THE ORIGINAL BajaRacingNews.com REPORTING:
BAJA 500 NEWS REPORTS
VW UPDATE JUNE 3, 2007
SUCCESSFUL NORTH AMERICA DÉBUT OF THE RACE TOUAREG
WOLFSBURG, Germany -
Impressive début of the Volkswagen Race Touareg in North America: In
the Baja 500 offroad classic, the factory duo of Mark Miller/Ralph
Pitchford (USA/South Africa) clinched class victory ahead of their
team-mates Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (South Africa/Germany).
In the overall classification of the 273 competing vehicles,
Miller/Pitchford took eleventh, and de Villiers/von Zitzewitz 16th
place. Volkswagen impressed particularly with its modern TDI diesel
technology as the two Race Touareg cars powered by 2.5-litre
five-cylinder TDI engines were the only vehicles to complete the
420.11-mile (675.92-km) Baja 500, which is considered the world's
toughest one-day rally, without a single refuelling stop."
This was a strong showing of the Race Touareg on unusual and
extremely tough terrain, and this success proves its ruggedness and
reliability. Both Touaregs were running perfectly, the tyres on both
vehicles were changed only once – that was all," Volkswagen Motorsport
Director Kris Nissen summed up the positive outcome. "The drivers and
co-drivers as well as the entire team prepared themselves perfectly for
this unusual task, and our special thanks go to Volkswagen of America
for their outstanding support."Race Touareg thrills and surprises fansAs
early as during the tremendous parade to the Technical Scrutineering in
the centre of the North Mexican town of Ensenada, the Race Touareg was
the major attraction for the huge crowd of fans. This prototype, which
was developed for fielding in the world famous Dakar Rally, appeared
virtually compact amidst the huge Trophy Trucks and Buggies with their
brawny V8 engines.
After several official pre-runs of the route preceding the actual
rally on 02 June, Giniel de Villiers was definitely pensive: "The track
is so brutal that it will be a success just taking both Touaregs all the
way to the finish." Initially, these were the sentiments of many
Americans as well, but with each mile the enthusiasm for the two blue
Race Touareg cars of the Volkswagen Red Bull team grew."It's fantastic
how well our Race Touaregs were running on this tough terrain,"
commented Mark Miller. The American, who – with co-driver Ralph
Pitchford at his side – finished this year's Dakar Rally in fourth place
overall, knows what he's talking about, having contested the Baja 500
as many as ten times, with five overall Baja victories to his credit.
"Of course I'm very proud being able to contest the Baja with Volkswagen
and to thus demonstrate the Touareg's power and performance this
way,"Mark Miller added. "
The fact that we achieved this success with a diesel engine that is
relatively quiet but develops incredible torque and, what's more,
without having to refuel even once while the U.S. vehicles had to stop
for fuel two or even three times is a milestone in the long history of
the Baja and proves how advanced TDI technology is."Giniel de Villiers,
runner-up in the 2006 "Dakar" in the Race Touareg, noted with
surprise:"Only on the extremely bumpy parts of the track did we have a
disadvantage compared to the U.S. vehicles with their long suspension
travels, as we are subject to extreme limitations in this regard on
account of the Dakar regulations. Except for this aspect, we were
definitely able to keep the pace and were often even faster. Due to the
huge amount of dust, though, or the tight tracks, we weren't able to
overtake very often. After all, we didn't want to take any unnecessary
risks."Reaching the finish after ten hours.
When Miller/Pitchford and de Villiers/von Zitzewitz reached the
finish in Ensenada after ten hours, they were showing obvious signs of
the ordeal and the endless dust they'd been through. "It's incredible
how we were shaken about over the entire distance. I can feel every
fibre of my body," commented Ralph Pitchford. And Mark Miller, as well,
had to admit: "That was the toughest, most brutal route I've ever driven
in a Baja 500."Consequently, the Volkswagen foursome particularly
relished the celebration after reaching the finish, and patiently
answered questions of the many fans and media representatives. "This
Baja 500 is a huge spectacle with enormous fan support and enthusiasm.
