DAKAR RALLY 2013 - Hino

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cover feature Preparation key for Dakar 2013 After winning the Dakar under 10-litre class for the last three years in a row, the pressure was on for father and son Hino factory team drivers Yoshimasa and Teruhito Sugawara to continue their winning streak in the lead-up to Dakar 2013. Most of the pre-race activity was carried out by their team of hand-picked Hino dealer mechanics from around Japan. They busied themselves perfecting the Sugawara’s two Hino 500 Series trucks, and brought some innovations to their vehicles in a bid to keep one step ahead of the competition from teams such as Autovaz, IVECO, MAN, DAF and Daimler. The effort the team put in to preparing the trucks was understandable considering the extreme conditions faced by man and machine during an event like the Dakar Rally. For the second time, this year’s rally began in Lima, Peru, then headed south to the Andes mountain range en route to Argentina. From there Dakar 2013 crossed back over the Andes to finish in the Chilean capital of Santiago. The 8,000 kilometre-plus route took competitors through the driest desert in the world and to altitudes of above 7000 metres. Hino Australia National Marketing Manager Paul Tuffy watched Team Sugawara’s preparations for the 2013 Dakar Rally with anticipation. “Hino has the remarkable record of 22 consecutive starts and finishes at Dakar, and the results over the years have been nothing short of spectacular,” he says. “Team Sugawara has so much accumulated knowledge – there was some very stiff competition heading to the Lima starting line this year, so we were hoping the truck developments would be enough to keep them in the lead.” For 2013 Yoshimasa drove the newly-built Hino 500 Series production class truck, while Teruhito’s 500 Series truck, which won its class division in 2012, was given a rebuild and some revisions (including changes to the fuel system, engine cooling, suspension, wheels, brakes and body) to make it even more competitive. The biggest news for the team was the move to electronically controlled common-rail fuel injection for Teruhito Sugawara’s truck, making its J08 engine more representative of those powering vehicles currently being sold in Australia, the US and Europe. It was an ideal opportunity to prove that the common-rail injection-equipped J08 engines can provide the durability and reliability of the mechanically injected version, while exceeding them in areas of driveability, fuel economy and lower emissions. The J08 engine has received multiple JD Power Awards for its capabilities in everyday applications, and a Dakar rally provided the opportunity for it to be proven under the most difficult conditions. Other changes extend to the suspension which gained longer-spanned leaf springs, upgraded brakes, body strengthening to help resist torsion stresses, and forged alloy wheels to reduce weight. In September last year Team Sugawara had the opportunity to test one of its upgraded trucks in unforgiving conditions at Rally Mongolia 2012. While the environs of “Hino has the remarkable record of 22 consecutive starts and finishes at Dakar, and the results over the years have been nothing short of spectacular” 6 issue 21 SUMMER 2013
cover feature Mongolia can’t fully replicate the extremes of South America, the biggest rainfalls in decades, coupled with the heat of the Mongolian summer, helped to make it a worthy test for the revised Hino 500 Series truck. The conditions were so trying that three of the seven stages had to be cancelled. Rally Mongolia was rewarding for the team, as the biggest unknown in the truck revisions, the common-rail fuel system, proved itself convincingly. Teruhito Sugawara was pleased with their result of 5th overall in the four-wheel division, as well as the improvements brought by the fuel system. “The torque response of this common-rail engine feels really good, and none of our concerns about engine problems materialised,” he said. “Overall, the truck exceeded expectation and I had a feeling that we would have a good shot at achieving a high ranking in the Dakar. “However, the Dakar Rally is known for forcing vehicles out of the race even as a result of minor problems, so we made the best of the time between the Mongolian rally and Dakar to make further improvements to the truck based on the important data we obtained in the race,” he said. Dakar 2013 Facts 14 Stages 53 Nationalities represented 75 Truck category contestants 8,116 Total kilometres travelled by truck competitors Hino’s Dakar Dominance 22 Consecutive finishes 1st Japanese truck maker to enter Dakar (1991) 7 Consecutive victories (1996 - 2002) and 13 wins overall in 10-litre or smaller class 1st Team to make a 1-2-3 sweep in the Truck category (1997) Torque 7
Page 1 and 2: Torque Issue 21 Summer 2013 DAKAR R
Page 3 and 4: In this issue 4 News The latest Hin
Page 5: Hino customers get up-close in Japa
Page 9 and 10: cover feature 2013 Dakar Results Ca
Page 11 and 12: training Fleet customers get up to
Page 13 and 14: hybrid trial Coles fuel trial confi
Page 15 and 16: servicing Hino launches maintenance
Page 17 and 18: Hino ProShift AMT So as the little
Page 19 and 20: SEE YOUR LOCAL HINO DEALER TODAY NE

DAKAR RALLY 2013 - Hino

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