Who said a CM couldn't ascend a 45 deg incline!

http://www.motorsport.com/dakar/news...truck-in-lima/

 

Not a lot of our CM in the Rally Raid CM, still it's pretty good to hear non the less.

 

What's best is that MINI beat....wait for it....the HUMMER Team!

 

Well, the MINIs are really just a widened Countryman body on top of an X3. Last years Dakar X3 to be specific. The body panels are made of carbon fiber and the engines are mid mounted V6s. The "MINIs" cost just short of a cool million dollars a piece. But in the end the MINIs are at least made with parts from their parent company BMW, so I guess that's something.

The truck driven by Roby Gordon has a Hummer badge and looks kinda like an H3 from the B-pillar forward, but they are really mid engine Baja trophy trucks with a plastic shell over the tubing. Roby's truck has about as much in common with a real Hummer as the NASCAR Camry has in common with what you can buy at a Toyota dealer. Oh, and Roby's truck is privately funded so he is out there doing this on his own dime with a limited budget. Far more impressive if you ask me.

In the end, the race was Gordon vs Peterhansel and I was glued to the TV the entire race.

Also, don't forget that an almost completely stock Toyota Hilux (Tacoma in the states) came in third. And considering that they are running next years significantly smaller and lower HP engine, I consider that the true feat of the race.

 

you've got that all the wrong,, the engines are front mounted, the chassis is a tubular space frame, it's not an X3, even the X3 wasn't an X3, this isn't even the same chassis as the X3 CC. It's not a V6, it's an inline 6 cylinder diesel.

You can read all about it's development here.

http://www.dakarrallyraid.com/monste...i-all4-racing/