Rally marathon "Dakar" is not only a serious test for vehicles on high speeds in conditions different type road and off-road, with constantly changing climate and terrain, it is also a challenge to itself. The head of the MAZ-SPORTauto team and co-driver of crew No. 512 Valery Kozlovsky, in an exclusive interview with Sputnik, spoke about the conditions that the team faced in the race, about decisions that are not always easy to make, and also about what Dakar has become for the team Minsk Automobile Plant for five years of performances.
Behind a beautiful picture - hard work
Dakar is one of the most difficult and prestigious rally marathons on the planet. This race gathers the strongest crews from all over the world. Sports cars of the world's leading automakers, which racers use, are, as a rule, the height of perfection in design and technical thought. The struggle here always goes to the limit of human capabilities and preparedness of technology. Little things don't happen here. Any miscalculation, mistake, inattention can lead not only to a deterioration in the result, but also to human casualties. Therefore, preparation for the Dakar begins long before its start.
Throughout the year, the teams planning to participate in this rally marathon are constantly and hard work on assembling new sports cars, to improve and refine the design of existing equipment. Throughout the season, teams work to increase the level professional excellence pilots, navigators and mechanics. An important point is also the physical training of team members, and under certain conditions, as in particular before the Dakar 2016, additional training is also required to work in high altitude conditions. The volume of work is so great that often you have to work on weekends and overtime. Yes, the video footage and photos from this famous race look beautiful and exciting, but behind them there is a large amount of really hard, but at the same time interesting work.
The Dakar route runs as express roads among the steppes, and along winding and dangerous mountain serpentines, along riverbeds, along impassable roads, among dunes and dunes. You have to overcome sands, mud, rocky areas, ravines, gullies, springboards, steep slopes and ups. The weather favors the participants of the race either with heavy rains and cold piercing wind with an air temperature close to "0", then with exhausting heat (up to 58 degrees in the shade), dust and the ubiquitous fesh-fesh (viscous dusty sand - Sputnik). In such conditions, not everyone who started at the first stage comes to the finish line of the last one - the fatigue of the crews and racing equipment, and, oddly enough, the organizers' mistakes in compiling roadbooks.
When testing our new sports truck in a rally marathon, some shortcomings were identified, which were discussed and, already now, the team's designers are developing documentation for making changes to the next generation of a combat truck. But, in general, we were satisfied with the results of testing the design of the new car and the engine installed on it.
Results and plans for the future
The high level of technical training and the experience of our team members allowed us to compete with dignity among the leaders of the race. However, problems with two engines did not allow the crews to achieve the planned results. It was very disappointing to get off with two cars, but this is a sport, and anything can happen here. It is necessary to be able to accept defeats, while drawing reasonable conclusions from them in order to minimize such losses in the future.
This season we special attention let's approach the issue of strict control over the work on the rebuilding of components and assemblies of our cars in third-party organizations and the timing of preparation sports trucks to the competition. We will work to increase the responsibility of each team member for the work performed. In addition, we plan to seriously improve the level of physical fitness of our athletes.
The next race in which MAZ-SPORTauto will take part is the 2nd stage of the Russian Championship "Gold of Kagan". It will take place in April and will pass through the territory of the Astrakhan region. Then the team will hold a training camp on the modified route of the rally, which is prepared for us every year by the organizers of the race. This rally-raid and training is valuable for us because Astrakhan region in its natural conditions it is very similar to the steppes of Argentina, with small dunes and sandy areas. Here, nature itself has created ideal conditions for full-fledged training to prepare team members for participation in rally marathons of the highest international level.
