Number of monster truck entries is growing. Kamaz entering 5 trucks?

There has been rapid growth in the number of monster trucks entering the Dakar Rally 2011, trucks that will be competing against HINO 500 Series trucks. In this article, we would like to report on our rival teams, accompanied by analyses from driver Teruhito Sugawara.

In addition to the information that Kamaz (Russia) will be entering 5 trucks in this race, including official team trucks that are now equipped with a new cabin, many other monster trucks have announced their entry in the race. MAN (Germany), which won the overall championship in 2007, will be entering 2 trucks supported by new sponsors, and veteran driver Hans Bekx will be racing again in a DAF (the Netherlands). The Loprais team plans to enter their most powerful TATRA (Czech Republic) to date-delivering 1000 hp-with the aim of beating Kamaz. As a result, there will be 25 or more-a record number-high-powered, over-800-hp monster trucks entering the race, and we expect this to be among the toughest races for the HINO 500 Series that will be celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Judging from the lineup of past top-level teams who have announced their entry (GINAF: 7, Kamaz: 5, TATRA: 5, IVECO: 3, MAN: 3, DAF: 1, LIAZ: 1, etc.), this year again, the key to the race will be how the HINO 500 Series is able to exploit its relatively small and lightweight characteristics to compete for top spots with the best teams from Europe.

Team Kamaz Master -- Truck: Kamaz (Russia) - A team consisting of Russian nationals --

Characterized by its dynamic and flamboyant maneuvers, such as jumps and 4-wheel drifts, the Kamaz has become synonymous with the truck competing in the Dakar Rally. While in its early years, Kamaz trucks were known for often retiring mid race, starting in 2002, it went on to enjoy a 5-year winning streak, and has established itself as one of the winning teams with 8 championships over the last 10 years. They dominated the podium at the Silk Way Rally*, a Dakar Series rally held in September 2010. Ace driver Vladimir Chagin, with a total of 6 wins under his belt, reigns as the absolute king with his outstanding speed. The team's base truck, the Kamaz 4326-powered by a 830-hp, 18-L V8 twin-turbo engine-was specifically designed for racing.

Finstral Rally Team -- Truck: Mercedes (Germany) - A team consisting of Dutch nationals --

Hino's most formidable rival is this relative newcomer from the Netherlands, the Finstral Rally Team. The team first entered the race in the under-10-L class in 2007. In 2009, the team maintained the top place in the under-10-L class up to the midsection of the race. With a 7.2-L inline 6-cylinder engine producing 500 hp, the truck delivers speeds on flat roads that rival monster trucks with larger displacements. While the truck has much catching up to do with the HINO 500 Series in terms of rough terrain performance, the team's capabilities are improving year by year. Their base truck is the Mercedes AXOR.

In early December, the organizer will be announcing the official roster of entries and detailed route information. On the Hino Dakar site, we plan to publish in-depth information before the start of the race, and daily on-the-ground race reports during the race. In addition, we will be making a variety of other information available on the Hino Dakar website.

Hino Dakar website: https://www.hino-global.com/corp/dakar/
Official Dakar Rally website: https://www.dakar.com/

* Silk Way Rally
This is one of the "Dakar Series" of races organized by A.S.O., the organizer of the Dakar Rally. The purpose of these races is to give teams the opportunity to tune various elements of their operations and train their drivers/riders in preparation for their entry in the Dakar Rally. In 2008, these races were held in Hungary and Portugal. In 2010, the race was held over a period of 9 days from 5 to 13 September, traversing Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. The winner of the 4-wheel category was Carlos Saints (Volkswagen), winner of the 2009 Dakar Rally and previous WRC champion. There were 13 entries in the truck category (Kamaz: 6, TATRA: 1, MAN: 3, IVECO: 2, and MAZ: 1), with newcomer Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) winning the championship ousting Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) and Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz), champion and runner-up respectively of the previous Dakar Rally.

This race was aired on J Sports ESPN (Japanese TV channel).

Official Silk Way Rally website: http://www.silkwayrally.com/

The HINO vehicle referred in this news in relation to the rally is specially designed, tuned and modified for the Dakar Rally, and most of its specifications are different from those of the HINO vehicles sold in the market unless otherwise specifically mentioned.