Romanian affordable car manufacturer Dacia has confirmed its intention to participate in a number of rally events next year, including the formidable Dakar. In order to be competitive, the company built an all-terrain vehicle named the Sandrider.
It is a dedicated rally off-roader with four driven wheels and a 3.0-liter V6 under the hood pumping out 360 PS (355 hp / 265 kW). It is based on a tube-frame chassis and is 4,140 mm (161.7 inches) long with 3 meters (117.2 inches) of wheelbase. The exterior corresponds to that of the recently unveiled Manifesto Concept.
The body design is extremely basic with some panels removed for efficiency and others replaced with lightweight carbon-fiber ones. Dacia claims this specific exterior shape lets the Sandrider experience 10% less drag compared to other vehicles in the class and curb the rising force by a further 40%. A fairly low-displacement engine and the generous use of carbon throughout let the engineers drop the weight by 15 kilos (33 pounds).
The double-wishbone suspension that the ATV rides on has 350 mm (14 inches) of travel. For the wheel, the Sandrider uses 17-inch rims shod in the latest BFGoodrich all-terrain tires measuring 37 inches across. The engine burns Aramco synthetic fuel and gets 539 Nm (398 lb-ft) of peak torque.
The project has been a collaboration with Prodrive UK. Dacia’s in-house racing team isn’t too shabby, either, with Sebastien Loeb and quintuple Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah in it.
The Sandrider will hit the rally track for the first time at the World Rally-Raid Championship in Morocco this October.