Dakar Rally: Volkswagen makes history � and ZF Sachs has a part in it
The year of debuts: For the first time in its 30-year-history, the Dakar Rally was staged in South America, and for the first time a car with diesel power won. The South African-German duo Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz in the Volkswagen Race Touareg powered by a TDI diesel engine, achieved this historic milestone. Their team-mates Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) completed the exploit, resulting in a one-two victory. In the two fastest cars in the field � just like in the other Race Touareg vehicles in the competition � three-plate ceramic clutches as well as three-way adjustable dampers from ZF Sachs Race Engineering were equally important and reliable factors in the contenders� success. Volkswagen thus put an end to a seven-year string of exploits by Mitsubishi. The clutch bells of the newly developed Racing Lancer from Japan housed ZF Sachs Race Engineering component assemblies as well. Eleven out of 13 possible best stage times went to Volkswagen and Mitsubishi, and thus to two ZF Sachs partners.
In the truck class, the German technology corporation was able to celebrate another one-two victory of its partners: The Kamaz team finished in places one, two and four. In the race trucks of the company from the Russian Republic of Tartastan ZF Ecosplit gearboxes with pneumatic shifting assistance facilitate the drivers� work. The clutch from ZF Sachs, the transfer box from ZF-Steyr and the ZF Servocom steering system were further assemblies supplied by the ZF Sachs Group. Many MAN drivers in the field of contenders relied on German powertrain and chassis technology, including fifth-placed Franz Echter from Germany, who works for the MAN research department.