In the light of a successful Dakar and Silk Way Rally campaign with the Peugeot 2008 DKR earlier this year, Team Peugeot Total and Red Bull have now revealed the new Peugeot 3008 DKR. The 3008 DKR is the successor to the machine that won the Dakar back in January as well as the Silk Way Rally in July, so this new 3008 DKR has some pretty big tyres to fill.
This all-new Dakar challenger is based of the new Peugeot 3008 SUV which will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show this year. The 2008 DKR proved that you don’t need four-wheel drive to conquer the planets toughest terrain, after taking the title being the first two-wheel drive car to do so in 15 years.
“The new Peugeot 3008 DKR symbolises the next step,” stated team director Bruno Famin. “Our goal with this car was to take the weaker points of the existing car and make them stronger, whilst capitalising on all the existing strengths to improve them still further.” He continued.
Peugeot senior exterior designer, Sebastian Criquet, aimed to create an aggressive machine which followed the design language of the existing road car. “Our new Dakar car is the most extreme expression of Peugeot’s latest SUV. It keeps the distinctive design language of the road car, but transports it into a rally context.”
The new Peugeot 3008 DKR has improved in four key areas, the first one being reliability. Despite its predecessor winning the toughest rally in the world, winning nine stages including seven one-two placements, the engineers have still meticulously gone through both the mechanical and electronic aspects of the car to sure ensure the best reliability for all 10,000 kilometres.
The second key area is drivability, particularly with extracting the power and torque for the 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbodiesel engine with torque now accessible at much lower revs. Despite having to sacrifice 20 horsepower due to smaller engine regulations this year, Peugeot suggest this car may still be faster than last years car due to the more accessible power across the rev range.
Obviously suspension is one of the most important aspects to any successful rally car and this is no different for Peugeot which is why they have taken further time to perfect the geometry and dampers or theirs to better their existing successful set up.
The final aspect is the air conditioning in the new Dakar racer, something that we all likely take for granted in our road cars. It is even more important for drivers who constantly need to focus for up to 12 hours a day with cabin temperatures reaching 60 degrees centigrade like the Dakar drivers do.
