Teams Conclude the First Half of Silk Way Rally 2017!

Jul 21, 2017

Contestants concluded the first half of Silk Way Rally 2017 and had their rest day in Urumqi, China on Jul. 16. The rally runs from July 7th to the 22nd, starting off in Russia on to Kazakhstan, en route to the finish line in China. In this issue of the Dakar News, we cover the competition in the first half of the race. We also spoke with team members on their rest day.

HINO500 Series truck speeds along in the vast landscape of Kazakhstan.

Jul. 6: The team underwent their document reviews and vehicle inspections, passing both without any problems. The truck was then parked in the Parc-fermes.

Jul. 7: A starting ceremony was held in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia. With live music on a stage built in the Square, the ceremony was engulfed in a festive atmosphere with many fans gathering around the podium, where the competing vehicles were introduced. The crowd cheered when the MC loudly proclaimed “Hino!”, as the HINO500 Series truck arrived at the podium.

Jul. 8: Stage 1 finally kicks off. The HINO500 Series truck delivered a solid performance this day, in a course that was not particularly long with a 61.43 km SS.

Jul. 9: Stage 2 was a hard course for the contestants, as the rain that has been going on for a few days resulted in muddy ground. The team’s truck got bogged down on the bank of a lake about 30km from the start of the SS. While they got assistance from a SCANIA truck, the truck nearly tipped over when the towing rope broke. The HINO500 Series truck lost considerable time from this incident, and also incurred a 102-hour penalty.

Jul. 10: Stage 3 was a high-speed stage that took contestants across the border from Russia into Kazakhstan on narrow winding roads that posed many challenges for the navigators. Thanks to the mechanics, the truck suffered no residual problems from the incident the day before, and crossed the finish line for the day in a form that was true to the HINO500 Series truck.

Jul. 11: Stage 4 was the first stage of the rally to feature two SSs. While the course included high-speed grasslands and hilly terrain with gentle slopes that would typically allow vehicles to race at high speeds, the rain that had continued for the past few days created muddy road surfaces, keeping the racers from gaining speed.

Jul. 12: Stage 5, which featured a long 484.47km SS, was a high-speed stage on the steppe lands in Kazakhstan. The Stage was quite challenging for navigators since they had to circumvent or take winding shortcuts to avoid road surfaces that had been roughened up by the rain.

Jul 13: In Stage 6, a vehicle that was ahead of the HINO500 Series truck got bogged down at the 60km point from the start of the SS. The Hino truck met the same fate as it maneuvered to avoid the stuck vehicle. In the end, the truck had to wait to be rescued by the camion balai*. As a result, the team lost a considerable amount of time in the first half of the day. Weather was a major factor in the second SS when it started raining, raising the river’s water level and creating larger muddy areas.

* An organizer’s truck that trails contestants from the back to provide support and to recover racers and vehicles that have retired from the race.

Jul. 14: Stage 7 took contestants from Kazakhstan into China. The SS was relatively short at only 106km. The weather was good, but that meant that racers had to contend with low visibility, caused by dust kicked up by other vehicles. Teams also had to watch out for small potholes on the course, making this an overall risky stage.

Jul. 15: Stage 8 featured a course that was mostly identical to last year’s stage, and met racers with the first dunes in this year’s rally. This was a highly technical stage with camel grass spotted dunes challenging racers with steep ups and downs, as well as hilly terrain. This concluded the first half of the rally, at which point the HINO500 Series stood at 11th place overall.

Jul. 16: Teams had their rest day in Urumqi. There was no competition this day, so while it was a day of rest for racing crews, it was the moment of truth for mechanics. Mechanics replaced the engine oil and gear oils to refresh the HINO500 Series truck in preparation for the second half of the rally.

Teruhito Sugawara: Driver
The rain created very difficult road conditions in the first half of the race. The course would not have been a problem if we were able to take it slow and didn’t have to think about time, but since we’re in a race, we needed to go fast at every available opportunity. As a result, we lost control of the truck a number of times on the muddy terrain in Russia and Kazakhstan that had become very slippery from the rain. We saw quite a number of vehicles tipping over, and we actually came close to being so, twice. I think the race so far has been riskier than being difficult. When I look back at the competition, my impression of it is that they are trying things that would allow them to go even faster than they did in this year’s Dakar Rally. We are also making upgrades which do not immediately reflect on our results, but typically take two to three years to bear fruit. We will be facing fewer muddy terrain and more dunes in the second half of this rally, so we intend to carefully check all the checkpoints that we have planned for this race.

