Moreover, the engine of our today's KAMAZ is quite rare: gas-diesel. Jokes aside: 900 horsepower is really serious. Let's see what is there that can be shown to an unprepared person only at the training ground. In the name of saving his life, of course.

"Villain" from Tatarstan

Even the KAMAZ installed at the stand causes some concern: this truck looks much more brutal than its younger brothers smeared with manure, black soil, gravel and sand. He seems much more solid and aggressive. But if you look closely, you cannot fail to notice that there is very, very little truly "Tatar" (or at least simply Russian) in it.

Judge for yourself: here we have a whole vinaigrette of the most “sanctioned products”.

Rubber - Michelin from France, axles - Finnish Sisu, shock absorbers - Dutch Reiger, cardan - Turkish Tirsan Kardan. Compared to the serial KAMAZ-4326, everything is in plain sight, and the fundamentality of the units can only be envied. And that's not all foreign parts - many are simply not visible. But if you dig a little deeper, it turns out that the brake system on our Dakar KAMAZ came from Belgium (Wabco), the clutch is from the well-known German company Sachs, the transfer case is from the Austrian Steyr, and the gearbox - here God himself ordered - German ZF.

As a result, we got a good Russian car, because its heart is still ours, and not the Yaroslavl one, which is usual for KAMAZ, but the Tutaevsky Motor Plant (TMZ-7E846.10). A feature of the power unit is the fuel it consumes, it is a rare gas-diesel engine that runs on diesel fuel and compressed (compressed) natural gas.

The average car enthusiast may know what propane or butane is, but nevertheless it is more common with gas in the kitchen or in a lighter, and if he has an electric stove at home, he does not smoke himself, and the car “eats” only gasoline or diesel fuel, then one cannot do without explanation. And who can tell about this car better than a mechanic who has been servicing it for several years? That is why Anatoly Tanin, a member of the KAMAZ-master team, will introduce us to the vehicle, even if only in general terms, under whose tutelage this gas-diesel beast successfully passed the Africa Eco Race, Desert Challenge, and Silk way".

First of all, we note that it would be wrong to completely deny the participation of the Kama Automobile Plant in the creation of a truck. It's still KAMAZ, and the factory workers did a good job on it. It all starts with the frame on which the cab is installed, which does not differ too much from the serial one. Of course, she gets a strong roll cage, as well as a steel platform on the floor, which, in addition to additional strength, provides the crew members' legs with a confident support. On the frame are mounted aluminum gas cylinders, outside covered with a centimeter protective layer of Kevlar. There are four of them, each volume is 98 liters. The total weight of the installation, even when filled, is not too large: only 241 kilograms.

Probably, many would be interested to know what the Dakar KAMAZ has in the van behind the cab, and why is it needed at all? The answer is: for a regular truck there is also a place for the pilot to rest, and some spare parts are transported. But at the gas-diesel KAMAZ, almost all the space is occupied by gas equipment. The principle of its operation is by and large simple: to create the fuel mixture, in addition to the outside air, natural gas is also used. In this case, the mixture consists of 70% diesel fuel and 30% natural gas. Let's take a closer look at how it works.

The ignition temperature of natural gas is almost twice as high as that of a diesel engine, therefore, an air-gas mixture is supplied to the combustion chamber during the intake stroke. It ignites at the end of the compression stroke at the moment of injection of the main (ignition) portion of diesel fuel.

This arrangement provides several benefits. First, 50 hp. the engine power increases, reaching a maximum value of 950 hp. Secondly, the consumption of diesel fuel is reduced. And if in itself this indicator is not critical for a rally car, then the power reserve directly dependent on it is an important characteristic. For diesel KAMAZ, it is on average 1000 km, for gas-diesel - 1500, which means that it is one and a half times more. And finally, the ease of installation of the equipment. There is no need to replace the standard fuel equipment with an ignition system with candles instead of injectors. And when the gas runs out, the car continues to run only on diesel fuel, as befits a normal KAMAZ.

