As I said earlier, together with the Great Wall team, I arrived at the Dakar rally. More information about the race can be found in the material "Dakar in the first person."
Haval
Haval haval
The Dakar prototype Great Wall Haval SUV is not the first time participating in competitions. By the way, outside our country, Hover is called Haval. For sales in Russia, the ambiguous name was replaced.
In terms of the totality of qualities, this Haval is now at the peak of form (the suspension is tuned, the riders understand the car), and the sixth place is probably just the maximum that can be achieved. In any case, this is the opinion of the main pilot of the Chinese team Carlos Souza.
Dakar's Great Wall Cockpit
Cockpit of the Dakar Great Wall Cockpit of the Dakar Great Wall
According to Souza, in order to be on the podium, drastic changes are required, and most likely they will be. The head of the sports department of Great Wall promised that next year the updated cars will be launched. The design will be borrowed from the crossover H6 or H7 (now prototypes copy H5). The current Haval prototype is built on the BMW X-Raid X3CC platform and has exhausted its capabilities, although pilots are still satisfied with the motor.
Dakar Haval
Dakarovsky Haval Dakarovsky Haval
Under the hood of a racing Haval, a 3.2-liter turbodiesel with a capacity of 300 “horses” is longitudinally placed. Until now, he did not fail both in terms of reliability and dynamic characteristics. Seven-speed sequential gearbox, the total mass of the machine is two tons.
Prepared by Great Wall
Prepared Great Wall Prepared Great Wall
The day after the finish, we arranged demonstration races on the cross-country track. In addition to the rally Haval, I managed to drive the H6 crossover, but more on that below.