The event exceeded all my expectations. It was a great experience, a
strenuous as well as a fascinating one," said Dirk von Zitzewitz in the
end.Baja history has close ties to VolkswagenBy fielding the two Race
Touraregs, Volkswagen of America continued a long tradition, as the
history of these rallies on the Mexican peninsula of Baja California,
not far from the U.S. city of San Diego, is closely linked to
Volkswagen. Volkswagen already competed in the Baja's 1967 début, and
the legendary VW Buggy was guaranteed to be successful in the Bajas and
became a cult car. To this day, numerous cars designed by privateers,
some of them based on the Beetle, are powered by VW engines."During the
pre-runs for this Baja 500 we even worked out new suspension set-ups,
which may enable us to make further strides in the Dakar Rally,
particularly in camel grass," explained Mark Miller. "Of course it would
be great to also compete in the sister rally, the Baja 1000, in
November. The Race Touareg has got what it takes to successfully master
this long Baja as well. But at that time, of course, the preparations
for the 2008 'Dakar' will take precedence."
VW UPDATE MAY 30, 2007
North America début: Volkswagen Race Touareg in Baja 500
Début of the Volkswagen Race Touareg in North America: Volkswagen
will enter two vehicles with the driver/co-driver pairings of Mark
Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/RSA) and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von
Zitzewitz (RSA/D) in the legendary Baja 500. The offroad race will be
staged at Ensenada on the Mexican peninsula of Baja California on 2 June
on a 500-mile loop, equating to roughly 800 kilometres. The Baja 500 is
seen as the “little sister” of the Baja 1000, which is closely
connected with the origin of the first generation of buggies based on
Volkswagen technology.
"We are happy about being able to enter a Volkswagen Race Touareg
for the first time in a competition in North America and are looking
forward to this exceptional rally with eager anticipation,” said
Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "The event presents a good
opportunity to demonstrate the power and performance of Volkswagen’s TDI
technology in front of a large audience. The organisers of the American
SCORE offroad series also had a major interest in Volkswagen making its
factory début in the Baja 500. What’s important to us is to show a good
performance in completely new terrain.”
Volkswagen factory driver Mark Miller as the local hero of U.S. fans
Volkswagen factory driver Mark Miller has previously contested the
Baja 500 as many as ten times – on a motorcycle and in heavy American
Trophy Trucks. Nevertheless, the five-time Baja winner is particularly
looking forward to his participation at the wheel of a Volkswagen Race
Touareg 2. "On account of their higher power and longer suspension
travel, the American Trophy Trucks are probably superior to us on the
extremely fast and straight tracks, but the good suspension of the
compact and more agile Race Touareg can probably display its strengths
on the twisty sections. I’m expecting a very exciting rally. Of course,
celebrating my first victory with the Race Tourag here would be a
dream.”
In the roughly 800-kilometre one-day event on the peninsula of Baja
California in the northern part of Mexico the regulations allow more
freedom of action than – for example – in the Dakar Rally or the
Cross-Country World Rally Cup. "There are more things allowed such as
team members accompanying the rally vehicles in helicopters to keep the
drivers posted on how the rally is going. As the large trucks and
buggies do not have any rear-view mirrors, and are not equipped with
Sentinel systems enabling faster vehicles to signal their approach like
in the ’Dakar’, it’s certainly common practice to ‘tap’ a vehicle in
front of you, in other words to make your presence known by slightly
touching its rear. With our flat and compact Race Touareg 2, this will
be pretty difficult because we’d tend to drive under the high trucks
rather than ‘tapping’ them,” explained Mark Miller, who will be
contesting the event with his South African co-driver Ralph Pitchford.
Pitchford will be competing in North America for the first time.
Baja début for Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz
For Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz in the second
Volkswagen Race Touareg 2, the American Baja rallies are new territory
as well. "The Baja 500 is a long offroad sprint race. Due to the hard
tracks covered with potholes, this will probably be an extremely tough
event for both man and material. I’ve been told that the track resembles
the Dakar Rally’s legs in Northern Morocco,” said Giniel de Villiers.
"Experience is particularly important here, as some of the parts of the
route are repeated frequently. We do not yet know what is awaiting us,
but we would be very pleased to ultimately finish among the top five. I
don’t expect that a better result will be possible competing against the
U.S. drivers in their big trucks.”
"Unlike the situation in the Dakar Rally or Cross-Country Rally
World Cup, we have the opportunity here to drive the entire route before
in so-called pre-runs with a service vehicle or the Race Touareg,” said
co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz. "Of course we’ll make use of this
opportunity. Similar to the roadbooks in a classical rally, we are
planning to prepare detailed rally notes. Unlike the large trucks, we
won’t necessarily have to make any refuelling stops during the race
thanks to our five-cylinder TDI engine. Our goal will be to complete the
entire distance on one tank of diesel fuel and with as few tyre changes
as possible."
Sal Fish states, "Volkswagen engines are the most successful in the history of desert racing". Wow, tall statement.