According to Anatoly Tanin, the use of natural gas makes it possible to achieve more torque at the lowest speeds. And it is great here - 3,600 Nm. Three thousand six hundred, to be sure. The diesel Geländewagen, for example, has exactly six times less. And, if you are not yet tired of technical and little-telling details, here are a few numbers for a change that will spur your imagination.

The fuel consumption of a rally KAMAZ is from 70 to 200 liters per hundred kilometers. The mechanic says that even 45-50 liters per hundred can be met on flat areas, but the rally is not the place where fuel is saved, so consumption per liter per kilometer is considered quite normal.

And now - the question: why do we need these troubles with natural gas? Fans of motorsport have probably already guessed a lot, let us explain to ordinary people: the dog is buried in the regulations. The fact is that the FIA \u200b\u200b(aka Fédération Internationale de l "Automobile, aka FIA, aka IAF, and finally, the International Automobile Federation) unexpectedly opposed engines with a volume exceeding 16.5 liters. The volume of the Tutaev engine is 18.47 liters.

That is why the KAMAZ-master team had to quickly find a replacement for TMZ, and the Swiss Liebherr became the new unit of Dakar trucks, which has a completely legal volume of 16.2 liters, but at the same time produces quite decent 920 “horses”. And, despite the considerable amount of imported "hardware", the KAMAZ team still strives to use domestic units. The use of natural gas helps to squeeze out a larger number of "horses" from a smaller engine, therefore, the team's mechanic considers the use of a domestic bi-fuel engine on a rally truck in the future as a promising option. What will come of this - we may someday see, but now we will continue to consider what has already happened.

"Coachman, don't drive the horses! .."

A rally is, of course, a race. But the same mischievous organization, the FIA, continues to stick a spoke in the wheels, sometimes literally. These are gearboxes. The sports KAMAZ-4326-9 is capable of accelerating to two hundred kilometers per hour. Let's compare: a regular 4326 doesn't go faster than ninety.

A trip on a simple KAMAZ-4326 with a KAMAZ-740.31 engine (240 hp) will not leave a normal person indifferent even at a speed of 80-90 km / h. To fly under two hundred in a ten-ton car leaves, to put it mildly, very strong impressions. So strong that the leadership of the International Automobile Federation was horrified and decided to reduce the maximum permitted speed to 150 km / h. Therefore, the team's mechanics were faced with the question of limiting the maximum speed of the car.

The electronics came to the rescue and the corresponding gearbox ratios were selected. Now our hero of "Dakar" (in my opinion, this is the first time I speak today, even without a shadow of irony) is capable of accelerating only to 163 km / h. A small "tail" of 13 km / h is left in reserve just in case, and the sound signal in the cockpit is heard when reaching 140 km / h: you cannot violate the regulations. But even such a speed is unattainable for a civilian KAMAZ: the engine is not at all the same, and the transmission was not designed for that. On the sports KAMAZ, as I said, there is a synchronized gearbox from ZF. It has eight steps, and with a divisor, their number reaches sixteen.

The rally KAMAZ is shod with high-profile off-road Michelin XZL tires. One of the assumptions why the FIA \u200b\u200bhas limited the maximum speed of trucks is based precisely on the characteristics of off-road tires. There were cases when at high speeds the tires overheated, tread bumps flew off from them, and the tire failed. The situation was considered dangerous, and therefore limited the "maximum speed": such high speeds are not for these tires. But 150 km / h, apparently, just right.

1 / 2

2 / 2

On each wheel of the KAMAZ-monster there is a pair of Dutch Reiger shock absorbers. The springs are domestic. There are also slings on each wheel that act as a suspension travel stop on rebound. The axles are equipped with switchable hydraulic cylinders for the anti-roll bar. The petals under the steering wheel, which can be seen in the photo, are designed just to turn them off on the go. And if we are talking about the steering wheel, then it's time to climb into the cab.

1 / 3

2 / 3

3 / 3

"I can see everything from above ..."

