Dakar Subaru rolls on Evo Corse Wheels

This year’s gruelling Dakar Rally will test machinery to its absolute limit. A Subaru Forester, prepared by South American Subaru agent Barattero Motorsport Group will compete in the 2010 event and the team has turned to Evo Corse to provide its ultra-string and durable Dakar race wheel in 16” fitment.

The car, with its complex multi-point roll cage has been developed with the full blessing of STi (Subaru Technica International). Officially named as the Forester BaraTEC Raid T1, the car is dubbed the Subaru-Elaion .

The development of the Rally Dakar vehicle is a joint venture of Indumotora, the Subaru importer, YPF Elaion lubricants (Repsol-YPF, the Spanish oil company) and the Barattero Motorsport Group with the build budget for this project estimated at an impressive $1.8 million.

The car is powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder boxer engine with 300 horsepower and 570 Nm of maximum torque. The suspension is developed by the Barattero Motorsport Group, a multi-link design with two shock absorbers, reinforced studs and a maximum travel of 225 mm.

Upon launching the car a spokesman for Barattero said. “We kept the Subaru symmetrical system, repeating the same components in each of the wheels. We use the same suspension, same disk brakes (ventilated 295 mm), the same callipers (AP aluminium), the same traction devices and the same wheels and tire sizes (235/85 R16).

Of course, it’s not the first time that the Dakar wheel has been chosen to cope with extreme terrain by those ‘in the know’. Nearly all British Army Land Rovers serving in Afghanistan rely on the superb build quality and strength of this wheel to keep them mobile on the most arduous of trails.

For more information on the Evo Corse competition range of wheels, visit evocorse.com.