Diesel powered Race Touareg 2's head to Mexico with American Mark Miller and South African Giniel de Villiers
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 10
/Baja Racing News/ -- Volkswagen of America, Inc. has officially entered
two Volkswagen Motorsport Dakar Rally vehicles in this year's running
of the Tecate SCORE Baja 500, June 1-3, 2007. This will be the first
race for the Race Touareg 2 vehicles in North America, and also marks
the first ever Volkswagen factory racing entry in the legendary SCORE
desert series racing. The Volkswagen team will feature an international
cast of Volkswagen works drivers ready to tackle the challenging terrain
of the Baja peninsula.
Race Touareg # 81i will be
driven by American Mark Miller with his South African co-driver Ralph
Pitchford. For Miller, the 45 year old Phoenix, Arizona native, this
event will be a unique opportunity to bring together his experience and
success from two of the most revered off-road races in the world. He is a
five time Baja Champion and the highest finishing American driver ever
in a four-wheeled vehicle at Dakar, taking fourth place overall this
past January with Pitchford onboard as co-driver.
Piloting Race Touareg # 83i
will be South African Giniel de Villiers and German co-driver Dirk von
Zitzewitz. While this will be the first SCORE race for de Villiers, the
34 year old driver from Stellenbosch, South Africa, he is very familiar
with the turbo diesel powered Race Touareg, having placed second overall
in the 2006 Dakar rally.
The Volkswagen Race Touareg 2
is powered by an 'in-line' five cylinder, 2.5-liter four-valve per
cylinder TDI diesel engine, fitted with a two-stage intercooled
turbo-charger system. In this configuration, the engine produces 285
horsepower and over 440 ft.lbs of torque. The engine is positioned
longitudinally behind the front suspension, and sends its power to a
longitudinally mounted six-speed sequential race gearbox. A permanent
four- wheel drive system featuring three mechanical differentials with
viscous locking is used to provide superior traction.
"Volkswagen is looking forward
to being involved in the 39th Annual Baja 500. It is a tremendously
famous racing event worldwide, and running our Race Touaregs in North
America is an excellent opportunity for us to show the potential of the
Volkswagen TDI diesel engine technology", said Volkswagen Motorsport
Director Kris Nissen. "It will be a great experience not only from a
technical standpoint, but also for our logistics, race preparation and
team organization."
SCORE says, "The Baja 500
extremely excited to have these two international Volkswagen factory
Race Touaregs competing. "We are also looking forward to enjoying the
performance of the Volkswagen Turbo Diesel engines in this environment.
Volkswagen engines are the most successful in the history of desert
racing and this is a wonderful opportunity for all of us involved with
this unique and incredible motorsport."
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of
America, Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is a
subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Volkswagen is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and
Europe's largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Volkswagen Rabbit,
Volkswagen New Beetle, Volkswagen New Beetle convertible, Volkswagen
GTI, Jetta, Volkswagen GLI, Volkswagen Passat, Volkswagen Passat wagon,
Volkswagen Eos, and Volkswagen Touareg through approximately 600
independent U.S. dealers.
Totally Horrible Paths!
The German Rally-Champion
Armin Schwarz is starting again at the SCORE Baja 500 - for the second
time. He´s writing about his preparations in the U.S.: On the last
weekend in April I had the great pleasure to sit in the Buggy of All
German Motorsports again. We tested from Saturday to Monday in Nevada
and Mexico. The whole experience was pure motorsport - and a driving
orgy. I'm totally excited... but let's look at one thing after the
other:
On Saturday, 28 April we drove
in the Nevada desert: an open, fast terrain with deep wash-outs. When I
say deep I mean anything from 70 cm to two metres. With the 700 hp
Buggy we simply annihilated the one-metre gullies without slowing down
at all. To be honest it's still unbelievably how our suspension survived
this. With the two-metre wash-outs we climbed down with our buggy and
up the other side.
At first, the rear of our
buggy kicked up a bit when the springs went on block. That is a rather
strange feeling at such high speeds. And another thing: A rear axle in
the air doesn't give any propulsion. We changed the rebound of the
shocks and managed to fix this problem.
We spent Sunday and Monday on
the Baja California in Mexico: lots of first gear, mighty rocks,
extremely long climbs on the single trials. These are narrow, often
steep and totally horrible paths. Most important thing here is the
greatest possible axle articulation and plenty of torque at relatively
low revs. We were happy with the suspension. But the gearbox is still
too long. For the Baja 500 at the beginning of June we will not be able
to work on this. But for September we will find a suitable shorter gear
ratio.