It's not so easy to get into the cab: both its height and the pipes of the protective frame interfere. But after a short but laborious climb, a view of the cockpit opens, in which, quite recently, this year, the crew consisting of pilot Sergei Kupriyanov, navigator Alexander Kupriyanov and mechanic Anatoly Tanin achieved very good results in the Africa Eco Race rally (second place in truck class) and in the "Gold of the Kagan" (fourth place in the absolute classification). The first thing that catches your eye is the sports seats, which look ridiculous in KAMAZ, but only at first glance. Do not forget that although the car is a truck, it is a racing one, so there is no way without "buckets".

Yesterday, November 8, the KAMAZ-Master vehicles were seen off to the Dakar-2016 rally-raid. And this is a good reason to tell a little about this event, as well as about our recent visit by our group to the team's base in Naberezhnye Chelny and about the photo session that took place in October.
First about sending, the more fresh news. Everything went on at the Tarlovka test site. In the presence of high officials: President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny Nail Magdeev, General Director of OJSC KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin. They were clearly shown the changes in the trucks, improved parts, told about the stages of preparation, etc. And Rustam Minnikhanov even drove behind the wheel of a truck by Eduard Nikolaev (winner of the Dakar-2013).

Like a year ago, the team will participate simultaneously in the South American Dakar (this combination still sounds strange) and in Africa Eco Race. Let me remind you that in January this year, I briefly compared these two raids with each other, on the subject - which of them is closer in spirit to the original Paris-Dakar rally-marathon, who is interested, you can.

All pilots remained the same, but the composition of the two Dakar crews changed slightly. The following combinations will go to South America:
Eduard Nikolaev / Evgeny Yakovlev / Vladimir Rybakov (formerly - Nikolaev / Yakovlev / Akhmadeev)
Dmitry Sotnikov / Igor Devyatkin / Ruslan Akhmadeev (formerly Sotnikov / Devyatkin / Aferin).
Ayrat Mardeev / Aydar Belyaev / Dmitry Svistunov
Andrey Karginov / Andrey Mokeev / Igor Leonov (the composition of the crew has not changed)

"African" crews fully retained their composition:
Anton Shibalov / Robert Amatich / Almaz Khisamiev
Sergey Kupriyanov / Alexander Kupriyanov / Anatoly Tanin.

Motorist Evgeny Vladimirovich Kharlamov against the background of gas-diesel TMZ

Sergey Kupriyanov will once again pilot in the African sands a gas-diesel KAMAZ 4326 with a Russian engine TMZ-7E846.10, with a capacity of 950 hp. Let me remind you that in the South American "Dakar" there is a restriction on the working volume of engines, and therefore the 18.5-liter TMZ (produced by the Tutaevsky Motor Plant) is outlawed there. Model specifications are presented by this link.

Liebherr D9508 on a special rotary stand, can be set in any desired position - for ease of working with the engine

All other crews will again use the same model of the cabover truck KAMAZ 4326, but with the German 16-liter Liebherr D9508 power unit, whose power is also about 950 hp. If anyone does not know, this is a tractor engine that has not been previously used on serial trucks. Nevertheless, having studied the engine, the KAMAZ employees came to the conclusion that it had excellent potential, and with the help of their minders, with the help of the manufacturer, they brought this unit to the required conditions. According to the team members, while Liebherr loses a little in reliability compared to TMZ, but in general its reliability and technical characteristics are sufficient for high results, which was proved by the Dakars of 2014-2015, in which the KAMAZ-master crews won with it ". The technical features of the model are possible.

New bonnet without front fascia

A few words about the bonnet car. I don't want to return to the advantages of this layout, everything is literally set out on the shelves. I will only note what is missing from the attached link. Here are Chagin's words about the peculiarities of the location of the engine: " It is in the same position as our cabover cars. In the regulations, the requirements are the same for all trucks. The distance between the front axle and the engine-gearbox joint is written there. This distance should be no more than 1400 millimeters.».

This picture shows that the engine is not under the hood, but in reality under the cab.

