dakar

From my understanding there's what I think they call the Marathon Class which is supposed to be standard vehicles but I wonder how standard thet really are.

Those machines !! $500.000 each as a starter ( half a million aussie bucks ) and then some !! all paid (professional) drivers and crew / choppers,, doctors ,,mechanics,, and fully kitted out service units ..full sized containers fitted out with everything including the kitchen sink....dropped where required ...... and u think that the machines have anything got to do with those out of the showroom ??? GET REAL...you are watching an advertisement that cost the companies so much dough.. they wouldn't even like u to think it real !! ( not all companies can afford this event !!)... and then its stuffed by a few wayward vagabonds !!! I say..have fun in Dakar...

Steve,
you're sounding like someone who didn't spot their particular make of car in the Ralley. Lets hope your manufacturer picks up on some of the developments some time in the future.Bob

Steve, I think you'd be surprised aty how much technology filter's down from the peak race classes. The most recent example that springs to mind is the GP Bikes. When they changed to 4 stroke engines recently the massive engine braking compared to the 2 strokes was a problem. Solution developed was a slipper clutch that automatically slips when the wheel is driving the engine to make a smoother downshift. From the time they first appeared in the multi million dollar prototype bikes to the time they landed in $15 K street bikes was about 12 months I belive. Now standard issue on 600cc sports bikes.

Same thing with Turbo's and F1. Back when F1's were turbo's a lot of car manufacturer's were using them. Once they went of of racing they got rarer in production and are considered a high performance item. They are coming back now but likely if F1 had remained turbo'd we'd be seeing a lot of passenger vehicles running very small turbo'd engines rather than the standard 4 cylinder's we see now.

Cheers.

Good article that, it's great to see another fantastic straight forward thinking effort from the aussies !! Pity it probably won't get any support from aussie manufacturers, Ford could use it as they ride like boats instead of 'hovercraft' LOL Hmm must be something in the water in WA, Sarich orbital engine , kinetic suspension etc......Go aussie GoMoo... everyone knows what a Jackaroo looks like :-)