Dakar VW Touaregs entered in the Baja 500!!

[spalind]

Didn't see any other thread on this yet so I figured I'd start it...just saw the article posted this AM on offroad.com. Looks like Mark Miller and his Dakar co-dog will be in one Toureg with DeVilliers and his co-dog in another...article says they were given an exemption by SCORE to enter and these will be the exact Dakar vehicles and are being shipped over here from Europe...They will start after the trophy trucks but before the class 1's...I think this is awesome...just when you thought the B500 and B1K couldn't get much bigger....it does!! Article here: http://race.off-road.com/race/articl....jsp?id=424102

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[zjohnson]

Not to say that these cars won't be able to keep pace, but are they going to beef up there rear cage for the nerfing? Pretty cool to see them start so high, but its gonna make the class 1 guys a little mad, since they tend to be faster then the TT's in the 500 anyways.
Pretty cool to see some factory interest from another foreign car manufacturer.

Best of luck to mark and the entire VW crew, hopefully they run good and some more cars come over next year, like the mitsu's and more, maybe a bowler . . .

[spalind]

Not to say that these cars won't be able to keep pace, but are they going to beef up there rear cage for the nerfing? Pretty cool to see them start so high, but its gonna make the class 1 guys a little mad, since they tend to be faster then the TT's in the 500 anyways.
Pretty cool to see some factory interest from another foreign car manufacturer.

Best of luck to mark and the entire VW crew, hopefully they run good and some more cars come over next year, like the mitsu's and more, maybe a bowler . . .

A Bowler in the Baja would be sweet!!

[randy s]

i saw the bowlers in lisbon and was extremely un-impressed. they did'nt do much in the rally either. glorified land rovers. the vw's and mitsu's on the other hand, were full on rocket ships. mr. miller and mr. de villiers will surprise alot of folks if they stay together. i remember when the land rovers came over for the 500 a few years ago . the year they started out of mexicali. they raced against rod hall's hummers, and he said that they [the land rovers] were pretty fast goin' across laguna salada, but the technicle parts [matomi wash etc ] ate their computerized suspension systems alive. regardless, the more the merrier and we all should welcome the international racers with open arms and wish them well.

[RGFan]

This is great news I think. The fact that a European Factory Team is giving SCORE some love and backing it up is great. I wonder if RGM will send out the H3 in leu of the Touregs coming over???? 3 or 4 cars, hell it sound like it is time to start a new class What is next, Jetta's in Nascar?

[retroblazer]

A Bowler in the Baja would be sweet!!

We already have a class for the older Bowlers. Class 3 Bring'em on!

[maxyedor]

A Bowler in the Baja would be sweet!!

There have been half a dozen Bowler Tomcats raced down in Baja, not sure if a Wildcat has made it down there yet. For the 1000 OC Rovers will have their LR3 race truck ready and entered (not too sure what class), and their RRC will probably be rebuilt by then too, it's every bit as good as a Bowler, but has more travel and a Range Rover body.

Seing the WV guys race will be interesting, though I can't see them hanging with the fast guys very long unless they do some serious work.

[maxyedor]

i saw the bowlers in lisbon and was extremely un-impressed. they did'nt do much in the rally either. glorified land rovers. the vw's and mitsu's on the other hand, were full on rocket ships. mr. miller and mr. de villiers will surprise alot of folks if they stay together. i remember when the land rovers came over for the 500 a few years ago . the year they started out of mexicali. they raced against rod hall's hummers, and he said that they [the land rovers] were pretty fast goin' across laguna salada, but the technicle parts [matomi wash etc ] ate their computerized suspension systems alive. regardless, the more the merrier and we all should welcome the international racers with open arms and wish them well.

Bowlers are not even close to the same class as the VW and Mitsu cars. They are pretty close to stock suspension and driveline, and are designed for European rally raid races in a near stock class. It's like comparing a TT to a 1400 truck. Not sure wich Rovers you saw running, but the LR3 truck that's currently being built should be pretty impressive when it's done.

Oh ya, and I'm a huge Roverhead so anything I say is pretty biased.

[klaus]

My prediction is that they will do just fine. Keep in mind that its a major Team and not a one person show plus they have Mark Miller telling them exactly what to expect.

[bajafox]

Can somebody post a pic of one of these?

If they're what I think they are I have a really hard time believing they'll keep up the pace in front of the unlimiteds...