Thus, if you look at the car with the hood removed, you will find that there is no engine under it, actually, it is under the cab. You yourself understand - how much more difficult it is to maintain it now. For layout reasons, in the case of the bonnet, it was necessary to abandon the V-shaped "Liebherr" and use the inline 6-cylinder American Caterpillar C13 with a volume of 12.5 liters and a capacity of 980 hp Rented from the Buggyra team, but for example, part of the electronics for this power unit was already supplied from the one used at Liebherr.
True, the American motor is not as reliable as the German one, but it is much lighter. This, for example, made it possible to make a higher ground clearance at the bonnet. However, after a series of tests, it turned out that the novelty was not yet ready for the Dakar in full, and therefore it was decided not to exhibit it yet. Among the main difficulties - it was not possible to achieve optimal weight distribution, work on this issue was the most difficult and has not yet been completed. Secondly, there are some nuances in tuning the suspension, and work in this direction will also continue. Well, there are a number of other technical issues.

One of the photographs of Lenar Gimaletdinov, which he took for the KAMAZ-master team on behalf of our website. The car that day was in the process of preparing for the Dakar, and therefore is in a partially disassembled state

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the press tour organized by the team in the summer. Therefore, I cannot tell too many details first-hand, there was no opportunity to ask the questions that interested me. During our visit to the KAMAZ-master base, we arrived on a working day and partly suddenly, so we managed to talk very briefly and briefly with the team representatives. And when a little later we went for a many-hour photo session at the base of the collective, I could not join them, because was at the same time in Austria.

Assembly shop of the KAMAZ-master racing team

For a long time I wondered how it is possible for KAMAZ-master to dominate rally-raids in the cargo category for so many years. After all, rivals are also not bastard. Even if they do not have such powerful factory support, some of them made their debut in this sport and began to win much earlier than Chelny. Take the same Dutchman De Roy, or the Czechs from Tatra. Modern units are also available to everyone, any company with money (say Buggyra) can, if desired, reproduce the entire set of units that are used on combat KAMAZ vehicles.

Gym based on KAMAZ-master. Many simulators have been prepared in cooperation with specialists from the Russian Olympic Committee. They also help develop physical training programs for members of the KAMAZ squad. Part of the training takes place in conditions of oxygen starvation, so that later it would be easier to perform in the Andes

And only after visiting the base, I felt a very special energy that literally hovers in this place. Here we have created excellent working conditions for the team - comfortable working rooms and laboratories, elements of relaxation and preparation for the races - a chic gym, swimming pool, sauna, laundry, dining room, etc. Everything is well thought out, perfectly executed, neat, neat. In such conditions it is pleasant to work, spend leisure time after work, prepare for trips. This is also an important factor, you must admit.
And I especially remembered how well the employees communicate with each other, the impression was made of exactly one family, and I will tell you this by no means in all teams, especially large ones. It was clear from the eyes, and from the communication, that everyone was just sick with their work, and they understood that together they create the result that the whole country is proud of. This is how an ideal racing team should be. The management of KAMAZ-master carried out a brilliant work to create the foundation, and the fruits of this have been reaped for many years. Let me remind you that the founder of the team and its first leader was Yakubov Semyon Semyonovich (1987-2013), and since 2013 the team is headed by Chagin Vladimir Gennadievich.

By units and assemblies. They try to use the best that is in sight. Priority is given to Russian products, but if there is no compliance with the required parameters, then they buy foreign products. Throughout the year, everything is constantly and thoroughly tested, something new is constantly being introduced.

Vladimir Chagin personally inspects how the assembly and painting of each car was carried out, including the technical equipment

This is what a heavy vehicle looks like with side flaps raised

And this is a photograph of Lenar, over which he really, conjured for not a single hour

Say what you like, but extreme conditions for racing, almost for survival, love Russian cars.

I remember that at one time Finnish racers triumphantly marched along the African deserts - the tracks of the Paris - Dakkar rally - exclusively on the Russian "Niva". It is true that what the "serial" monster from Naberezhnye Chelny KAMAZ 4911 did at these races cannot be compared even with the victorious procession of the Togliatti car.

