After a festive goodbye, the technology heads for the port
24.11.2014
All packed and ready, the technology is on its way to Dakar! Past few weeks have been extremely hectic. Our Dakar specials are in the centre of attention and everyone has bid them farewell. About a thousand people came to see off the Mammoet Rallysport trucks in the Netherlands at the weekend. On Tuesday the Tatras of the Bonver Dakar Project are about to embark on the voyage as well. All technology is due to board at the French Le Havre port on Thursday for more than a month-long voyage to Argentina, where the famous Dakar Rally starts in January.
Upon leaving for the legendary race the renowned Mammoet Rallysport, for whom we built pair of trucks to be tamed by Martin van den Brink and Pascal de Baar, said goodbye to its fans in a great style. The Dutch village of Harskamp with a population of three thousand people became the meeting point for almost a thousand fans, who enjoyed an entertainment programme here. Neither our Coloseum Mobile Bar could miss the event. „Meeting the fans was extremely pleasant, the Mammoet hospitality seemed as if the entire village had come here. Martin is very popular in the region and almost everyone is a Dakar Rally fan,“ commented our team’s executive manager Klára Kress, as she reminded us of another connection of the Mammoet team to the Czech Republic. „Harskamp is part of the town of Ede, a partner town of the East-Bohemian town of Chrudim.“
Directly from the Netherlands a part of our team hurried to Ostrava, where the Bonver Dakar Project and a trio of Jamal trucks, equipped with MKR-built special racing powertrains and receiving technological support from us, were saying their goodbye. The first Jamal truck will be piloted by Tomáš Vrátný, with the Slovak navigator Jaroslav Miškolci and the crew mechanic and team’s chief-mechanic Milan Holáň onboard. Motorsport fans coming from the north of Czech will certainly appreciate the crew of the second Jamal. This one is to be driven by Artur Ardavichus, who reached an excellent third place at the 2012 Dakar while representing the Kamaz team; the navigator is Alexey Nikizhev and the crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský, member of our very own MKR Technology. „Last year I was taking care of Loprais’s Queen at the Dakar, so I know what’s going on at the rally, but to be honest, being a member of a crew like that is a completely different issue. It’s a little scary, I feel a lot of respect for the race, but I’m really looking forward to it,“ smiled Daniel Kozlovský. Third racing special of the Bonver Dakar Project‘s will be driven by Robert Jan Szustkowski. The talented Polish racer will be accompanied by the navigator Jaroslaw Kazberuk and the crew mechanic Filip Škrobánek.
Together, the Mammoet Renault duo and three Tatra Jamals, all with technical service delivered by MKR Technology, form a unique alliance which is going to enjoy mutual support at the Dakar Rally. Practically, this is the biggest motorsport project in the Czech Republic. The goal is clear – get to the finish safe and sound and go for the best result. „We want to succeed, the technology is 100% ready but the Dakar is a tough test, in which a good portion of luck decides. You can have all the things fine-tuned to the last detail but if you’re not lucky, you won’t pull it off. That’s also why we don’t make any bold statements,“ says the realistic boss of the MKR Adventure project Mario Kress.
Currently, the trucks together with all the technology are on their way to the French Le Havre port, where they are about to leave for Argentina on Thursday. The famous race opens on 3 January with a prologue in Buenos Aires, where the race will also finish on 17 January. The first proper stage is scheduled for 4 January. And so the first team ambassadors won’t enjoy the Ned for 4 January. And so the first team ambassadors won’t enjoy the New Year’s Eve in Czech, as they are departing to South America on 30 December.