After dinner out into the desert again - just for fun
Our tests here reminded me a
lot of the Safari Rallies of 20 years ago. The feeling of freedom here
still seems unlimited. We could drive when and wherever we wanted to -
and along the way met many, many adventurers who were either preparing
for the Baja or simply enjoying their freedom with their ATVs, trucks,
buggies or whatever else they felt like driving. Even Superstars like
Robby Gordon sometimes turn up with their mates in the desert to spend
some time driving extreme Offroad or looking for adventure out in
nature. They hang out at hotels like Mike's Sky Ranch. These hotels are
in the middle of nowhere, are only accessible for offroad specialists
along donkey trails and are usually booked out the whole year.
Sometimes after dinner we
would leap back into our Buggy and head out into the desert to drive a
particularly difficult or beautiful section. In this way we checked out
100 miles of the coming Baja 500. This freedom is long gone from
rallying. And how wonderful to have this still here in the SCORE
championship.
Incidentally, close to Mike's
Sky Ranch are a couple of tricky stretches of water that we tackled at
various speeds - from slow wading to 80 kph. That worked well. The other
extreme is the "Silk" - that's powdery dust (like in Africa) which is
between 20 and 80 cm deep. You drive through this stuff like through
deep water. The traction is practically zero and if you lose your
momentum here then you're in the proverbial you-know-what!
Talking about dust, our
television producer Norman Adelhutte experienced the tests up close. He
sat in a four-seater racing buggy with his crew and they all got a
lung-full of dust. But the rewards for their adventurous efforts is
television footage that I have never seen before. Norman not only
profits from his immense TV experience but also because he's crazy
enough to bomb along through the desert with us.
By the time this newsletter
goes online, I'll already be in Buenos Aires at the Rally Argentina
where our Red Bull Team junior Andreas Aigner competes from 3-6 May. And
as RTL expert I'll be reporting on the fourth round fight between
Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Gronholm and their rivals. I'm really looking
forward to this and can hardly wait for the Super Special Stage for
spectators in the huge soccer stadium.
I'll get back to you in ten
days with how things went in Argentina and also with news of our
preparations for the 39th Tecate SCORE Baja 500 - which incidentally
already has 400 entries in 34 classes! That is going to be a party!
VW in MX
"In
an effort to promote Volkswagen’s diesel technology in the U.S,
Volkswagen Motorsports has decided to enter their 285 hp Volkswagen
Touareg 2 desert rally-car into the 2007 SCORE Baja 500. They will be
racing two Volkswagen Motorsports rally-cars powered by the ever
powerful and fuel efficient line of Volkswagen TDI diesel engines. These
race vehicles are the exact same ones used to race the 2007 Dakar
Ralley. The vehicles have been imported from Europe into the U.S., and
will be race ready come the Baja 500.
The drivers of record will be
Baja 500 and Baja 1000 winner Mark Miller, who is now involved with the
Volkswagen Motorsports Dakar Ralley program. Miller will be joined by
co-driver Ralph Pitchford from South Africa. In another Toureg 2
rally-car will be Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (South
Africa/Germany).
SCORE International has made
the exception for these impressive rally cars to come into Baja and race
along the sides of the unlimited SCORE Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars.
The Volkswagen Touaregs will be starting after the Trophy Trucks, and
before Class 1.
Two Race-Touareg will also
participate at the Transiberico-Rally in Portugal, the first round of
the FIA Marathonrally Worldcup. The driver-pairings are not announced
yet, but experts are talking about Carlos Sousa (Portugal) and Carlos
Sainz (Spain)."
The Original Baja Racing News Headline:
Volkswagen sends factory team to Baja 500
" For the first time in race
history, Volkswagen of America officially entered two of its Dakar Rally
factory teams. Driven by American Mark Miller and South African Giniel
De Vilers, the two turbo-diesel VW Taureg midsize Sport Utility Vehicles
will compete in a special SCORE Int’l Truck class."
HERE ARE THE LINKS TO THE STORY YOU WANT TO READ!
NO TDI OR DAS FAIL STUFF HERE!
THE ORIGINAL POST CLICK HERE
BAJA 500 2007 ENSENADA SUCKS AGAIN
CLICK HERE VOLKSWAGEN ANNOUNCES
BAJA RACING ENTRIES B500 '07, B1000 '08
CLICK HERE BAJA-RACING-NEWS LIVE!
JOINS VW-AUDI-PORSCHE IN CABO 8-20-07
CLICK HERE SEMA 2006-PIKES PEAK STOCK CLASS WIN AND BAJA RACE UPDATE VIDEO
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