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MINI to debut at rally

Published:Sunday | December 12, 2010 | 12:00 AM
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Former World 100-metre record holder Asafa Powell got his feet wet at the Palisadoes International Raceway, Kingston recently, where he got a lesson in go-kart racing, from the president of the Jamaica Karting Asso-ciation, Peter Rae. It was a birthday gift to Powell who celebrated his birthday on November 23. - Contributed
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TREBUR (Germany):

The X-raid Team unveiled an exciting new cross-country motorsport programme to run and develop the MINI All4 Racing in international competition.

The project was first discussed in the summer of 2009 and the competitive debut of the new MINI All4 Racing will be in the hands of the French rally crew of Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Michel Périn in January's 33 Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile. The event starts in Buenos Aires on New Year's Day and finishes in the Argentine capital on Sunday, January 16, 2011.

The new MINI All4 Racing will form part of X-raid's seven-car Dakar team - the largest ever entered by a team in the 33-year history of the world's most famous off-road rally - and the third of three vehicles running on the event under the Monster Energy X-raid Team banner.

X-raid team director Sven Quandt began looking at the feasibility of the project in 2009, and held initial discussions with automotive engineering and manufacturing company Magna Steyr and BMW, to see whether the new model was a realistic replacement for the BMW/MINI X3 CC - which has earned the Trebur-based team three successive FIA World Cup for cross-country rally titles since 2008.

Quandt received the green light for the new project from BMW in June 2010 and Magna Steyr gave their full approval on September 24. Initial plans for the new project were discussed at length throughout October in Graz, Austria.

The MINI Design team and Magna have managed the design of the vehicle. Quandt and engineer Martin Ertl, a former X-raid staff engineer who also manages a Formula 3 racing team, have overseen the new project on behalf of X-raid.

Series of tests

Construction of the new MINI All4 Racing cross-country rally car began in November and has continued into December. The car will be put through a first series of tests in France on December 13 and 14. It will then be transported by airfreight to South America for final preparations for scrutineering in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.

The MINI will be powered by variable twin-turbo diesel engine, that is fitted to the 2011-specification BMW X3 CC and built in Steyr, the same place as the MINI and BMW

diesel engines are made. The power unit delivers in the region of 315hp and 710Nm of torque. This is an increase compared to the output of the 2010-specification BMW X3 CCs used on the Dakar Rally to seal fourth and fifth places last January.

"This is a major development in cross-country rallying and something of which we are very excited," admitted Quandt. "There has been a very short time between the decision to go ahead and the roll out for the next Dakar, but we are confident that the new MINI All4 Racing will be competitive out of the 'box'.