 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2022) |
A rally support truck or rally assistance truck is an off-road truck that supports a vehicle that is competing in a rallying race, especially in rally raid. There are two types of support trucks: T6 trucks only travel from service area to service area and are not allowed onto the race route, whereas T5.3 trucks are entered as competitors, but whose mission is to assist other teams, not fight for the win. [1]
T5.3 trucks (until 2019: T4 trucks) [2] have their cargo area filled with spare parts and tools to repair damaged vehicles. Some of the crew members are mechanics. When a competitor requires support, the truck driver steers off the course and goes to the point the vehicle is located to help repair it. This takes advantage of the rules where a service crew cannot provide help to a competing vehicle while it is in a timed stage, but competitors are allowed to support each other.
Teams which field support trucks in a rally are often hired to assist other teams. Major teams have their own support trucks, where the mechanics are team members and know the vehicles, and teammates will provide good and fast service.
T6 trucks (until 2019: T5 trucks) are often larger and are not designed to be raced off-road, although they do have off-road capabilities in order to traverse tough terrain. These trucks travel from bivouac to bivouac (service area come night, or a halt during a multi-day rally). They generally pack up and leave from a bivouac in the morning as the competitors leave and use public highways / designated routes to reach the next bivouac ahead of the competitor. They often arrive just before the competitors, giving them just a few minutes to set up their service area.
The teams often live out of these trucks for the duration of the rally, so they carry tents, food items, tables, chairs, etc and are equipped with water tanks, showers, generators, air compressors, and anything else required during the rally.
The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally", is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal; due to security threats in Mauritania, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests, navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. Rallies may be short in the form of trials at a single venue, or several thousand miles long in an extreme endurance rally.
Motorsport(s) or motor sport(s) are sporting events, competitions and other activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles. Historically, these terms have encompassed sporting use of other vehicles with a motor, including motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft. Today, more specific terms are commonly used for these sports, such as motorcycle sport, power boating and air sports.
Motorsport marshals are mainly volunteer workers responsible for the safety of motor racing competitors. They are stationed at various points of danger around race tracks to assist them in case of any collisions, accidents or track problems. Marshals are also known as course workers, corner workers, corner crews, turn marshals, corner marshals, track safety workers, or rally marshals.
Truck racing is a form of motorsport road racing which involves modified versions of heavy tractor units on road racing or oval track circuits.
Rally raid, formally known as cross-country rallying, is an off-road form of rallying that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon rallies like the Dakar Rally; with other cross-country rally events lasting 4–5 days. With skill in navigation being key, the driving skill and endurance of riders, drivers, co-drivers, and machines are put to the test. The total distance covered can be anywhere between 600 km to over 5,000 km with terrain ranging from sandy dunes, forest roads, mountain roads, and dry river beds; among others.
The Silk Way Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road race. The first Silk Way Rally was raced in 2009 from Kazan, Russia to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. From 2010 to 2013, the race has taken place in Russia. The 2016 edition had a Moscow-Astana-Beijing route, the 2017 edition starts in Moscow and finishes in Xi'an, China.
In relation to motorsport, Group T4 is a set of technical specifications for modified production cross-country side-by-side vehicles used in off-road Cross-Country Rallying. The group is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and defined in appendix J, article 286a of its International Sporting Code. The vehicles are modified for competition purposes from vehicles manufactured in numbers greater than 250 in a 12 month period. They must be road legal, but typically differ from the 'cars' defined in Group T1 and Group T2 by a much lower minimum weight (900 kg)and no requirement for parts such as a windscreen or windows. The vehicles must be powered by one engine and without driving aids such as traction control or ABS. Though the vehicles do not need to be homologated, a reference vehicle needs to be provided to the FIA for approval.
The 2019 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies was the 27th season of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies; an annual competition for rally raid events for cars, buggies, side-by-sides, and trucks held in multiple countries.
