Welcome to the Dakar Rally Challenge

Its only been a few days since the 2024 dakar rally ended so I decided to drop this challenge

History

The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar" (French: Le Rallye Dakar ou Le Dakar), formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally" (French: Le Rallye Paris-Dakar), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Security threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, and events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.

The rally is an off-road endurance event. The terrain that the competitors traverse is much tougher than that used in conventional rallying, and the vehicles used are typically true off-road vehicles and motorcycles, rather than modified on-road vehicles. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks, and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometres (500–560 mi) per day. The rough terrain and lack of skill usually results in accidents and serious injuries.

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Categories

The five competitive groups in the Dakar are the motorcycles, quads, the cars class (which ranges from buggies to small SUVs), UTVs, and the trucks class. Many vehicle manufacturers use the rally's harsh environment as both a testing ground and an opportunity to show off their vehicles' durability even though most vehicles are heavily modified from their production specification or purpose-built.

Motorbikes

Rally Dakar 2016
For the 2005 rally regulations introduced a limit of 450cc for twin cylinder motorbikes. Single cylinder motorbikes were still open class with no capacity limit.

As of 2011, the engine displacement limit for all motorbikes competing in the Dakar Rally is 450cc. Engines may be either single or twin cylinder. Riders are divided into two groups, RallyGP and Rally2.

A subcategory is the "Original by Motul" category (formerly named "Malle Moto" due to the only piece of luggage competitors were allowed to take with them was a "malle", a French term for box or trunk.), which refers to motorbikes and quads competing without any kind assistance. The organization provides assistance for this category with 4 people dedicated to the transportation of the competitors "malle" or boxes between bivouac sites plus any additional equipment or belongings. This includes: 1 trunk, 1 set of wheels, 1 sleeping tent, 1 travel bag, 1 set of tyres, free use of the generators, compressors and tool-boxes, and easy access to race information.[23] Since these competitors are not allowed to receive any outside support, each rider must service their own vehicle. It is often called the category for the toughest of the tough, and one for the Dakar purists.

KTM has dominated the motorcycle class in recent years, although Honda, Yamaha, Sherco, Husqvarna, and Gas Gas also compete currently. BMW and Cagiva have also enjoyed success in the past.

Quads

Prior to 2009, Quads were a subdivision of the motorbike category, but they were granted their own separate classification in 2009 and are designated Group 3 in the current regulations. They are divided into two subgroups – Group 3.1, which features two-wheel drive quads with a single cylinder engine with a maximum displacement of 750cc, and Group 3.2, which permits four-wheel drive quads with a maximum engine displacement of 900cc, in either single or twin cylinder layout.

Yamaha are unbeaten in the Quad category since 2009, with their main current opposition coming courtesy of Honda and Can-Am.

Cars

The car class is made up of vehicles weighing less than 3,500 kg (7,716 lb), which are subdivided into several categories. The T1 Group is made up of "Improved Cross-Country Vehicles", subdivided according to engine type (petrol or diesel) and drive type (two-wheel or four-wheel drive). The T2 Group is made up of "Cross-Country Series Production Vehicles", which are subdivided into petrol and diesel categories, while the T3 Group is for "Light Vehicles". There is also an "Open" category catering for vehicles conforming to SCORE regulations.

Mini have been the most successful marque in the car category in recent years, thanks to the efforts of the non-factory X-raid team, with limited involvement currently coming from Toyota, Ford and Haval. Several constructors also produce bespoke buggies for the event, most notably SMG and Damen Jefferies.

Mitsubishi is historically the most successful manufacturer in the car class, with Volkswagen, Citroën, Peugeot and Porsche having all tasted success in the past with factory teams. Jean-Louis Schlesser has also won the event twice with his Renault-supported buggies. Factory teams from Nissan and SEAT have also won stages, as has BMW, courtesy of the X-raid team.

Trucks

Vladimir Chagin, "The Tsar of Dakar", is the most successful truck driver
The Truck class (Group T4), first run as a separate category in 1980, is made up of vehicles weighing more than 3,500 kg (7,716 lb). Trucks participating in the competition are subdivided into "Series Production" trucks (T4.1) and "Modified" trucks (T4.2), whilst Group T4.3 (formerly known as T5) trucks are rally support trucks – meaning they travel from bivouac to bivouac to support the competition vehicles. These were introduced to the rally in 1998. The truck event was not run in 1989 after it was decided the vehicles, by this stage with twin engines generating in excess of 1000 horsepower, were too dangerous following the death of a DAF crew member in an accident during the 1988 rally.

Kamaz has dominated the truck category since the turn of the century, although it has come under increasing pressure from rivals such as Iveco, MAN, Renault, and Tatra, which enjoyed much success in the 1990s. Hino, DAF, Perlini, and Mercedes-Benz have also been among the winners in the past. In the 21st century Kamaz almost always won the truck class, winning fourteen out of eighteen times.

UTVs

The utility task vehicle (UTV) category was introduced in 2017. Before this, UTVs ran under the car category as the T3 class. The class rapidly gained in popularity, and in 2021 the class was further subdivided into separate T3 light prototypes category, and T4 SSVs, which are based on production vehicles.

Classics

A new Dakar Classic class was introduced in 2021 for cars and trucks manufactured before 2000, or new vehicles built to original pre-2000 specification. These vehicles share the same bivouac and the organization but run in a parallel, yet different route, suitable for historic vehicles. The scoreboard is not based on fastest time, but rather on regularity rally point scoring system. The class feature a reduced entry fee, yet the same rules and fees apply for the assistance.

Experimentals

In this challenge I will add a 6th group, the Experimental Class, I define it as "A class of ground vehicle made specifically to compete in the FIA and FIM Rally category that is not limited by the current regulations of the 5 competitive groups in the dakar rally, it is an open class with no limitations *(tho keep it realistic).

Each group with also have 3 different categories and their guidelines:

-Replica: As it suggests, its a replica of a real world example of a vehicle that has or will compete in the Dakar rally.

-Realistic Fictional: A partly fictional but realistic build that follows the past and present regulations of the FIA for all vehicles.

-Experimental Fictional (open class): An almost completely fictional but physically possible vehicle made to compete in the Dakar rally.

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Rules

>Max part count of 1500
>No other mods except tracks 2 and SP extra
>Deadline is March 30th at 10pm EST

Good luck fellow players, I wish you all the best :)

TTO

01/26/24