Toyota 1000 Desert Race

[Duncan]

Hi guys

Been a long time since I posted on AL. Most of my time these days are taken up looking after the sister site -AutoBotswana. However, I do now and then check out AL and keep up to date with whats going on in your neck of the woods

Glad to see lots of activity in the SL motoring scene.

In case any of you are interested, we just had the TOYOTA 1000 KALAHARI BOTSWANA DESERT RACE which was held over 15,16 & 17 June. A total didtance of 1000km of off-road racing was held. Production vehicles, purpose built vehicles, bikes and quads made up the 350+ entries that started the race. However, due it's toughness on both man and machine only less than 1/2 finished on Sunday.

Amongst the factory works teams, the fight was between Toyota and Nissan. Nissan has won this race 5 years running and Toyota was determined to win their own race and get some pride back. Having qualified in pole, Toyota lead the race upuntil 45km before the finish, when disaster struck handing the win over to Nissan. 6 Years in a row win in one of the top 10 toughest off-road races in the world, Nissan has the bragging rights this year.

On the purpose built vehicle front the fight was as tense. These monstors sporting V8, 5000+cc engines, churning our in excess of 550HP, it was quite a sight to see them do 200km+ through rough terrain.

With this race become ever popular each year, the Govt. has now given us the go-ahead to turn it into a DAKAR rival. So we are now working on a 5 year plan to achieve this.

For articles on this race, visit www.autobotswana.com home page or the gallery for pictures.

Cheers guys!!

[Bugatti]

Thanks man,

'AutoBotswana' has got some cool vehicles for sale..

[Pericles]

Cool scene

What are the vehicles on the production class? Pickups?

[Duncan]

Pickups and SUVs. All built to spec by the factories. Privateers also buy from the local factories.

SP (Super Production) Class is the top end. Costs around USD300,000 to buy one. Gear box costs around USD 50,000 a piece, and some of these teams (including the privateers) run three boxes a race weekend. One for quali, one for day 1 and another for day 2. Then a new set for the next race. UNREAL!!