The 2020 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies was set to be the 28th season of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies; an annual rally raid competition for cars, buggies, side-by-sides, and trucks held in multiple countries. Due to COVID-19 pandemic all events but one were cancelled, and FIA considered that only one event wasn't enough to award a World title and cancelled the season.
The 2020 Dakar Rally was the 42nd edition of the event and the first edition held in Saudi Arabia. The event started in Jeddah on 5 January and finished in Al-Qiddiya on 17 January after 12 stages of the competition.
The 2021 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally. The event was held for 14 days, starting from 3 January and ended 15 January 2021. It was the second time Saudi Arabia had hosted the event, with support from the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation. The race started and ended in Jeddah, allowing the competitors to venture through the desert and alongside the Red Sea. The route consists of one prologue stage and 12 normal stages, with one rest day in Ha'il on 9 January. The rally was originally intended to run through 2–3 additional countries, with Egypt and Jordan being rumoured likely candidates. However, due to travel and border restrictions implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the route stayed entirely within Saudi Arabian territory.
The 2022 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event took place between 1–14 January 2022. This was the third time Saudi Arabia had hosted the event, with support from the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation. The race started in Ha'il and ended in Jeddah, going through canyons and cliffs in the Neom region, passing by the Red Sea coastline, into the stretches of dunes surrounding Riyadh, with a lot more action on sand dunes in the Empty Quarter. The route consisted of one prologue stage and 12 normal stages, with one rest day in Riyadh on 8 January.
The World Rally-Raid Championship is a rally raid series organised by the Amaury Sport Organization and co-sanctioned by the FIA and FIM. The championship's seasons culminate with world championship titles in both automobile and motorcycle categories.
In relation to motorsport, Group T1 is a set of technical specifications for prototype cross-country cars used in off-road Cross-Country Rallying. The group is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and defined in appendix J, article 285 of its International Sporting Code. The cars are single unit builds and may be based on a spaceframe chassis unlike the strict series production bodyshell requirement in Group T2. However, the engine must come from, or be derived from a production car able to be homologated in Group A, Group GT or Group T2. The cars must be powered by one engine and without driving aids such as traction control or ABS.
In relation to motorsport, Group T2 is a set of technical specifications for series production cross-country cars used in off-road Cross-Country Rallying. The group is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and defined in appendix J, article 284 of its International Sporting Code. The cars must use a bodyshell and apart from safety features such as a roll cage and upgraded suspension and wheels, must retain features of the series production car unlike the thoroughbred race prototypes in Group T1, which have more freedom surrounding the chassis build and other parts. The cars in T2 must be homologated with a series production build requirement of 1000 identical units.
In relation to motorsport, Group T3 is a set of technical specifications for lightweight prototype cross-country vehicles used in off-road Cross-Country Rallying. The group is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and defined in appendix J, article 286 of its International Sporting Code. The vehicles are generally single unit builds for competition purposes, and differ from 'cars' defined in Group T1 by not needing to be road-legal, and have a much lower minimum weight. The T3 vehicles also do not need parts such as a windscreen or an engine manufactured by series production car companies. The vehicles must be powered by one engine and without driving aids such as traction control or ABS. Although not specifically defined as such by the FIA, the group may be called prototype side-by-side vehicles, like their series production relatives of Group T4. Indeed, T3 permits such modified and competition prepared vehicles where T4 prohibits them.
In relation to motorsport, Group T5 is a set of technical specifications for prototype cross-country trucks used in off-road Cross-Country Rallying. The group is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and defined in appendix J, article 287 of its International Sporting Code.
The 2023 Dakar Rally is a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event takes place between 31 December 2022 and 15 January 2023. This is the fourth time Saudi Arabia has hosted the event. For the second year running, the event is also the first round of the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship.
The 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship is the second season of the annual competition for rally raid events sanctioned by both the FIA and FIM. The Amaury Sport Organization is in the second of a five-year contract to promote the championship.
