The Russian Kamaz team, 13-times the champion of the Dakar truck class, unfortunately, lost their throne to Iveco in January this year. Undeterred, they have returned with an entirely new ultra-sophisticated truck and are bent on recovering their once dominant position.
The new Kamaz Master features a long aerodynamic bonnet stuffed with an all-new 980 horsepower, 12.5-litre diesel engine, capable of powering the truck to 160km/h via a 16-speed gearbox. It wore Red Bull’s monochromatic stealth livery during testing back in March, similar to Red Bull Racing’s F1 car, and the earliest version of Peugeot 2008 DKR which won the car class of Dakar 2016. Nicknamed ‘Kapotnik’, the cab truck was first revealed last year, but the team has since been concentrating on tuning their new monster to create a winner.
Recently, the truck had its competition debut at Russia’s Rally Raid Gold Cup of Kagan, driven by two-time Dakar winner Eduard Nikolaev. Kamaz team principal Vladimir Chagin liked what he saw and has mentioned that Kamaz has got high hopes for the truck and will continue to innovate as much as possible, pushing the cutting edge of technology as they once again eye the top step of Dakar’s podium.
