MAKING REGION PROUD
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Middle East Teams In Porsche Transsyberia Dash
Following the region’s very successful debut in the 2007 Transsyberia rally, Porsche Middle East & Africa and Porsche Centre Doha, Al Boraq Automobiles Co. w.l.l., will be represented once again this year at one of the world’s toughest endurance rallies.
This year’s race will run between July 11 and 25 and will once again feature an extremely demanding route to be raced by 4×4 production vehicles. It will start from the famous Red Square in Moscow and continue across 7,100 kilometres of public roads, gravel tracks and the toughest trial paths over 14 daily stages. The competitors will also be forced to cross rivers and run special tests in the Gobi Desert before they arrive at the finish line in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital.
Two teams, Team Middle East and Team Qatar, will represent Porsche from the Middle East region. Last year, Team Qatar achieved an overall third-place on its rally debut, arriving at the finishing line just 23 minutes behind the winner. And, piloted once again by Adel Hussain Abdulla alongside navigator Norbert Lutteri, Team Qatar admit they want to run an even more successful rally this time around. Saeed Al Hajri, meanwhile, leads Team Middle East into the race, and is partnered by Tim Trenker as his codriver.
Both teams will be racing an enhanced version of the Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia that took the first three places in the rally last year. Once again, though, this production Porsche will boast a 4.8-litre V8 engine that produces a total of 385 bhp and 369 lb-ft or torque. This high output can translate into an acceleration time of 6.8 seconds for the 0-100 km/h dash and a top speed of 170 km/h (limited by special tyres to cope with the demanding terrain).
The 2008-specification features a stronger and newly formed sump guard. The front and rear panels, meanwhile, have been modified to allow a larger angle of driving slope, and an all-terrain off-road tyre from BF Goodrich has increased ground clearance by 30 millimetres. Compared to last year, the higher and stronger sidewalls offer better protection against tyre damage.
The Cayenne’s air suspension has been re-tuned and the standard shock absorbers were replaced with special rally shocks.
Particularly for the fast, bumpy sections of the rally, the vehicle’s handling is substantially smoother than the 2007 version. Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC), which features two active anti-roll bars to almost completely eliminate body sway in bends, was adapted to withstand the special Transsyberia demands.
The Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia, which is also available to customers, is equipped with a massive safety cage, and two bucket seats and six-point harnesses for driver and co-driver. The weight-reduced sports exhaust system gives the model a particularly powerful sound.
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