Race Touareg 3 ready for the 2011 Dakar

Volkswagen has officially presented the Race Touareg 3, the car that will be competing in 2011’s Dakar, once again raced in South America from 01-16 of January. The German brand showed in the nearly 2000-year-old amphitheatre in Trier, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in front of a crowd of 1,000 spectators, the 310-hp four-wheel-drive vehicle that will aim to secure the brand’s third consecutive "Dakar” victory. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA) took the honours of presenting the RT3 in “Dakar” trim for the first time.

"The Dakar Rally is a mystique. Everything’s got to be right to conquer it,” says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen. "Technology, drivers, service and logistics – every single aspect is crucial. Anyone aiming to finish the ‘Dakar’ at the very top has to first conquer the rally itself and then beat their rivals. We’ve learned a lot in the past few years. All of these things had to be considered in the development of a new vehicle – I believe we’ve found the ideal mix of revolution and evolution for our Race Touareg 3.”

After winning the race on the last two editions thanks to the Touareg 2 and its TDI technology, Volkswagen has a clear objective for the 2011 edition: take the trophy to Wolfsburg for the third consecutive time. To achieve it Volkswagen will be participating with four newly developed Race Touareg 3 vehicles that will go through a very hard endurance test consisting of the legendary Pampas, the dizzying altitudes of the Andes and the gruelling Atacama desert in Argentina and Chile.

For the 2011 Dakar Volkswagen will be racing the third model version of the Race Touareg. While developing the RT3 Volkswagen engineers focused on the improvement of the cooling system, the optimization gearbox tuning and the increase of power for driving at high altitudes. The engineers also worked to increase the performance capabilities of the RT2.

One of the main changes in the RT3 comes in terms of aeroynamics, with the prototype suffering the biggest changes since since the model change from the original Race-Touareg to model version two. The most obvious change can be found in the roof area where the air flow towards the radiator, the damper cooling and the diesel fuel cooling systems has been completely modified. This change was made in order to enhance the the chimney effect to remove the heat which accumulates under the carbon fibre-reinforced cladding while optimising air supply in the process.

In terms of the intercooling system the Volkswagen Motorsport engineers used proven components used on the production of the brands commercial cars. The cooling element of the intercooler – a supplier component in any motorsport discipline – was designed and produced for the Race Touareg 3 by the prototyping department of the Volkswagen brand. With it the RT3 gained in efficiency which is directly reflected in improved power output. In fact the 2.5-litre TDI diesel engine version for the 2011 Race Touareg 3 has a maximum output of 229 kW (310 hp), seven kW (ten hp) more than the unit used in the Race Touareg 2.

In order to check the progression of the from the Race Touareg 2 into the model version 3 Volkswagen put the RT3 through three weeks of testing in Spain and Morocco, being able to make a direct comparison with the old model. The Race Touareg ran almost 10,000 km of simulated special stages, around Mahmid with temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius and around Erfoud, where the endurance tests took place.

The 2010 "Dakar” winners, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E), Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D), the 2010 "Dakar” runners-up, Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D), the 2009 "Dakar” winners, and their team colleagues Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA)  are the four duos selected to represent Volkswagen at the 2011 Dakar Rally from 01 –16 January 2011.