Generally, the slightest adjustment can set off main modifications.
Rainbow Truck Crew discovered this out for themselves after they had been making certain their MAN TGA truck complied with new FIA rules forward of the Rallye du Maroc. It was a easy change on paper: the gas tank wanted to be moved barely additional again.
Because it turned out, the crew needed to rearrange fairly a good quantity on the rear to accommodate. Whereas they famous the modifications weren’t “too main,” it nonetheless demanded “some brainpower and puzzling.”
“Any change to a rally truck triggers a kind of chain response,” quipped the crew.
One notable change is that the tyre rack has been repositioned in order that spares stand upright quite than laying flat on their facet. The toolboxes needed to be relocated to the rear for higher weight distribution; to succeed in them, two doorways have been put in.
Rainbow joked that the doorways might additionally double as an anti-nerfing mechanism.
“Behind them is an innovation: when a competitor will get too near the rear bumper, these packing containers spring open, and utilizing an ingenious spring mechanism, two boxing gloves come out, pushing the tailgater again to a secure distance,” they remarked.
(There’s technically no rule forbidding a automotive from deploying weapons a la Mario Kart. This isn’t an endorsement to strive it, nevertheless, given the FIA’s driver equity and behavior insurance policies.)
Though not precisely reinventing the wheel with the modifications, the crew was in no hurry to make the modifications as Morocco was solely their second race of the yr after the Dakar Rally in January. Gerrit Zuurmond positioned fifteenth within the Truck class, being set again by a Chrono Stage retirement however finally reaching the end. Rainbow additionally fielded a hydrogen-based Volkswagen Amarok for Dick Zuurmond in Mission 1000 that completed seventh.
The truck will head to Almería in Spain on Sunday, the place it is going to be shipped to Morocco for the rally. Afterwards, Rainbow plans to run the 2025 Africa Eco Race as an alternative of the Dakar to commemorate their tenth anniversary.
“The Rallye du Maroc is a shorter rally, however definitely to not be underestimated,” mentioned the crew. “All the things must be in good order, and you’ll rely on the boys who work on the rally truck each week to make sure that.”
The Rallye du Maroc is scheduled for six–11 October. Zuurmond completed runner-up in school on the 2023 version.
