Logistic backbone of the rally – service vehicles from MAN
The Dakar Rally is a challenge not only for the participants and the competing vehicles – it is also a huge logistic task for the teams and the organisers. When the rally starts a huge company sets off to support, supply and equip the racing drivers and their companions in service in the desert. At the same time the convoy of vehicles must also be able to supply itself since the desert tracks and off-road routes put the service vehicles and their crews to the ultimate test. From spare parts through to tyres, from the mechanics through to the team bosses – all the material and each and everyone must be transported over more than 9000 kilometres to the destination in Dakar - just in time!
To support the numerous works and private teams with MAN vehicles in their struggle to beat both the clock and the harshness of the steppes and the desert, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge sent along its own service vehicle in the Dakar 2006 for the first time. The six-wheeler MAN TGA 26.480 6x6 BB with three experienced mechanics on board and a load of special tools and all commonly needed spare parts was at the camp each evening to provide help and advice if any problems had come up. The teams greatly welcomed this new service facility, as it enabled them to concentrate on their actual task of racing or providing assistance. Apart from this they were able to cut down their lown logistics input for transporting spare parts, in some cases considerably.
"MAN may be sending you into the desert but we won’t be leaving you on your own there!" That could be the leitmotif of MAN’s commitment to the Rally Raid motor sports.
