Automotive

New names dominate the Dakar Rally - MINI & Iveco take 1-2 wins

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Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
The Mini Countryman production model
The MINI Countryman drivetrain - not one bit was used in the racing car
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
The Mini Countryman production model
Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing
The winning Iveco
The winning Iveco
The second-placed Iveco from the Dutch Petronas Iveco De Rooy Team
Gerard de Rooy of the Dutch Petronas Iveco De Rooy Team
Gerard de Rooy of the Dutch Petronas Iveco De Rooy Team
Gerard de Rooy of the Dutch Petronas Iveco De Rooy Team
Peterhansel at the finish
Peterhansel at the finish
Peterhansel at the finish
Cyril Depres crosses the line for his fourth Dakar win. Image: KTM
Cyril Depres. Image: KTM
Cyril Depres and the KTM team Image: KTM
Cyril Depres and the KTM team Image: KTM
The Iveco
The Chinese Great Wall team
The MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and the ... errr, MINI?
Roma
Peterhansel
Peterhansel
Peterhansel
Peterhansel
Pre-testing action for the MINI team
Roma in the second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing
The second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing
Roma in the second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing
Roma in the second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing
Roma in the second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing
The MINI ALL4 Racing
The Dakar is a race like no other
The winning MINI ALL4 Racing
Peterhansel and the MINI ALL4 Racing
A MINI ALL4 Racing battles endless sand dunes
The route of the 2012 Rally took in three countries and a lot of terrain
The formidable MINI team is probably the most lavish fielding of any marque in the history of the event
In looking back at the roots of the Mini Countryman, which run back to the very beginning of the MINI concept, it's remarkable that the car should claim such a victory in 2011
The Mini Countryman concept goes back half a century
The Great Wall Motors entry must give great hope to Chinese automakers that the motorsport puzzle can be cracked
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties
View gallery - 119 images

A new name dominated the Dakar Rally from start-to-finish this year - MINI. Though the race isn't over yet, the margins are such that MINI will finish with first, second and fourth place later today, and that Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel will record a record tenth Dakar Rally victory. Though the original MINI built a fine motorsport heritage in league with Formula One constructor John Cooper, MINI's new owner BMW has now really has something to crow about.

Of course, just how much MINI is left in the cars which began life as 121bhp, 118 ib-ft torque, front-wheel drive MINI Clubmans, is debatable, as you can tell from looking at the main photo - that sure is some big MINI.

Peterhansel

The six cylinder, 315 bhp, 516 ib-ft torque, 2993cc variable twin-turbo diesel engine in the car is straight from BMW's X3 30D, the vehicle which has been the base vehicle of X-RAID's last three successive FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rally titles. Indeed, much of this vehicle is based on what was learned in campaigning the BMW X3.

Peterhansel in the MINI ALL4 Racing

The special frame of the MINI was designed by Büren-based Heggemann Autosport GmbH, and the complete body is constructed of carbon-kevlar. The MINI-shaped body panels of the entire car can be changed inside 30 minutes, giving the race mechanics instant access for the time-critical repair work often necessary in this Formula One of the Desert style racing.

The winning MINI ALL4 Racing

Let's see, there's also a Sadev 6-speed transmission, an Xtrac differential and massive ventilated 320mm AP Racing disk brakes, which are ingeniously watercooled at the rear where adequate ventilation is often difficult to provide under desert racing conditions.

The weight of the MINI racecar, sans fuel, is approximately 1900 kg (4,189 lb), some 550 kg (1,212 lb) heavier than the standard MINI Countryman upon which it is "based".

The Mini Countryman production model

A win however, is a win, and MINI is continuing to build a motorsport heritage for the marque.

Mini during its Monte Carlo-winning period in the early sixties

While MINI may not have had a lot of major international victories to boast about (the Monte Carlo Rally three times and robbed of a fourth), the single make MINI was one of the cheapest forms of motorsport available for many decades across the world, and it enabled many would-be racers to try their hand - Niki Lauda, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, and James Hunt all had their first race in a MINI.

Peterhansel and his MINI ALL4 Racing

To the constructors of the race winning vehicles, Magna Steyr and X Raid, go our heartiest congratulations, but the most special of all congratulations have to go to Peterhansel who has now won the world's toughest race ten times - riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 92, 93, 95, 97, and 98, and Mitsubishi Pajeros in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Before moving to full-time desert racing, he was also a two-time World Enduro Champion riding off-road motorcycles.

The winning Iveco

Perhaps the biggest upset, given that the winner of the last three consecutive Dakar rallies has been Volkswagen's Toureg Race Car, and the German giant did not contest this year, was the performance of the Dutch Iveco Team which took first and second place in the truck section, ending a three year winning run for Russian heavy-duty truck manufacturer Kamaz.

Indeed, Kamaz has won eight of the last ten Dakar Rally's in the truck segment, and along with another of the former Eastern Block's finest, Tatra, have dominated the event for two decades, winning 16 of the last 19 events.

