Marc Coma, as sports director, has used his motorcycle experience in this event and his good relationship with the drivers of all categories to be able to capture the main idea in the tour: to make of hardness and difficulty, two main elements in this Dakar.
CHECKPOINTS. "I want the navigation to return to the place it deserves. That the pilots who manage to dominate this section will see it reflected in the final result, "said Coma in the presentation of the final route of the Dakar 2017 in Barcelona.
The main difference compared to last year will be in the so-called Way Point Control (WPC), that is, the controls that will have to pass the participants. Before, they used the so-called Way Point Masque, that had a coverage radius of 800 meters. When you were 800 meters from the control, the GPS would open and showed with an arrow the road for 600 meters to the point in particular.In the present Dakar, with the Way Point Control, the radius of coverage and the radius of validation is 300 meters and the pilots will no longer have arrows that indicate how to get to validate the Way Point Control.
LESS MEMORY ON THE GPS. In previous editions, the GPS incorporated a memory that allowed those who had lost, to go to an earlier point to return to continue with the route. But in 2017 it will not be like this.The GPS will continue to have a screen that memorizes the route that each participant does, but the direction of Dakar has limited GPS memory to only one km to make things even more difficult for pilots and co-drivers.
Other participants used the GPS memory to mathematically check which compass direction they were following, which they will no longer be able to do and should maximize their orientation skills to reach the goal of each leg.
CHANGE IN THE ENGINES OF THE CARS. In cars there has been a change of regulation following an FIA study last year.The flange has been extended to 38 mm in the intake volume."This makes the Toyota, which had more problems in height, come out reinforced.Peugeot was the great dominator of the race last year and Toyota with this change could be put to its height, "said Coma .-
"The change in the atmospheric pressure linked to the height has a different impact on the results of the vehicles. This fact, detailed in the study of the 'Balance of performances' carried out for several years by the FIA (International Automobile Federation), causes a modification of the regulations regarding the diameter of the air intake flanges that feed The engine with oxygen, "explains the organization of the Dakar. In this sense, it is important to note that the modification of the intake flanges of the air entering the engine causes the engine power to vary.
For this law of physics not to penalize 4 × 4 gasoline vehicles so much, they will be allowed to be equipped with flanges of 38 mm (+1 mm vs 2016), which will place them at the same level as their rivals. The same FIA study that reduced the Peugeot's flange to 38mm (-1mm vs. 2016).At the beginning of the Dakar 2017 then, the cars concerned by the conquest of the title in the category will depart with flanges of the same diameter.
STAGE MARATHON WITH PARK OF PILOTS. Another novelty of this year will be the introduction of a marathon stage with format of work park in which the pilots, without the famous assists. In this way, the drivers can exchange pieces between them, something that according to the sports director of the test "will generate interesting situations."
A DAKAR OF MUCH HEIGHT. One of the main determinants of the race will be the height of Bolivia.With the intention of making a harder Dakar, this course will run a total of 6 days in height, taking the pilots to express to the maximum their physical condition and having to fight against the feared altitude sickness.