KAMAZ-master team has prepared two sensational news for the start of the second round of the Russian Championship for cross-country rallies “Gold of Kagan-2016” in Astrakhan, 27 April. Russian-Chinese crew, long-awaited start of KAMAZ bonnet truck and other news were discussed with the leader of KAMAZ-master and the SWR-project director Vladimir Chagin.
Vladimir, who will go to Astrakhan?
KAMAZ-master prepares 6 crews for the second round of the Russian Championship for cross-country rallies “Gold of Kagan-2016”. Of course, all our pilots take part in it – Eduard Nikolaev, Andrey Karginov, Airat Mardeev, Anton Shibalov, Dmitry Sotnikov. We hope that Sergey Kuprianov will manage to find some time in his busy schedule and perform on gas and diesel KAMAZ. Apart from it, you remember that on 16 December on presentation in Beijing we announced that the international crew (pilot Hou Hongning, co-pilot Shen Xin, mechanic Andrey Mokeev) will participate in the July race. The debut of the Russian-Chinese crew will be in Astrakhan.
That is interesting!
Yes, it’s going to be a breathtaking vision. In China rally-raid discipline develops very fast. More and more Chinese crews take part in international competitions. Everyone is looking forward to the start of the Silk Way Rally. In Europe our project is well-known and application campaign goes at full speed. For three years (that’s the period the contract with the general partner of the race “Gazprom” OJSC was signed for, author’s note) in China we still have a lot of work connected with making the brand well-known. Therefore, support and interest from the Chinese fans are very important. The crew Hongning-Xin-Mokeev will have to do a big work: learn to cooperate, overcome language barrier and exchange their experience. The driver and navigator will have to get used to our truck. Both of them have a good experience in the Chinese Championships and international races. So, I hope they are bound to be successful.
What tasks does your team face now?
Just on our return from Dakar we prepared our action plan for this season. Changing character of South American race, the fact that it becomes more plain, and more tracks become in WRC-style where acceleration and braking dynamics are more important. All that makes us to search for new training tracks and new ways of truck preparation. For this purpose it is more useful for us to drive in high-mountainous and hot conditions. Nevertheless, the Astrakhan race is good for physical training, testing of carriers, running new members of the crews. Apart from it, we have to consider current difficult economic situation that doesn’t allow us to train abroad in conditions close to Dakar.
The news about testing the bonnet truck by the crew of Eduard Nikolaev has already leaked to the media.
Yes, we worked a lot on this vehicle – we drove more than a hundred kilometers for testing and finishing works. But my point is that one real race is able to give much more than a few years of research and development works. This truck was prepared as our answer for popularity of bonnet trucks in rally-raids. It was said a lot about advantages of these trucks: weight distribution, cornering stability, more comfortable seat for the driver, decrease of shock stress, etc. And we are testing a less liter engine capacity on the very truck. According to the Dakar regulations, the volume of the truck engines since 2016 will be reduced to 13 liters. Unfortunately, in some areas we catch up our foreign rivals. We hope that our partners can give us support so important in such a difficult time.
Your team can attract attention. I guess that sponsors like it too. The participation of the bonnet truck in the race guarantees that attention will be riveted to the Astrakhan race.
In our turn we hope that the route development this year will suggest something unusual and interesting. New tracks, new road books… Astrakhan area and Kalmykia are famous for its unique landscape beauty. There are a lot of little-travelled territories. To tell you the truth I’m looking forward to coming to this hospitable region.