Hiroyuki Sugiura: Navigator
The first half was frustrating as the rain and mud was so bad that we couldn’t get up to racing speeds. But once we’re in China, the courses transitioned to dunes and sandy surfaces with unpaved connection roads, so we’re having more fun now. The first half was more like the courses in Mongolia since they posed challenges for navigators. We typically do well on those types of courses, but the effects of the rain was pretty bad so I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to deliver the performance that we were really capable of. I became a bit dehydrated yesterday and that affected my navigation, but things went well in the first half of the 15th, and I feel that we are finally getting into my favorite type of rally conditions. I’m looking forward to the dune stages on the 17th and beyond.

Seiichi Suzuki: Mechanic Leader
The vehicles get very dirty in off-road racing, so I could see that the mechanics were having a hard time washing the truck. Servicing the truck more efficiently equals more rest time for the mechanics , so I’m hoping that they can pull that off.

Yoichi Okabe: Mechanic Sub-Leader
This year, our very first day of servicing started out rainy and muddy. The next day, our truck nearly tipped over so we had to fix the rear body for the following day, performing servicing tasks that none of us had ever done before. I think this experience boosted our teamwork and strengthened our ties. In terms of servicing, we are starting to work more systematically and this has improved our efficiency. The truck will be going over a lot of dunes in the second half, which will subject it to even greater loads, so we will make sure to perform our daily inspections carefully and service the truck into tip-top condition.

Yuki Takano: Mechanic (Hino Motors Gunma)
The first half of the rally is over, and I had a great time. It was tough during our actual servicing work because I’d get sleepy and it got pretty cold at times. That said, I get to work in settings that I would never be able to in my day-to-day work, so it’s been great to have this new experience. Up until now, I didn’t think that servicing work necessarily had to be a team effort, and that it could be done by a single person. But here, there are six of us working on one truck, and I’ve learned the importance of working with other team members, staying attentive to what they are doing as well. I will continue to do the best I can in the second half and stay careful not to come down with any stomach problems.

Hiroki Kinoshita: Mechanic (Hino Motors Yokohama)
The first half was quite eventful with the rain and muddy roads, and also the incident where our HINO500 Series truck nearly tipped over in Stage 2. It feels like it’s been a long time, but at the same time it also feels like time just zipped by. I don’t know if this is a characteristic of this rally, but you get the feeling that the entire event is like going on this trip together with everyone else, and there is a very human feel to it in that while everyone is your competitor, but they are your friends too. Although we wear different uniforms, it’s a lot of fun to communicate with the others regardless of our affiliations. I’m doing well physically so far, so I would like to do my best in the second half too so that we can do good work.

Aiichiro Yamauchi: Mechanic (Hino Motors Toyama)
The rain and mud was really bad in the first half of the rally, and we had a tough time servicing the truck everyday. I now realize that rallies are a rough affair in many ways, but I also see this as an opportunity for me to grow. In the second half of the rally, I will continue to do what I’m expected to do.

Ryota Shibutani: Mechanic (Hino Motors Kobe)
There was a lot of rain in the first half of the rally, we were cold and servicing the trucks in the mud was physically demanding. We didn’t have any details when we learned that our truck had nearly tipped over in Stage 2, so things got a bit tense for a while as we were not sure if the truck was able to run on its own, or if we were going to have to withdraw from the race. The truck eventually returned to the camp safely so we all put in our best effort in servicing the truck throughout the night to make sure that it would be able to race again the following day, and I think that was a great teamwork builder. I’m getting used to the flow of the servicing work, but I intend to stay on my toes for the second half of the rally because mistakes tend to happen just when you start to get the hang of things. We will be working as a team to make sure that we make no servicing errors and overcome any obstacles that may come our way.

Koji Tanaka: Support Car Driver
The rain was brutal from day one in Russia up to when we reached Urumqi in China, and this made all of our preparation work at the bivouac more difficult. In Russia, the roads were good but the distances were long so that was a challenge in itself. It was tough in Kazakhstan too, as the roads were rough and I wasn’t able to pick up speed. A number of times, I ended up reaching the camp later than our racing truck. Our HINO500 Series nearly tipped over in Stage 2, so after we received the report, I got on my support car and traced the route back to where the truck was. Ultimately, the truck was rescued by the camion ballet before we arrived, so we headed back to the bivouac on the road we came on. That incident gave me a taste of the challenges of racing since I had to think of the things that the truck might need, with the limited amount of information that we had while I was driving to rescue the truck. In the second half, we will be entering China where the traffic situation will be quite different, so I will do my best and stay alert to details.

Bayarchuluun: Support Car Driver
The HINO700 Series ZS support truck got a flat tire the other day, so we repaired that and serviced the truck on the rest day. We will do our best in the second half of the rally as well.