For those who find a standard Chevrolet Corvette a bit boring: at South African Century Racing they use the violent V8 block of the All-American Sports Car rather in an extreme rally car. That Century CR6 will be Tim and Tom Coronel’s new Dakar weapon in early 2022.
The Century CR6 is a sand racing machine. A Formula 1 car for real men, who don’t fend off sand, rocks and mud, use gravel as toothpaste and keep crocodiles as pets. The engine produces 370 hp and 750 Nm of torque. The power is not startling, but in the sand it is all about the power at the bottom: the torque. With so much power from an atmospheric V8, a sand dune becomes a meaningless molehill. And then that great sound, you have to hear it.
Why no four-wheel drive for the Century CR6?
Power from the Corvette engine is transferred to the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential transmission. Four-wheel drive would only make the buggy weighing approximately 1500 kilos heavier, so the makers left it with rear-wheel drive. An additional advantage of 2WD is the lack of a complicated drive: the engine is located above the rear wheels, so a long drive rod is not necessary. What is not there cannot be broken.
Sustainability is at least as important in Dakar as speed
Durability is at least as important during the Dakar rally as speed, and you can safely leave that to the Americans. The enormous V8 may be powerful, but due to the enormous displacement of 7.0 liters, the engine is relatively underloaded. Just for the idea: the cylinder capacity of the V8 measures just under a liter per cylinder. That gives big explosions.
The rest of the car is also as durable as a tank. Every component, from the indestructible interior to the double wishbone racing suspension, has been rigorously tested by the Century team, and is built for pounding through the wilderness. Behind the sump guards, cartel bosses would gratefully hide in a firefight.
Tim and Tom Coronel replace ‘the Beast’ with the Century CR6
‘The Beast’ is what Tim and Tom Coronel have called their heavily rebuilt Baja buggies in recent years. And those beasts became more and more beastly. With the Century CR6, the racing brothers take another step. Although ‘the Beast’ did well, he lacked the sheer speed needed to set top times. The CR6 can easily reach a top speed of 170 km/h with ease, offering better chances for top ten classifications.
However, with speed comes a risk. The faster it goes, the easier it is to make a mistake and drive damage. Tom and Tim will therefore have to take it easy, and that is not always easy for the brothers. The 44th Dakar Rally will start on January 2, 2022 from Ha’il in Saudi Arabia and finish two weeks later in Jeddah (also in Saudi Arabia). Last year, Tim and Tom became twenty-sixth.