A CLASSIC SHOWDOWN
“We were flat-out in sixth gear, and I was watching the Mini in the mirrors, coming closer, and closer… finally, it passed us, and we couldn’t do anything about it.”
These words from two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, driving for the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA team, after the second stage of the Dakar Rally, would ultimately play a definitive role in the outcome of the rally, after more than 7 500km, as Toyota and Mini traded blows, stage after stage.
Toyota Gazoo Racing team principle Glyn Hall added some perspective: “Up to 160km/h, the Mini buggys are slightly faster than the Hilux, but above that speed the two-wheel-drive Minis really start pulling away. According to the rules, we have to run a 37mm air restrictor on our naturally aspirated V8 engine that effectively chokes the engine at higher revolutions. The Minis are powered by a turbocharged V6 engine with a larger restrictor (39mm). Those two millimetres certainly hand the Minis a performance advantage.”
Later, with straights of up to 40km, where all the teams ran flat-out in top gear, that speed differential would have a marked affect on the outcome of the world’s toughest off-road event. But there were many other factors, too. Like bureaucracy and