According to the FIA \u200b\u200bregulations, only production models can participate in the rally

Imagine an eleven-ton colossus traveling at over one hundred and eighty kilometers per hour. Imagine how it accelerates to “hundreds” in just ten seconds. Imagine it flying through the air (athletes skillfully use any natural elevation as a springboard) and landing on all four wheels without a “breakdown” of the suspension and this with eleven tons of curb weight.

Anyone can buy a civilian version of this monster - the price tag starts at $ 250,000

If you can imagine this at least approximately, then consider - you have a rough idea of \u200b\u200bwhat it is - the pride and glory of the domestic automotive industry KAMAZ 4911 Extreme. Plus - the permissible operating mode in the "temperature range" from minus thirty to plus fifty degrees Celsius.

No magic, no fiction

Usually, when talking about this legendary car, they get lost in an enthusiastic tone and describe its capabilities, accompanied by many exclamation marks. As if an eyewitness was faced with a clear manifestation of either a technical miracle, or met aliens who possess clearly unearthly technologies.

In fact, there is no magic here, as well as science fiction. And all the unique capabilities of the monster from Naberezhnye Chelny there is a clear and scientifically grounded explanation - the technical characteristics of KAMAZ 4911.

YAMZ-7E846 engine - the heart of KAMAZ 4911

And they look like this. The V-shaped "eight" produced by the Yaroslavl Machine-Building Plant (YaMZ) has a volume of more than seventeen thousand cubic centimeters and develops a capacity of about eight hundred horsepower.

By the way, the engine for serial "SuperMAZ" served as the basis for the motor.

In addition, additional agility is added by two Borg Warner turbochargers and four valves, two inlet and two outlet, per cylinder. Total, on this engine - thirty-two).

Fly so fly

And the fast KAMAZ is equipped with hydropneumatic shock absorbers from the army BRDM, which are designed for parachute dropping of multi-ton armored tracked vehicles, hence the fantastic “volatility” of a multi-ton truck. And besides, to ensure a smooth ride, the springs extended to almost two meters are used in the suspensions, so huge jumps during the rally do not harm either the car or the crew.

The 4x4 wheel arrangement, accompanied by a sixteen-speed manual ZF box and a Steyr “transfer case” with a center differential lock, give the truck fantastic cross-country ability. Since 2003, KAMAZ has climbed the podium in almost all world heavy-duty cross-country races.

Everything is superlative

If to the above we add a lightweight supporting frame, equipped with inserts made of composite materials, so that the rigidity and strength of the frame structure does not suffer, and the number of spring leaves - fourteen in the front and ten - in the rear, then we get an approximate description of a car that consistently wins the most prestigious world rallies with enviable consistency.

True, in "combat", sports mode, the consumption of a monstrous 800 - strong engine fluctuates somewhere in the range of hundreds of liters per hundred, but for a big sport, you must agree, in particular. It is not for nothing that the car is equipped with a twin fuel tank with a total capacity of one thousand liters.

The glorious sporting past and present of the Master - Kamaz team is inextricably linked with the periodically improving and recyclable production models of the car plant located in Naberezhnye Chelny, and KAMAZ 4911 Extreme is a striking representative of the family of cars that literally lifted the Russian rally team into the empyrean world sports unattainable for rivals. ...

Civil version of the racing version - KAMAZ 4911 Extreme

Since the end of the eighties of the last century, Russian KAMAZ trucks have been among the undisputed world leaders in the most prestigious and famous races. And finally, an anecdote (they say that the employees of “Master Kamaz” really love to tell the visitors in all seriousness): during the crash tests of the KAMAZ 4911 Extreme, the concrete wall, against which it was planned to break the front of the car, began to quietly crawl away from the test bench.

On November 8, the vehicles of the KAMAZ-master team set off on a long journey to the start of the Dakar-2016 rally-marathon. Before leaving, the team at the Tarlovka training ground was visited by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the general director of KAMAZ PJSC Sergey Kogogin, the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alfiya Kogogina, the mayor of Naberezhnye Chelny, Nail Magdeev, and the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Garifullin.