In 2016, the rally-marathon "Silk Way" is resumed, which will take place in July. The race will pass through the territories of three countries: Russia, Kazakhstan and China. According to the organizers, it will start in Moscow and finish in Beijing. The race promises to be very interesting and will attract crews from all over the world. According to the organizers of the "Silk Way", the complexity and length of this rally-marathon will exceed the level of "Dakar". We were at the presentation of the race in Paris, where many eminent athletes such as Gerard de Rooy, Hans Stacey, Ales Loprais and many others expressed their desire to take part in it. For our team, participation in this rally marathon is one of the main goals for this year's season. This year, the participation of SC "MAZ-SPORTavto" in the championship of Belarus in rally-raids is planned, but open question whether there will be a truck classification, since the preparation of the route for trucks requires significant resources, both financial and human. In addition, we are considering options for our team to participate in the stages of the Russian Championship in the second half of the year, at the race in Morocco and organizing crew training in the UAE.
Work or lifestyle
For many who came to MAZ-SPORTavto, this is the fulfillment of that childhood dream that any boy who is fond of cars probably had. This is a huge emotional lift, an opportunity to prove yourself as a crew member, as a designer, as a mechanic, an opportunity to gain invaluable experience and realize your wildest sporting ambitions. It's worth it when your dreams, your hobbies become work.
© Photo: "MAZ-SPORTavto"
MAZ-SPORTauto team at Dakar-2016
All who are gathered in the team are people who came here for a reason. Basically, these are engineers - designers, test drivers and mechanics of the MSR, who previously worked in various divisions of the MAZ. These people were united by a passion for motorsport, the idea of creating sports trucks in our company and participating in rally raids with them. Of course, not only our factory workers became members of the team. Obviously, the experience of participation in the classic rally competitions of Sergey Vyazovich and Konstantin Sinebok turned out to be not superfluous for the team.
For example, in the fall, Aleksey Vishnevsky was invited to our team, today he is the champion of Belarus in drifting, and in the past a successful kart driver. While he works as a mechanic, but in the short term, after passing through the pilot training program, we have high hopes for him as a combat truck pilot. Currently, we plan to actively train young people, attract promising guys to the team, improve the skill level specialists. This will allow our team to take a step forward and achieve higher and more stable results.
There are two new sports cars at the Silk Way rally-raid. Trucks in a Spartan way coped with exhausting off-road, elevation changes and treacherous sands, and their crews took sixth and ninth places in the marathon from Moscow to Beijing..
The third generation racing car was developed in about six months. The designers of the sports team worked on the project - those who create cars only for racing. The name of the model (MAZ-5309RR), the recognizable bison silhouette and many design solutions remained from the predecessor trucks. However, as the developers assure, significant changes have been made to the new sports cars, which make them lighter, more agile and more durable.
The main difference between the new cars is the new Gyrtech G13 engine, which was assembled by the Czech Buggyra team from Caterpillar units. The 12.5-liter engine produces 950 “horses” with a torque of 4300 Nm. Another advantage is electronic control, which allows you to quickly computer diagnostics and set the required parameters.
The engine turned out to be lighter and more reliable than the larger counterparts of Yaroslavsky and Tutaevsky engine factories. It was because of them that at the last Dakar two Maz crews were forced. But there is another reason why obsolete units were abandoned: the organizers of the Dakar will no longer let trucks with engines of 16.5 liters or more in the rally.
Sports trucks were built for racing, so their components are similar to those used by the Dakar winning teams. At the same time, much of the new sports car was produced at MAZ. So, the factory produced a cabin, a frame and a body superstructure, including a frame and panels. Belarus also assembled all the brackets, the engine and charge air cooling system, as well as many other parts of the truck.
However, some components were purchased from foreign manufacturers, who have become adept at producing components for sports cars. Actually, there is nothing shameful in this - all teams do this, including KAMAZ-master, a multiple champion of international rally-raids. In addition, some imported components are already used on serial trucks under the MAZ brand.
Sports MAZ equipped original parts suspensions that are designed specifically for sports cars. The shock absorbers were created by the Dutch from Reiger Racing, and the springs were created by the Belgian Weweler. The gearbox on the truck is German - ZF. cardan shafts they came from Turkey (from Tirsan Kardan), and the drive axles were taken from the well-known Finnish manufacturer Sisu, who himself does not participate in rally raids. The truck is also equipped LED optics from the German Hella and "shod" in Michelin tires.
