Now the sportsmen have started to the French port Seta, in order to load the vehicles onto the boat and go to Monaco for the start of the first special stage. It is planned for the 2nd January. On 29 December Russian sportsmen passed all administrative checks and scruteneering. As Andrey Karginov said, the crew is up in arms: “It is one of the events that you await the whole year. All trainings, tests of our modifications were done in order to win two main competitions for our team – Africa Eco Race and Dakar, which is now held in the South America. This year they start and finish the same days.” Andrey Karginov also shared some secrets of his crew: “Now we changed tires, they were tested during the whole year and now they will pass tests in sands of Mauritania, in specific not high dunes. It is interesting to see how they will perform in such conditions and with what result”.
The truck of Sergey Kuprianov totally meets the orientation of the big African rally. It works on gas-and-diesel engine. “The truck works according to the scheme of gas-and-diesel engine, so the scheme is simple: methane is added to the air mixture. It allows to improve the process of the fuel combustion and increase the efficiency at low speed, keep all other parameters and reduce air emissions due to clean fuel burning. That’s the construction”, - explained Kuprianov.
In the next two weeks the participants will have to live in Spartan conditions. But, according to the sportsmen, it has its own beauty. “These conditions may seem uncomfortable, but for most they are the main attraction of the rally. A lot of people can afford to live in hotels or in campers but they live in camps, to experience the atmosphere. That makes Africa special,” - says Andrey Karginov.
Sergey Kuprianov also added that one can feel a special atmosphere even in the communication of different teams. “Race is a race and bivouac is a bivouac. All people are friends there and they are glad to see each other. It is interesting to meet people, to discuss new modifications”, - said the pilot.
As a reminder, the next day the team will spend on the boat, which will bring the rally-raiders from Europe to Africa. On 2 January the main part of the competition starts. The racers will pass more than 6 000 km on the territories of Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal and finish at La Rose Lake in Dakar on 14 January.
