The Dakar Rally and Red Bull Frozen Rush are both taking vehicles off-road – but while the first one sees them racing in desert conditions and boiling temperatures, Friday’s event will have trucks battle on snow in freezing temperatures.
We’ve asked the drivers what differences these conditions make – and which are the toughest ones.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Dakar Rally winner in 2015 who’s currently racing his 12th edition in South America:
What’s the hottest temperature you can get in the Dakar Rally?
You can have 60°C or more inside the car, no problem, but outside it’s more like 40°C.
What’s its impact on the vehicles and how do you prepare them for it?
The car is designed for this. It’s actually not so bad because when you’re driving, you usually have some airflow over the car that helps the cooling.
And the drivers? Describe your physical prep leading to the race, and your clothing and eating routine on race day.
For me, the most important training was in the altitude chamber, as I was sick last year. For the rest, I do a lot of training throughout the year but nothing specific for Dakar. There is no choice for clothing, as you have to wear FIA approved overalls and fireproof underwear – that’s why it can feel so hot inside the car. And in Argentina we mostly eat meat on the rally!
How does it impact the drive, and your performance?
For me it’s normal. What affected me was actually the altitude rather than the heat last year, but this year I think it will be ok.
Extremely cold or extremely hot – what’s the toughest challenge?
Extremely cold. I am a desert man, after all!
Off-road champion RJ Anderson, entering his second Frozen Rush on Friday in the USA:
What sort of temperature do you face in Frozen Rush?
Way too cold! Basically the complete opposite of what we are used to. We race these things in desert-type terrain. We are used to racing in well over 38°C weather.
We heard Friday’s race is supposed to be 3°C.
That should be good luck right? I’d be stoked if we landed at 3°C (in reference to his race number).
What’s its impact on the trucks?
Luckily we have this heated pit tent here where we can heat everything up before we go out. We actually have to block off the radiators and fans so that they are not getting cooler. We need to keep heat in the truck rather than releasing it.
How do you prep the vehicles for it?
I have a heat seater in my rig. I got the highest package available (laughs). It’s keeping the cockpit sealed up because we get so much snow flurry dust from the front tires.
And the drivers? Describe your physical prep leading to the race, and your clothing and eating routine on race day.
This race is tough for me because I am the only guy out of 9 that doesn’t race Pro 4’s. I race two-wheel drive stuff. With that being said, I got to go test for a little bit before we came out here. It’s really just adapting to the four-wheel drive in the short amount of time we have.
Extremely cold or extremely hot – what’s the toughest challenge?
Extremely cold. I am a wuss when it comes to cold. I’ll take the heat!