They also took care of the crew: air conditioning finally appeared in the cabin, so that in case of abnormal heat (and it happens on almost any rally-raid), the riders do not have to take “bath procedures”. Trucks also have cruise control, with which you can adhere to speed limits with high accuracy (for example, on the Dakar they are 140 km / h). Previously, when there were no such systems at MAZs, the drivers had to “by eye” slow down in order not to receive penalty minutes from the organizers.
The MAZ-SPORTavto team does not disclose the prime cost of the truck. But in the presence of a serious customer, a sports car is ready to be assembled from scratch for 350 thousand euros. The exact cost depends on the configuration and in such cases is negotiated with the buyer individually.
However, Maz sports cars may not be sold, but rented out. There are a lot of people who want to: several well-known racers dream of participating in rally-raids on Belarusian trucks. Their interest is understandable: along with combat vehicles, they also receive professional technical support in the form of Mazov mechanics, who have already become regulars at international auto marathons.
“During the passage of the third stage, the organizers intervened in the race, who made adjustments to the course of the stage, which provided an unreasonable advantage to individual participants in the race, and for the crew of the 302 sports team “MAZ-SPORTavto” an additional loss of time,” the press service said. commands.
“This situation affected the results of the third stage and the position of the crews in the general classification. In our opinion, such behavior on the part of the organizers is a violation of the principles of fair competition. In this regard, the MAZ-SPORTauto sports team decided not to continue participating in the Silk Way 2018 international rally-raid.
On the third special stage, which was stopped due to heavy rains, the head of the race Vladimir Chagin urged the crews of the KAMAZ-master team not to stop in order to pull the stuck cars of the rivals out of the mud. It happened at the moment when the crew of Sergei Kupriyanov stopped to help the MAZ pilot. Such a step on the part of the leadership of the Silk Way Rally Marathon caused justified dissatisfaction of the Belarusian team, which decided to withdraw from the race. The organizers decided to count the finish time for the riders at the first checkpoint. This affected the results of the stage and the position of the teams in the general standings.
The situation was commented by the head of the international project "Silk Road" Vladimir Chagin: “Sergey Vyazovich is a talented racer, but, apparently, the difficulties of the third stage, which his crew and the entire MAZ-SPORTauto team faced, prevented them from remaining objective in their statements.
I want to emphasize that the Silk Way Rally Raid is an international project and has always met the FIA standards, and respects the rules of honest ethics, which are strictly monitored by international sports commissioners and the rally management.
At the beginning of the third stage, the weather conditions began to change dramatically, a heavy downpour changed the track to an impassable state. Pilots had to quickly adapt to weather conditions, and the organizers - to ensure safety and not jeopardize the continuation of the race in the following days. Therefore, the sports commissioners decided to stop the race at the 140th kilometer.
I want to thank all the crews that helped each other in this situation, including the pilots of the GAZ Raid Sport team Boleslav Levitsky and Mikhail Shklyaev, the crew of KAMAZ-master Anton Shibalov, who pulled out Sergey Vyazovich’s car twice that day. In general, this year it is especially pleasant to observe mutual assistance between the crews. In rally-raids, without this it is impossible to reach the finish line and it is impossible to win.
I, as the project manager, and on behalf of the entire Silk Way Rally Directorate, regret the emotional decision of Sergey Vyazovich to leave the race with the whole team, which deprives the rest of the crews of the opportunity to continue participating in the competition this year, and I hope that the Silk Way rally tracks will always remain an arena fair and uncompromising struggle the strongest racers in the world, to which I, of course, include the MAZ-SPORTauto team.
Review article by Denis Bushkovsky and Roman Pshenichny about the MAZ-SPORTauto team.