In breaking through the Iron Curtain, the Dutch Petronas Iveco De Rooy Team scored a one-two, and enabled Gerard de Rooy to emulate his father's success in winning the 1987 Paris-Algiers-Dakar Rally truck section in a MAN.

For KTM, it was business as usual, with the team's 12th consecutive win in the motorcycle section - the last time a KTM didn't win Dakar was just a few days after the turn of the millennium.

Cyril Depres crosses the line for his fourth Dakar win. Image: KTM

The biggest problem any rivals have in breaking the KTM stranglehold, is that to beat the Austrian ready-to-race outfit, you do need to build a significantly better bike, because it has the two fastest desert riders in the world on its books, and if something befalls one, the other is always there to take the win.

Cyril Depres and the KTM team Image: KTM

That two such immense rivals can exist in the same team must baffle MotoGP Race Chiefs, but Coma and Cyril Depres have won the last seven events between them, and it's unlikely a rival will emerge any time soon who has the mettle to beat the duo.

Roma in the second-placed MINI ALL4 Racing

Another special mention for the 2012 race should go to Nani Roma, the driver who finished second in the MINI. Roma is a name many marathon rally fans will already know as he won the motorcycle section on a KTM back in 2004, the last time anyone finished ahead of both Coma and Depres in a Dakar event. That's Nani during his 2004 win below, when he was a teammate of Depres.

Roma during his days as a KTM works rider back in 2003-2005.

Roma feels that this year he came of age as a rally driver and can go on to win from here, perhaps emulating Peterhansel and Hubert Auriol (1983 BMW motorcycle win in Paris-Algiers-Dakar and 1992 Mitsubishi Pajero win in Paris-Sirte-Capetown Dakar Rally) in winning the Dakar both in a car and on a motorcycle.

Last but not least, a very special mention to Great Wall Motors, a Chinese company that is going where no Chinese company has gone before it - straight up against the best in a brutal sport - and making admirable progress. The team entered the rally for the last two years, but this year progressed to seventh outright - an outstanding result for such an inexperienced team led by Portuguese driver Carlos Sousa.

The Great Wall Motors entry must give great hope to Chinese automakers that the motorsport puzzle can be cracked

View gallery - 119 images
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9 comments
BZD
The current Mini\'s are a disgrace to the name.
The original Mini was a brilliant car for small money and it was light and nimble. All the BMW Mini\'s have been neither cheap, especially small or nimble compared to the original - it\' simply marketing when it\'s worst just like the New Beetle and the New New Beetle.
Bill Bennett
BZD agree 100% $2800.00 for a clutch on a 2008 MINI at 18K $9000.00 to $11000.00 for a new auto trans around 70K google mini cooper problems, horrible car, my Mums 01 new beetle, problem free after 90k miles, well ignition coils, a brake light switch and a fuel pump, ok, the biggest problem is manufacturers putting CRAP on cars because they can
yawood
Oh, get over it. The original Mini of 50 years ago was certainly a ground breaker but not particularly cheap to run. Those of us who had them in the day were lucky if you got more than 25,000 miles out of one before you needed a major engine rebuild and the problems caused by the engine and transmission sharing oil were legendary. A modern Mini that only served the poverty end of the market wouldn\'t last long and would be unlikely to produce the great driver\'s cars that they are famous for. Good on BMW for taking the concept and running with it. If you want something cheap there are plenty of little Korean cars about that are cheap but not particularly nasty.
Wesley Baker
Totally agree Yawood, its not the 60\'s any more and there are cars that are the spiritual successor to the original mini in the ethos of cheap etc. You can\'t compare the New Mini and Beetle because despite being the 1st to the retro futuristic car post VW unlike MINI fizzled out and MINI in the UK anyway is going from strength to strength with it being quite a common sight.
usugo
so, a German built one off BMW X3 that looks like a Mini won the Dakar, must really make the British patriots proud!
Griffin
I\'ll take one of these Twin Turbo lifted rigs- you can keep ALL the other ones... old OR new!
Panayis Zambellis
dunno about the early minis reliabilities bought my cooper second hand with 12500 on the clock around 67 and it is still in the family today must have done a couple of hundred thousand miles i think only one major engine rebuild and it had some major thrashing during the years by various members of the family
thedutchbazman
Jan de Rooy, the father of Gerard, won the 1987 Paris-Algiers-Dakar Rally truck section in a DAF. With the famous DAF Turbotwin, with two turbo-charged engines, he won the truck section and took 11th place overall!!
Phillip Willis
Had many an old mini, never had any major problems I couldn\'t fix. Had a new BMW mini, went back into the shop 4 times in the first six month\'s. Exchanged it for another new one, which died horribly within 3 month\'s. I still see my last old 67\' mini going to the shops now. I\'ve been a fan of BMW for years with the 3 & 5 series, great cars. Yet what went wrong with the new mini is beyond me.