With such an excellent design, it has naturally become the first choice for many guys who like off-road vehicles but are shy.

At last year's Dakar Rally, there was a guy who drove his own modified Ford-Alice "Snow Leopard" off-road vehicle, and participated in the race as a private person, limited by the problems of funding, sponsorship and modification level, although this guy did not achieve the same good results as those manufacturers' teams, but this driver also drove his car to the finish line smoothly, and achieved a drivers' overall ranking of eighteenth, which is even better than many professional drivers and manufacturers' teams.

Before, such a thing was almost unthinkable! Who doesn't know that the winning models of the Dakar Rally are a large number of veteran military off-road vehicles with a long history, led by the German Mercedes-Benz and the British Land Rover? Although Japan's Mitsubishi off-road vehicles have also achieved good results, the current Mitsubishi Pajero is still far behind.

The result is naturally conceivable, such a non-obvious off-road vehicle can be like Mercedes-Benz Land Rover, these off-road cars, successfully complete the Dakar this kind of hard-known race, for a time this news became the best advertisement for the "Snow Leopard" off-road vehicle, so that the three-door version of the "Snow Leopard" off-road vehicle became famous in the American market!

Taking this opportunity, Zhang Lan's plan finally took shape: to set up her own manufacturer team and participate in the car group of next year's Dakar Rally! As for the participating models, Zhang Lan has already made up her mind: choose this three-door short-wheelbase version of the "Snow Leopard" off-road vehicle.

Zhang Lan is even thinking in her heart: if there are still people driving their own company's "Snow Leopard" off-road vehicles to participate in the competition next year to their own company to solicit sponsorship, then they will definitely not let go of such a good opportunity, what a good publicity opportunity for their own company!

Luckily, that stupid guy knew to go to the Ford Group for sponsorship, and Bill. Ford was kind enough to write the words "Ford-Kirin Motors" on the sponsor's name.

Despite its name, the Dakar Rally is actually more of an endurance race, and unlike the World Rally Championship (WRC), the Dakar Rally is a race that can be played by both professional and amateur drivers – as long as you can afford the expensive entry fees – and the terrain is much more complex and difficult than a regular rally. Under such difficult conditions, the Dakar Rally naturally has a slogan: to reach the finish line is to win!

One of the distinctive features of the Dakar Rally is that it is different from the modified cars used in the World Rally Championship. The cars in the Dakar Rally Cars are all off-road vehicles, and the degree of modification of the cars is also greater than that of ordinary rally.

For most of the stage, these bikes are driven off the road, through dunes, mud, grass, rocks and desert. In the great desert where there are basically no roads. Drivers and navigators can only reach the designated place with the help of the route map and compass provided by the organizing committee, plus GPS, and such harsh driving conditions are naturally not something that the low ground and delicate suspension of the sedan can cope with.

Similarly, the Dakar Rally also has motorcycle and truck competitions, Zhang Lan is also hesitant to participate in these two groups of events, if you participate in three groups of competitions at the same time, it is estimated that this is just this Alice Group will also be famous, right? But after hesitating for a long time, I finally gave up on this seemingly tempting idea.

Zhang Lan had to admit something. Although his group's Alice motorcycle team is now firmly in the top five positions in the World Superbike Championship, alongside Ducati, Japan's "Four King Kong" Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, becoming the world's recognized No. 1 group motorcycle brand, all kinds of heavy-duty sports cars and luxury Prince Cruisers have become the dream of motorcycle enthusiasts around the world, but there is one thing that makes Zhang Lan a little depressed: for so long, his group has not had its own high-level professional off-road racing.

At the beginning, I saw that this market was not very large, so I did not intervene, but now I think about it, it is somewhat a pity. If you want to compete, you will undoubtedly have to redevelop a Dakar Rally version of the dirt bike, although there will not be much technical problems, but it seems that it is too late. And the professional off-road vehicle designed for such harsh conditions is not in place, which means that the design has failed, and Zhang Lan does not want to smash his own brand because he is in a hurry to launch his own related brand models.

Forget it, Zhang Lan shook her head and gave Alice Motorcycles an order to the American branch. This year, we will start developing professional off-road racing cars, and the next year we will participate in the Dakar Rally motorcycle competition.

As for the truck competition, Zhang Lan doesn't mind taking this opportunity to promote her company's truck series. Just how to solve the problem of the driver?

Not only the race drivers in the truck group, but even the drivers in the car group can't seem to find a few guys right now.