The head of the KAMAZ-master team, Vladimir Chagin, introduced the sports crews and team personnel to the guests, which will go to the main start of the season in South America. The President of Tatarstan was told about the preparation process for the rally. The technical director of the team, Vladimir Guba, demonstrated the units and assemblies of the machines that were improved in preparation for the race. Then Rustam Minnikhanov personally tested the racing car of Eduard Nikolaev and even made a spectacular long jump on one of the trampolines. Answering journalists' questions, the President of Tatarstan said: "The handling of the car is good, it reacts quickly, better than any jeep, a very good car." Let us remind that Rustam Minnikhanov at different times driving a sports "KAMAZ" brought the team six victories at prestigious international competitions.

In turn, the general director of KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin wished all the participants good luck in the upcoming races. There are two of them, like last year: Africa Eco Flight and Dakar.

Immediately after the event, the crews headed for the French port of Le Havre, where the cars will undergo initial technical checks, will be loaded onto the ferry of the competition organizers and sent to South America. The ferry with the cars of the Dakar race participants will arrive in Buenos Aires by the end of December. Several KAMAZ-master employees will meet the vehicles on the other side of the Atlantic. The rest of the team members will fly to Argentina directly to the start of the marathon. The Dakar Rally starts on January 2 in Buenos Aires. The route runs through Argentina and Bolivia. After a nearly 9000 kilometer loop across the South American continent, the rally caravan finishes in Rosario, Argentina.

At Dakar-2016, KAMAZ-master will exhibit a composition of four "combat" crews:

№500 Ayrat Mardeev - Aydar Belyaev - Dmitry Svistunov.

No. 502 Eduard Nikolaev - Evgeny Yakovlev - Vladimir Rybakov.

№504 Andrey Karginov - Andrey Mokeev - Igor Leonov.

No. 508 Dmitry Sotnikov - Igor Devyatkin - Ruslan Akhmadeev.

Traditionally, an uncompromising struggle is expected for leadership in the truck category. The main rivals of the Russian KAMAZ-master team - IVECO, MAN, RENAULT, GINAF, TATRA, MAZ, LIAZ mobilized all resources for the race.

Rally "Africa Eco Race" - another race in which KAMAZ-master will take part - starts on December 27, 2015 and finishes on January 10 at Pink Lake in Dakar (Senegal). It will be attended by 2 crews piloted by Anton Shibalov and Sergey Kupriyanov. Sergey Kupriyanov's truck, like last year, will run on gas-diesel fuel.

Quotes

Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan:

"The handling is good, it reacts quickly, better than any jeep, a very good car."

Sergey Kogogin, General Director of KAMAZ PTC:

“The main thing is not to frighten off luck! The nature of the race is changing. This year there will be little sand, which turns the rally, as the athletes joke, into a tram race. In addition, the crews will be required to show incredible physical capabilities, because half of the race will take place in the highlands. Passes at an altitude of 4700 meters are already quite unusual for the physical capabilities of the riders. Every year the organizers come up with everything new and new. I think our athletes will be able to please us. "

Alfiya Kogogina, Deputy of the State Duma:

“A huge army of Blue Armada fans in Russia and, especially, in the Republic of Tatarstan, during the New Year holidays, will closely follow the race that will unfold on the most difficult and dangerous sections of off-road tracks in Africa and South America. I am sure that the KAMAZ team will show the highest professionalism, champion character and team cohesion, demonstrate the capabilities of domestic KAMAZ vehicles, and impose their own racing style on rivals. "

Vladimir Chagin, head of the KAMAZ-master team:

“As part of the regulations, we worked on the engine - we slightly increased the power and torque. In the suspension, the characteristics of the springs and shock absorbers have been changed. Suspension travel will be closely monitored this year. If last year a stroke of 330 millimeters was allowed, then this year only 300. It is 30 mm less, and this will have a very serious effect when driving off-road. The special feature of this year's race is the 5 days of mountain sections in Bolivia. Perhaps this part will be decisive for the whole outcome of the race. It is important how the crews adapt to the altitude, how the engines will behave in high altitude conditions with a lack of oxygen. And, of course, the brake system. It's one thing to climb a mountain, but you also have to go down. At the finish of the special stages, many probably saw that it was as if four bonfires were burning around the car - this is the heat from burning brake linings. There were cases when tires caught fire. But this year we have found some good brake pad material that will hopefully allow the brakes to perform more consistently. "

