Dakar buggy like never seen

Look closer. There is a part on this car that you see on the road every day.

You probably know someone who has one, or even you yourself have one.

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Give up? It’s the windshield of an Audi A4.

In every other way, Audi’s incredible Dakar racer is like never before.

It has 6,000 parts – double the number of an average car – and only ONE thing is no longer on the shelf.

What sets it in motion is a combination of three Formula E engines and one DTM (German touring car) engine.

The truth is, an electric car has yet to overtake the Dakar.

Marathons are too long. Plus, a wide variety of soft desert sands. Also you will need a really long charging cable that stretches all over Saudi Arabia.

So Audi dreamed of this Frankenstein moon cargo vehicle instead.

I think I know how it works. The 2-litre petrol engine acts as a generator, along with an electric motor, to charge the 52kWh battery, which then powers two other electric motors, one on each axle, to drive the wheels. car.

You will blink first

So it’s electric four-wheel drive. All that is capable of making 680hp but to comply with Dakar’s rules it is restricted to 392hp. Bah.

Actually, come to think of it, maybe that’s enough when you’re gliding up a dune the size of a tower block and you can’t see the drop on the other side. Now, forgive me if this sequel feels like a list – but there’s just too much fun to share.

The Audi RS Q e-tron has some advancements. Sample. Just tap and go. You will blink first.

Tires are 37 INCHES. They are very large. And heavy. The travel suspension is hilarious.

54mm thick triple-layer underbody protection.

The bodywork is carbon fiber and Kevlar reinforced plastic. The coil cage is aerospace steel. The console has more screens and buttons than Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter. Lines and lines of software code run pretty much everything on this car, including the virtual center differential. It distributes torque to each shaft in milliseconds. In total, there is such a thing as 4 km of cable. All work as one.

Energy is also recovered during braking. Even if you pull the hydraulic handbrake to slide. Smart.

But the best part is that it has a number plate. So it is road legal. You can do a great Friday store in one.

Today is the ninth day of the legendary two-week Dakar Rally and you might be asking: How is the Audi? Well, they don’t win. Toyota has a Hilux, although the UK Prodrive team is running them close.

Play to win

Audi is here to learn for the first time about such a test car. But the god of protest Carlos Sainz scored the winning goal in the early stages.

Team leader Sven Quandt compared Audi’s Dakar debut to the first moon landing.

“Back then, engineers didn’t really know what was going to happen,” he said.

“It is similar to us. If we finish the first Dakar event, it’s a success. ”

I will give him that.

But we all know, Audi play to win. As we’ve seen at WRC, Le Mans, Formula E and more.

Bosses have committed to Dakar in 2023 and 2024. Tick that box, then F1 in 2026. So we keep listening.

Until then, it’s official: The Audi A4 driver has the coolest windshield in the world.

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