Nissans at Dakar 2019 Update

So it could be worse….

With only three Nissans running there really wasn’t much hope of a great finish but there has been some sign of future success.

Of the three, two are still running.

The #319 of Jurgen Schroder, the most experienced and battle tested of the three teams has been forced to bow out after Stage 6. Engine issues had taken them out on Stage 5 but with repairs to the vehicle they were able to restart the race on Stage 6 to contest the 2nd half of the Dakar. It was not to be. Stage 6 saw a return of engine troubles and this time they could not be repaired. Reportedly some sort of crankshaft failure that melted a sensor (at least that is the Google German translation.

The #429 rookie team of Shameer Variawa running their Frontier/Navarra in only its second event had issues on Stage 5 that prevented them from properly finishing the stage but were still running. The effected the minimal repairs and restarted Stage 6, again with the intent of contesting the 2nd half of the Dakar which is a new rule in ‘19. Prior Dakar’s had banned racers from running at all once they failed to finish a stage. Now there is a limited, one time “restart” allowed though such racers are relegated to a different class and cannot contend for the overall win. Still Variawa is running well, finished Stage 7 in 5th out of the 24 cars restarting under these rules and stands in 10th overall for those who took advantage of this new rule.

Lastly there is the #419 of Thomas Bell. This Nissan is still running and still in the big event, not having any serious mechanical or navigational issues that put them out of the event. Stage 7 saw the South African team finish the day in 50th place and running as high as 34th. Overall they sit 54th out of the 61 teams still running (99 started the event) with two three stages left.

Overall? The two rookies are still running which is a big deal and all have equipped themselves well, showing the platform does have potential and can run in the top 30-40 in this event. Nissan still needs more entries to really be a force but as always…we’ll take what we can get.

Nissans at Dakar 2019

Been following and posting this info for the past few years and 2019 is no different.

Three Nissan Navaras in this year’s Dakar, all coming out of the same Red Line Motorsport shop in South Africa. Two drivers are newbies to Dakar while one is an old hat.

Today, 1/8 marked the second day of the race…after an 80+ km “warmup” stage yesterday, today was about 350kms. What is really interesting this year is that near 100% of the racing over 10 days is done on the sand and in the dunes of Peru vs. the dirt/gravel and WRC like roads in recent editions. This puts a priority on route finding and sand skills.

The old hand, Jurgen Schroder in his #329 Navarra finished 37th out of 94 listed finishers and now sits in 36th overall in the event.

The newest entrant and one who may have the fastest effort once he gets a bit of experience is the #429 of Shameer Variawa who came across 66th today moving to 65th. He had trouble with navigation, a puncture and his starter today, so just finishing at all today is a win.

Lastly is the #419 Navarra of Thomas Bell, also in his first Dakar finishing 61st in the second stage, also improving his standing to 58th for the event.

Prior statistics say that only one of these entries will finish the event but I’m hoping for better as while navigation will be tough throughout the event the sand should create fewer impact related stress on the vehicle—though perhaps greater strain on the engine given having to keep tire spin and revs up in order to get through the deeper sections. I’ll keep updating as the race goes along and including photos as I find them.