Dakar Rally winners rely on ZF Sachs
ZF Sachs partners triumphed yet again in the Dakar Rally: The Volkswagen factory team celebrated a one-two-three podium lock-out with the Race Touareg 3 in the world’s toughest rally. The Kamaz factory team equipped with suspension and powertrain components from the German technology company also dominated the truck category.
As last year Volkswagen celebrated a one-two-three finish. For the first time Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) took overall victory. Like their team mates Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), who finished second and third respectively, they relied on ZF Sachs Race Engineering high performance clutches and dampers. Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) finished sixth.
Powered by a 310 hp TDI diesel engine the Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 transmits its torque of more than 600 Nm via a three-plate ceramic clutch. The module called GMF3/170X was just as reliable on the 9,600 kilometre trip when crossing the Andes twice as it was in deep desert sand, on gravel, in mud, through water crossings or with ambient temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. Two dampers per wheel in the suspension absorbed all ground irregularities. The further improved generation of telescopic monotube damper allows 250 millimetres of spring travel. The high adjustability of the reliable components which are adjustable one-way in rebound and two-way in bump enabled the engineers to make a good set-up for every terrain.
In the truck category Kamaz recorded its tenth victory since 1996. The Russian company celebrated filling the top-four positions. Vladimir Chagin repeated his victory from last year in the process. The rapid trucks are equipped with the ZF Sachs MFZ 430 clutch. They are also fitted with the ZF-Ecosplit gearbox 16S 251. During the long rally the pneumatically activated Servoshift gear change mechanism eases the drivers’ work considerably. The ZF-Steyr VG 2000 transfer gearbox transmits the tremendous power of the trucks to all four wheels. To overcome the steering forces in rough terrain the custom ZF-Servocom steering helped the drivers again.
Dakar Rally result, 01 Jan 2011 – 16 Jan 2011:
Car category
1. N. Al-Attiyah/T. Gottschalk, Volkswagen 45h 16m 16s, ZF Sachs
2. G. de Villiers/D. von Zitzewitz, Volkswagen + 49m 41s, ZF Sachs
3. C. Sainz/L. Cruz, Volkswagen, + 1h 20m 38s, ZF Sachs
4. S. Peterhansel/J.-P. Cottret, BMW + 1h 43m 48s
5. K. Holowczyc/J.-M. Fortin, BMW + 4h 11m 21s
6. M. Miller/R. Pitchford, Volkswagen + 4h 54m 42s, ZF Sachs
7. R. Leal dos Santos/P. Fiuza, BMW + 6h 50m 7s
8. C. Lavieille/J.-M. Polato, Nissan + 7h 57m 18s
10. M. Kahle/T. Schünemann, SMG + 15h 11m 56s
Truck category
1. V. Chagin/S. Savostin/I. Shaysultanov, Kamaz, 48h 28m 54s, ZF Sachs
2. F. Kabirov/A. Belyaev/A. Mokeev, Kamaz + 30m 04s, ZF Sachs
3. E. Nikolaev/V. Mizyukaev/V. Rybakov, Kamaz + 3h 20m 17s, ZF Sachs
4. I. Mardeev/V. Demyanenko/A. Mardeev, Kamaz + 5h 44m 56s, ZF Sachs
5. F. Echter/D. Ruf/A. Klein, MAN+ 5h 45m 37s
6. P. Vila/M. Torrallardona/P. van Eerd, Iveco + 7h 16m 1s
7. M. van Vliet/S. Bruynkens/ B. Der Kinderen, MAN + 10h 42m 3s
8. A. Ardavichus/D. Berezovskiy/Z. Zhalimbetov, Kamaz + 11h 9m 45s, ZF Sachs
9. T. Sugawara/S. Suzuki, Hino + 14h 21m 28s
10. M. Behringer/J. Seiler/H. Kupper, MAN+ 17h 37m 35s