Pug presents its Dakar monster

Peugeot has revealed the gob-smacking rally rocket with which Carlos Sainz will contest the 2015 Dakar Rally next January.

The French brand announced three weeks ago that it will join forces with Red Bull and Total to take on one of the world’s most gruelling off-road events, and now it has revealed the 2008 DKR to be driven by Sainz and Dakar motorcycle ace Cyril Despres.

Although it looks vaguely like the 2008 crossover with which it shares its name, the purpose designed and built off-road machine owes little to the production model.

“The chief difficulty resided in adapting the model’s styling cues to the different technical constraints dictated by the hostile terrains visited by the discipline,” said 2008 exterior designer Giovanni Rizzo.

“There were two ways we could have approached this task: either by taking a standard 2008 and grafting on bespoke parts, or else by drawing inspiration from the 2008’s defining overall forms to design a car that covered the constraints inherent in its mission.

“We eventually decided to go down the second path to produce a fresh take on the 2008. For example, the 2008 DKR doesn’t have rear doors, so it’s more like what a coupé version of the model might be.”

Created by Peugeot’s Style Centre and Peugeot Sport’s Design Department, the 2008 DKR’s formidable mechanical credentials remain secret for now – other than the fact it rides on massive 37-inch (nearly 940mm) Michelin tyres and will, surprisingly, be two-wheel drive.

“We provided Peugeot’s Style Centre with a very precise brief,” said project leader Jean-Christophe Pailler.

“We supplied them with the basic key dimensions, as well as other information such as the cabin space we required, plus the wheel size and the suspension travel. They also had aerodynamic data resulting from our early simulation work.

“We carried out an in-depth analysis of what already existed in the world of cross-country rallying and weighed up the benefits of the different solutions.

“In the end, we opted for an approach that was quite different to that of the competition. Given the off-road capability of two-wheel drive transmission and its ability to run on sand, that’s the choice we ultimately went for. It enabled us to fit bigger wheels and also to benefit from more suspension travel.”

Michaël Trouvé, Peugeot Design Manager, said designing the front of the car was much harder than the rear, due to the extremely short overhand required.

“Due to the off-road capability needed, the approach angle had to be very high. This meant a very short overhang, which in turn resulted in a front-end design that was quite different to that of the production version.

“Happily, the technical team didn’t hesitate to listen to our arguments and accepted to reposition certain parts which could have been a problem for us. That gave us a little freedom to design a front end that resembled the look of the road car as closely as possible.”

Sainz, a double world rally champ for Toyota and 2010 Dakar winner for Volkswagen, has contested the Dakar seven times in both Red Bull-sponsored two-wheel and four-wheel drive cars.

But he said the 2008 DKR is unlike any other two-wheel drive Dakar contender, making it well suited to the South American terrain it will encounter.

“The philosophy behind the 2008 DKR marks a radical break and packs a high number of new ideas. The end result is like no other two-wheel drive car. It is very compact and that’s good. Having done the last two Dakars in a two-wheel drive car, I am convinced it is a solution that can win the event.

“OK, it calls for a carefully-designed car which is at ease on all the different types of terrain visited by the event, but I know that Peugeot Sport has the necessary expertise, technology and means to pull off what is a unique and stimulating challenge for everyone in the team.”

As we’ve reported, apart from Sainz and Despres, Peugeot is expected to use the Beijing motor show on April 20 to announce that French rally-raid superstar Stephane Peterhansel will also join its assault on the next year’s 15-day, 9000km Dakar odyssey. Peugeot won the Dakar in Africa four years running from 1987 to 1990.

The Dakar Rally was originally run from Paris to Senegal, the capital of Dakar in Africa, but after terrorism fears the event was moved to South America in 2009 – although it retained its name. The 2015 route will start and finish in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, passing through Chile and Bolivia.