HINO TEAM SUGAWARA Begins Preparations for the Dakar Rally 2014
Mar 28, 2013
HINO TEAM SUGAWARA has begun its preparations for the Dakar Rally 2014.
Hino has made further reinforcements to its truck development team to engage in what will be the culmination of its 3-year plan.
Organizers of the Dakar Rally have made the decision to hold the Dakar 2014 in South America for the sixth year, and Hino Motors will continue to partner with Team Sugawara to enter this race as HINO TEAM SUGAWARA. HINO TEAM SUGAWARA has been working towards improving the performance of its trucks in a 3-year plan since the Dakar 2012. In what will be the culminating year of this 3-year plan, the team will be aiming for top rankings in the overall category in the Dakar 2014.
Given that competition in the trucks category has been intensifying year by year, and in order to position itself to squarely compete with European rivals powered by engines with over twice the displacement, Hino Motors has reinforced its truck development team to achieve further improvements in the truck performance. For the next race in 2014, the third year of the team's 3-year plan, the team will be making further improvements and adding more horsepower to the electronically controlled engine that is being introduced for the first time in the 2013 race. Additionally, the axle and brakes that also debuted in the previous race will receive further refinements to their operability and reliability to increase driving speed over rough terrain. These improvements will be incorporated in the team's ace car, Car 2 driven by Teruhito Sugawara, with the aim of achieving the highest overall rankings. This year again, Car 1 driven by Yoshimasa Sugawara will function as a real-life test truck incorporating new technologies and specifications that the team has not tried in the past.
Currently, Hino Motors' development team and drivers Yoshimasa and Teruhito Sugawara are carefully analyzing data and video from the previous race to develop a plan to create a more robust and faster HINO 500 Series truck and enhance its overall racing performance. Truck inspections and modifications are being carried out in a section of Hino Engineering Annex's factory (Hidaka, Saitama). Hino Engineering Annex is a Hino group company that is in the business of customizing production vehicles to suit customer needs. The team also plans to race in Rally Mongolia 2013 scheduled for August 2013.
Team organization is in top shape. Assistance truck is revamped.
As for the team's organization, Yoshimasa Sugawara and his second son Teruhito Sugawara will continue to drive the team's trucks. Yoshimasa Sugawara, who also doubles as the team's director will be recording his 23rd entry in the race at the age of 72. Teruhito Sugawara will be aiming for his 5th class championship in the Under 10-litre Class. Carrying on from the previous year, the navigators are Katsumi Hamura (Car 1) and Hiroyuki Sugiura (Car 2). Support mechanics will again be selected from among applicants from Hino dealerships around Japan.
In order to enhance support operations, the assistance truck, which is responsible for transporting replacement parts, will be replaced by a HINO 700 Series ZS truck. This truck is popular in dump truck and mining markets outside of Japan, thanks to its superb performance over rough terrain and robust frame. The rear body will be refitted by Hino Engineering Annex. Because the assistance truck will be using the same 20" tires that the racing trucks will run on, the truck’s axle will be modified to 20" specs from its current 24" by Hino Engineering Annex, Hino Motors chassis component & system engineering division, along with the administration and machining divisions at the Hamura Plant for a scheduled completion date in late July.
Stay posted for our latest news
Every month, Dakar News will deliver the latest updates on Rally Mongolia 2013 held in August, as well as news on the selection process of mechanics from Hino dealers and selectees who are scheduled to join the team in September, information on the truck fabrication process, and rival teams. Also, during the actual race, we will be posting news daily, so please stay posted.
Organizers finalize the overall plan for the Dakar Rally 2014 - Argentina-Bolivia-Chile
| Dates | January 5 thru 18, 2014 |
|---|---|
| Host countries | Argentina, Bolivia (*), and Chile. *Only the Bikes and Quad categories will cross into Bolivia. |
| Course | Highlights set towards the end of the race. Contestants will start off from Rosario, Argentina, race through the scorching and muggy valleys and sand terrain of northern Argentina, and proceed to Salta, a town at the base of the Andes Mountains for a day of rest. For the subsequent two days, the Bikes and Quad categories will race on a completely different course from that of the Cars and Trucks categories, making this change one of the notable characteristics of this upcoming race. The Bikes and Quad categories will temporarily diverge from the main group, traveling through Bolivia's world-famous Uyuni Lake and race on a marathon stage where they are not allowed to receive any servicing support. The Cars and Trucks categories will traverse the Andes Mountains via a different route and meet up with the Bikes and Quad categories in Calama, a town at the base of the Chilean side of the mountains. Mixed teams that have entered cars or trucks will have to make changes to their support organization. Also, because there will be fewer vehicles from other categories sharing the same course for this section of the race and it will be easier for contestants to overtake others, these are expected to be two tumultuous days with frequent changes in positions. Once entering Chile, the contestants will head south in narrow passages nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. Contestants will then race through the driest spot on the face of the planet, the Atacama Desert, and the massive sand dunes around Copiapo-areas that are known to force many contestants into retirement each year. As you can see, the highlights of the race have been set towards the end of the rally in stark contrast to the previous year. Finishers will cross the finish line in Valparaiso, a port town that has become one of Chile's most popular resort towns. This will be the sixth time for this rally to be held in South America, and the course layout for the upcoming race hints at the organizer's intentions to make the race more interesting than previous races, such as by defining different courses for different categories and setting race highlights towards the end of the race. |
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| January | Start | FInish |
|---|---|---|
| 4th | Start Ceremony Rosario, Argentina | |
| 5th | Rosario | San Luis |
| 6th | San Luis | San Rafael |
| 7th | San Rafael | San Juan |
| 8th | San Juan | Chilecito |
| 9th | Chilecito | Tucuman |
| 10th | Tucuman | Salta |
| 11th | Rest Day, Salta | |
| 12th | Salta | Salta |
| 13th | Salta | Calama, Chile |
| 14th | Calama | Iquique |
| 15th | Iquique | Antofagasta |
| 16th | Antofagasta | El Salbador |
| 17th | El Salbador | La Serena |
| 18th | La Serena | Finish Ceremony, Valparaiso |
Scheduled race locations (Left) and course map (Right) for the Dakar Rally 2014
<Topics>Yoshimasa Sugawara races 2,500km in a domestic rally event on motorbike.
Yoshimasa Sugawara entered the motorbike category of the "Tour de Blue Island 2013" rally event held from April 28 thru May 4, 2013 between Osaka-Kyushu-Shikoku and finished the entire 2,500km course. The course of this rally -- which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year -- is set on public roadways and mountain roads, so the contestants compete according to special rules in order to comply with the Road Traffic Act and meet safety requirements. Yoshimasa entered this rally as part of his training for the Dakar Rally. On each of the 7 days of the race, contestants started at 7:20am, drove for essentially the entire day except for refueling, and reached the goal for the day at around 9:00pm. Present at the "Shikoku Saburo no Sato" camp ground (Mima, Tokushima), which was set as the final finish site, was Mitsuhiro Urabe (Kagawa Hino Motors) who worked as the mechanic leader in the Dakar Rally 2013 to congratulate Yoshimasa on finishing the race. At the recognition ceremony, Yoshimasa was awarded the "Blue Island Trophy" for his outstanding sportsmanship and was congratulated by all who were present.
Yoshimasa Sugawara's comment:
It was very tiring because we had to drive long hours. The last time I raced in this rally, I got caught on a vine and fell, so this time I kept my eye out for obstructions above head level in addition to the road. This was great training to prepare for the Dakar Rally.
