canceled due to a terrorist threat made toward the event.
For 2009 the A.S.O. sanctioning body moved the Dakar to South America. This year's race began on January 3rd in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and made its way across the continent to Valparaiso, Chile, where we met up with it. On January 10th, the Dakar racers had a rest day to repair their vehicles, rest, and plan the second half of their race.
Volkswagen graciously invited Diesel Power to be part of this year's effort and flew us to Chile to drive one of its 3.0L V-6 diesel-powered support vehicles in order to cover the race. The service car Touaregs we drove were modified for the Dakar race. They were fitted with full rollcages, race seats, an extra fuel tank, BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires, and Fox Racing shocks.
Volkswagen's goal was to be the first team to win the Dakar with a diesel engine. In order to accomplish that mission, Volkswagen entered four Race Touaregs in this year's Dakar. The Race Touaregs are purpose-built, street-legal race cars that feature chromoly tube space frames and carbon-fiber bodies. We got a chance to ride in one last year in Mexico, and the best way we can describe them is to say they're like off-road diesel F1 cars.
 We arrived at the Dakar Rally...  We arrived at the Dakar Rally on the official rest day that marks the halfway point of the race. Volkswagen's team was already in First, Second, and Third place overall. We went to the bivouac to see the team rebuilding the four diesel-powered Race Touaregs. Volkswagen set up its temporary pit by staging the four race cars under tents in a makeshift courtyard surrounded by eight support vehicles. |  Though small by American standards,...  Though small by American standards, the 2.5L five-cylinder diesel race engines make more than 280 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque. They're fueled by Bosch common-rail injection systems and fed by compound turbochargers that use two stages of intercooling. Volkswagen claims that due to diesel's fuel efficiency advantages, its race cars carry less fuel and are up to 400 pounds lighter than they would be if they were gasoline powered. |  Inside the cockpit, the Race...  Inside the cockpit, the Race Touaregs were all business. Sparco Pro 2000 race seats harness the driver and navigator safely at race speeds, yet comfortably for the long highway drives during the liaison stages. Some of the race hardware was obvious, like the five-speed sequential transmission shifter, digital MoTec gauge cluster, and rollcage. But the Race Touaregs also had air conditioning, six liters of drinking water, two sets of GPS-based compasses, and a pair of rally computers. |