Diesel automobiles are frequent on the Dakar Rally right now, however Ramón Termens made historical past in 1987 when he and Miguel Prieto scored the primary top-ten general end for such a car of their Nissan Patrol Fanta Limón. His household confirmed his passing on Thursday.
Termens and Prieto first teamed up in 1986 as Nissan Motorsport fashioned a partnership with Coca-Cola to subject the Patrol in rally raids. Dubbed the Nissan Patrol Fanta Limón to mirror Coca-Cola’s sponsorship, the automobile featured a 2,800cc four-cylinder turbodiesel engine able to 146 horsepower with a high velocity of 150 km/h. It had already loved success with Prieto and numerous co-drivers by successful the diesel class on the Tunis Rally and Baja España Aragón, however Termens’ début because the Patrol’s navigator was a coming-out social gathering as he and Prieto received the Rallye des Pharaons outright.
The duo then entered the Paris–Dakar Rally in 1987 as considered one of two Patrols. The Nissan Fanta Limón group struggled early when their help truck broke down in Stage #2, forcing them to proceed with out spare tyres earlier than their #212 team-mates Jorge and Hansi Bäbler have been compelled to retire after rolling down a dune. Prieto and Termens’ #211 automobile reached the end in ninth general to win the diesel class, whereas additionally turning into the primary diesel automobile to position within the high ten.
The #211 was retired shortly after and donated to the Salvador Claret Vehicle Assortment in Spain. It sat within the museum for 3 many years earlier than the Nissan Technical Centre Europe found it in 2014, receiving it in poor situation because of neglect. The group finally started an intensive restoration effort with the aim of completion by 2017 to have a good time the thirty-year anniversary of its Dakar effort. Led by Pedro Diaz Illan, a member of the 1987 Dakar group, NTCE completed the mission by November 2016.
“The spirit of innovation that was on the coronary heart of Nissan’s entry into the 1987 Paris-Dakar has been throughout us as we now have accomplished this mission,” stated NTCE technician Juan Villegas. “We felt impressed by the reminiscence of that group, which determined to take part in probably the most difficult race on the planet and achieved such success.”
Termens continued to race a Patrol at Dakar into the Nineties, save for a one-off in 1991 the place he and Ignacio Bultó completed thirty-eighth in a Vary Rover. In 1992, he and Anny-Charlotte Verney, the one lady to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans ten occasions whose grandfather based the endurance race, completed twenty-first general.
His son Francesc Termens has additionally adopted in his footsteps and is a multi-time champion within the Spanish Cross-Nation Rally Championship (CERTT) throughout the T1, T2, and Diesel classes. In 2006, he received the FIA Bajas World Cup in T2.
In 2022, the youthful Termens raced a 1986 Patrol modelled after his father’s Rallye des Pharaons winner on the Dakar Traditional, an navigation-based occasion adjoining to the Dakar Rally for pre-2000 automobiles. He completed fifty-ninth general.
“Going into the Dakar Traditional with a restored car, which my very own father made, is absolutely thrilling on a sporting degree, however on a private degree it’s the greatest,” stated Francesc previous to the race. “The car shall be painted with the identical blue, purple, and white colours with which he and Miguel Prieto received the Pharaons Rally in 1986. They achieved an absolute victory and that is one of the best ways to pay tribute to their total sporting lives.”
