Flight Madrid - Buenos Aires. Almost 100 percent of passengers of this flight are the competitors of the rally Dakar-2014. The route is on screens of the plane. Exactly over the city of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, the plane turns and heads for the west across the Atlantic Ocean to the shores of South America. Catching sight of a familiar name on the screens the audience which seems to be nodding suddenly woke up and moved toward the screen to make the symbolic picture. Thanks, Africa! In 1979 it gave the start of the famous off-road adventure. Hello, South America, the place where this big event moved in 2009!
The start of the 36th edition of the Dakar will be in Argentinean Rosario. The third largest city of Argentina, on the right bank of the Rio Parana, is known as a centre for communications and exchange. In 1812 the Argentinean flag was designed and hoisted there for the first time. Another particularity of this city - the famous Che Guevara was born in Rosario. When you arrive in Rosario you understand why the ideas of Che Guevara are still popular in these regions. The farther from the capital of Argentina, the poorer settlements are along the way. In Buenos Aires you can also feel the breath of the country’s economic crisis. The city looks unkempt and somewhat faded in comparison with 2009, when the first South American Dakar has started there. Some streets in the poorest neighborhoods are still closed by burned tires arisen as a result of recent spontaneous disturbances.
Let’s return to the Dakar rally. Such entourage is not a problem for the participants, and as competitors joke themselves "the worse the conditions, the better for them". Everyone of the KAMAZ-master Team was in Argentina on the 2nd of January. Despite the pouring rain, expecting the upcoming administrative and technical checks the work was humming at the bivouac of the team. It is important to notice that the vehicles of all competitors in the truck category are significantly modified. As you know the current slogan of the organizers "2014 Route: longer, higher and tougher". But the truck manufacturers have their own answer: "Trucks: faster, safer, lighter!". There is the bivouac of the team MAN close to the KAMAZ-master Team bivouac. The vehicles of our rivals were obtained from the assembly plant just before the race; they had the required tests and have a number of technical innovations. Unique modifications are used on new Ginaf trucks. De Rooy team is not at the bivouac for the moment, they say that Hollanders finish the setting of their newest engines Euro-6 at the service center in Buenos Aires. There is the Czech team on the hill. The leading technical idea turned the bonnet truck of Ales Loprais debuted on the Silk Way Rally 2013 in a sort of jeep-truck. Due to the low weight and short wheel base this truck has an excellent dynamic and can easily overcome sands. The team of Martin Kolomy didn’t waste time too. They collaborate with famous Buggyra and use their uprated engines. Responding to a question about the Top-10 in the truck category, Truck Race Deputy Clerk of Course Fabien Calvet said that the actual situation is the following: it is necessary to expand the list and talk about the Top-20. The experience of the competitors is greatly increased; many of them can show good result. Perhaps we should also add one important psychological aspect. The perennial domination of KAMAZ-master Team keeps on the alert. Frankly, the rivals of the KAMAZ-master Team did not expect that the process of generational change in the team will so quickly give results. After last year's triumph of Russians, the condescending attitude to KAMAZ youth is not the question. No one sees them as beginners and thus for the young pilots it will be clearly difficult to prove that this remarkable result was no fluke. To this we must add that for the KAMAZ-master Team the Dakar is not just a competition, but also a good test of technical innovations. More than that KAMAZ-master also have in mind new regulations limiting the engine volume to 16.5 liters that will be imposed in 2016. Also this year the organizers of the Dakar seriously toughen requirements for the engine smoke, engine emmision. Special organiser’s helicopter will operate on the route in order to fix the black exhaust. The penalties are very serious - penalty minutes can turn even the strongest crews in outsiders. In this regard, only two KAMAZes on Dakar 2014 will be equipped with trusty Yaroslav engine, and on three other race trucks the new motor developed with Liebherr will be installed. It is clear that the test of new engines in the conditions of a 2-week extreme race it is very risky, but necessary (even partly forced) and forward-looking.
In the evening of the 3rd of January all sport vehicles of the KAMAZ-master Team have successfully passed technical checks, and were placed to the park ferme. Administrative checks for team members have also been completed. The ceremonial start of the race will be held on the 4th of January, and in the morning of 5th of January the caravan of the rally will leave Rosario for his first special stage on the route to the town of San Luis.
