EDIT: Made some changes, so got a new picture. Also, combined with my off-road vehicle post just to consolidate things.
BUGGY:
For the first time Alkaev Auto Industries (AAI, USA) has entered into a long range endurance off-road race. Their motorsports teams have usually kept to traditionally rally racing or touring cars. However, they have decided to create a one-off modified version of a model of theirs that flopped in the early 1980’s, since they had plenty of intact specimens to tinker with. Thus, AAI presents El Buggo, their entry into the Buggy class.
This originally was something they had designed for the Australian market but had lost out in sales to their competitors, and had barely done any better in the USA. The naturally-aspirated 4.2L V8 was bored out to 4.5L and re-engineered, featuring a new aluminum block and headers; the latter which had been upgraded to three valves per cylinder. Loud and powerful, AAI hopes to use its relatively good power to weight ratio to gain an edge, along with their in-house designed 4x4 system–another first for AAI.
The driver is Noah Møller (Danish, 20), who has had moderate success. While he has no big wins he has proven reasonably consistent in other events. The co-driver and navigator is Mikhail Alkaev (American, 25). A third generation Russian-American and nephew to the current owner of AAI. For them both, this is their first attempt at the Great Archanean Trek.
OFFROAD:
The Trotter is a custom made vehicle sponsored by Alkaev Auto Industries (AAI). It is made from a hybrid of portions of a light truck consisting of some of its frame, suspension, and 4x4 system mated to the chassis and body of a hatchback; both taken from AAI model vehicles. Besides the intensive chassis and suspension work, the 2.7L I4 block was custom made with rather bizarre proportions to ensure it fit as much displacement into the already small engine bay. It was also turbo charged to assist with low end torque. The weight savings were not as much as expected, with the Trotter weighing in just under 1400 kg. Still, with its punchy amount of torque and short wheelbase, the AAI sponsored team hopes to make do.
The driver is Louis Lecuyer (France, 20), with Braden Burns (Ireland, 26) as the co-driver.
Files are below:
1991TrekOffroad-SuperLemonade - Alkaev Trotter.car (34.1 KB)
1991TREK-SuperLemonade - El Buggo.car (39.8 KB)