The successes of the Belarusian brothers in Russia are watched very closely, and all because MAZ has always been considered its own, native car, and therefore, when the Belarusian team first started at Dakar-2012, many of our Dakar fans began to root for her.
The MAZ-SPORTauto team is already rightfully considered a strong middle peasant among the cargo participants, and after all, they have only held two Dakars, the start at the current one will be only the third for them.
Not many truckers can boast of such a title in their debut, although some teams have been racing Dakar for decades. But in my words there is also a share of slyness - let's not forget that the MAZ-SPORTauto team is a factory team, and this is a completely different level and resources, here many private traders are not competitors to the factory.
But not everything is so "young-green", you probably remember my photo from the Russian summer round of truck circuit racing from the Smolensk ring, here is this review, then this "Mazay" was exhibited as an exhibit, in memory of the brand's performances in stages of the European circuit championship. And in the truck trial, all motorsport fans remember the MAZ-YAROVIT team very well, it also competed in various competitions, and in 2000 and 2001 became the European champion in the truck trial.
At the Silk Way Rally-2010, MAZ under the control of Petr Orsik (European champion in the truck trial) took 12th place in the overall standings, the task was to reach the finish line, but some crews were able to get around.
The team has already exhibited two cars at the Silk Way Rally 2011, it is from this year for some reason that the history of the team is counted on the official website, although it has not been updated since the summer of 2013 and judging by it, the team does not participate in the current Dakar accepts.
So, the year is 2011. For the team, the ShP rally was a dress rehearsal before their debut in Dakar, at that time the crew of Alexander Vasilevsky finished 18th, and the crew of Alexander Polishchuk 22nd, although that year there were noticeably more participants in the standings compared to previous.
Dakar-2012 was the debut for the MAZ-SPORTauto team, then the crew of Alexander Vasilevsky finished 31st in the truck standings, but the crew of Alexander Polishchuk turned over at one of the stages and left the race
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At the 2012 Silk Way Rally, the team already performed with the best result, the crew of Alexander Vasilevsky finishes 11th, and the crew of Sergei Vyazovich, who made his debut in the team, comes to the finish line 18th.
At Dakar-2013, the race of the second crew of the team of Sergey Vyazovich did not go well, serious damage they had already happened at the second stage, a technician went to the car on the track and the car was being repaired all night. Subsequently, the crew received a one-hour penalty, but continued the race. In the last stages, the Mazov crews either stayed close to the twenty, or even got into it. At the 13th stage, the crew of Alexander Vasilevsky finishes with the 13th time, this is still his best result in Dakar. According to the results of the entire race, Vasilevsky's crew took 21st place, and Vyazovich's crew took 27th.
At the rally "Silk Way-2013" the MAZ-SPORTauto team performed very well - the sixth place was taken by the crew of Alexander Vasilevsky and the prize-winning third was taken by the crew of Sergei Vyazovich.
Will Dakar 2014 be the same for the team? But this is the most interesting. This year the team starts with three crews, using the tactics combat vehicles- military equipment. And this third technical is a dark horse.
The fact is that MAZ, for the same reasons as KAMAZ, must switch to new engine, their old engine, like ours, does not pass in terms of volume and smoke. According to the representatives of the team, it is on the third car that a new engine will be installed, what kind of brand it is, the plant’s website is modestly silent, but I found an interview with Dmitry Korotkevich, deputy commercial director of MAZ OJSC and team curator, which he gave
, in it he says that a Chinese Weichai brand engine will be installed on the third car, his specifications you will see below.UPD: Natalia in the comments said that at the last moment Chinese engine MAZ refused and there is an Avtodiesel production unit on the technical side, so all three Mazayas will go with domestic engines.
So already at this Dakar the team will go to the result, in which we wish them good luck.
№521
Alexander Vasilevsky - Valery Kozlovsky - Anton Zaporoshchenko
№529
Sergey Viazovich -DmitriyVikhrenko -AlexeiNeverovich
№561
AlexanderPolishchuk -PaulGaranin -AndreyZhigulin