Everyone was looking forward to the KAMAZ rally bonnet at Dakar-2016, but it did not appear there. The car was already forgotten, but the bonnet racing KAMAZ appeared at the "Gold of Kagan 2016", and even painted in matte black.

Image move? A way to scare your opponents? "Experimenting" - KAMAZ employees mysteriously explain. As a result, it was possible to attract attention for sure.

01. Recall: the presentation of the car took place in June 2015. We will talk about this separately.

02. Externally, the car looked good in last year's blue-and-white colors, and in a black "dress" it began to look even more menacing. If Darth Vader were a cargo rally driver, he would have chosen KAMAZ-43509 season "2016.

03. This bonnet was created, however, like all other bonnet rally cars of our time, with one goal - to reduce the shock loads on the crew.

04. Cab - from Mercedes-Benz Zetros... Can you spot 10 differences? In fact, of course, there are more of them. The aggregate base has nothing to do with Tsetros.

05. The Chelninsky logo persistently reminds of this.

06. At the heart of the bonnet chassis KAMAZ-43509 - classic rally KAMAZ-4326, repeatedly tested at Dakar. The inner color of the "filling" remained blue. This is a great reminder of the origin of the car.

07. Race "Gold of Kagan'2016" became the first real combat trip for the new car.

08. Eduard Nikolaev, the 2013 Dakar champion, sat at the helm.

09. What is hidden under the hood of the new rally KAMAZ?

10. It conceals a couple of beautiful multi-tone horns and a powerful cooling system. By the way, better engine cooling is another advantage of bonnets over bonnets on rally raids. But there is no engine under the hood.

11. If the cab is raised ... Yes, the cab also rises, but there will be no engine “exactly under the cab” either. The engine is installed, roughly speaking, under the front cab pillar. It is less convenient to maintain than a motor on a cabover, but riders in a car with a bonnet arrangement are more comfortable, and for the sake of this, the convenience of engine maintenance can be sacrificed.


Photo Alexandra RYAZANOVA, VK TEAM KAMAZ - MASTER FUNS

12. What kind of engine? See the sticker Diesel-Power LIEBHERR? Back in October 2014, when the documents for this car were drawn up, KAMAZ-43509 has been certified with engine Liebherr D9508 A7 SCR V08MZ7102... But last year, Liebherr I was not ready yet, so they presented a car with a 980-horsepower turbodiesel Caterpillar C13 / Gyrtech 12.5 Rallyprepared by a Czech company Buggyra... This motor is at the bonnet at the moment.

There are several visual differences compared to last year's version:

13. An air conditioner unit appeared on the roof Webasto... It was not there last year.

14. Lens headlights Hella got a protective grill.

15. The traditional ascetic-sporty interior looks like this as of "now". The racing wheel is removable.

16. The family of rally-raid KAMAZ vehicles has undoubtedly been replenished with an interesting specimen.

17. But to make loud statements about the future sports career of Kapotnik KAMAZ-43509 still early.

Why? At Kagan, Nikolaev arrived eighth (last) in the truck standings, and twenty-fourth in the overall standings. This, of course, is not a result either for Nikolaev or for the team.

However, the "Gold of Kagan" for KAMAZ-Master is rather a training race. So we studied. Learned to drive a new car, and a new car to drive.

A bonnet car is a slightly (noticeably) different driving style, different "habits" of the car. You have to adapt to them. In addition to the obvious advantages (the spine will say "thank you"), there are some disadvantages (worse visibility, etc.)

What KAMAZ will choose and whether it will exhibit its bonnet at Dakar-2017 is an intrigue at the moment. So we understand that the final decision has not yet been made.