The racing level of domestic cars is not a little worse than the world level. Even the drivers such as Zhou Yong, Xu Lang and Lu Ningjun, who later participated in the Dakar Rally, represent the highest technical level in the domestic racing industry. It can only be regarded as a second-rate driver among the drivers participating in the Dakar Rally, and the younger Zhou Yong and Xu Lang have achieved relatively better results. However, the best place achieved was only 19th place.

Although I really want these three guys to win glory for the country, if the level is not enough. So what's the point of winning glory? It is said that being able to reach the finish line is victory, but since there is a champion, who doesn't want that champion? Could it be that everyone who participates in this competition is aiming to finish the race? ! Since it's a competition, who isn't here to win the championship

Many of the models participating in the Dakar Rally are professional off-road vehicles with excellent off-road vehicle pedigree, such as the British Land Rover, such as the Mercedes-Benz G-Class off-road vehicle, such as the Toyota Land Cruiser, such as Pintzgale. Although the Mitsubishi Pajero in the early 21st century was very successful in the Dakar Rally, having won the event six times in a row, at the moment, the Mitsubishi Pajero is still a relatively well-known little brother. ,

Similarly, the modification of the car has also become a problem, Zhang Lan knows that the company's current car modification strength is still not enough, even if the current racing design department works hard, it may be able to change a car that meets the standards for participating in the Dakar Rally, but what about this car, Zhang Lan really has no bottom in his heart, if he just runs not far away, it will be big.

But if you send your car to those special car modification factories abroad for modification, although you can rest assured of the quality of the modification, Zhang Lan is really a little unwilling: the manufacturer's team has to turn to others for help, where to put your face? Volkswagen and Audi have their own iDASOETTINGER high-performance tuning company; BMW has its own royal top tuning manufacturer, German AC modification; Mercedes-Benz has its own royal tuning manufacturer AMG; Ford Motor Group, they also have their own Ford Athletic. As for my own company, there is a racing design company, but in terms of strength, it seems that it is a cut away from these world's top car tuning manufacturers.

Forget it, Zhang Lan sighed, let's go to the racing design department and ask to see how sure they are. It's really not good, it's okay to pull down your face and ask Brother Zhuzi for help.

Casually took out a car modification request for participating in the Dakar Rally Championship from the filing cabinet, and Zhang Lan came to Alice Racing Design and Research Company.

"Well, can we get such a car?" Zhang Lan asked after the manager of the racing design department hastily read the modification requirements.

In fact, this is a lot of redundant questions, as a professional high racing, the manager of the racing design department has more detailed information about the requirements for car modification of various events than Zhang Lan.

"Where's the model?" The manager of the racing design department did not answer Zhang Lan's words, but asked, "To participate in the Dakar Rally, well, it must be an off-road vehicle, is it going to use a snow leopard?" ”

"yes, is there a problem?" Zhang Lan asked.

"There are no big problems elsewhere, but I can't guarantee the modification of the engine." "It's not just the technical reasons, but the materials and even the car technician's tuning experience are also important factors." One thing you should know is that both skills and experience take a long time to build, and we never had any previous experience with high-performance car tuning. ”

It seems that he didn't see the increasingly unhappy expression on Zhang Lan's face, this guy seemed to be a blind man, and he was still talking to himself, "In addition, the gearbox is also a problem, the gearbox used in this kind of hard competition, it is impossible to use this ordinary civilian version of the gearbox, which not only involves the design of the gearbox, but also the material, lubrication and cooling of the gearbox must be considered very thoughtfully." To be on the safe side, if the company is really planning to participate in next year's Dakar Rally, I would suggest that it would be safer for the company to go to the world's famous car tuning manufacturers. ”

Damn, of course I know that, but if I know how to fix it, why should I come to you? If you can't get the most important engine and gearbox for a racing car, how much point is there left?

Zhang Lan was angry, but he could only endure it: this guy is telling the truth, the racing design department has been engaged in the research of motorcycle racing before, although he can proudly say that he is the world's top in motorcycle racing, but suddenly turned to automobile racing, the difference is a little too big. Maybe it's okay for them to have a car that participates in the domestic rally or track race, but let them modify the model with such strict requirements, at present, with the strength of these guys, it really can't be done, after all, the profession is not so right.

PS: Everyone, it's still breaking out today, thank you for your monthly pass support, but can you appreciate it again?

align="center">