RE: 2008 DKR unleashed!
Tuesday 15th April 2014
It's rare for manufacturer's to undersell the visual impact of a car. Too often tiny details are massively over exaggerated, usually to create some sense of sportiness or excitement. So Peugeot's modesty in discussing the 2008 DKR's appearance is interesting. Apparently it still 'shares an unmistakable family resemblance with Peugeot's road-going crossover, albeit with more muscular forms and more imposing overall proportions'. More muscular than a 2008? Yes, like a WWE wrestler is more muscular than a marathon runner. Still share a human resemblance, right?
Mmm yeah, looks just like a 2008The DKR just looks absurd, with the merest styling concessions to the 2008 production car. Where to start? The front is radically different with barely any overhang to allow the best approach angles. The wheels are 37 inches in diameter. It's a three-door shell, unlike any roadgoing 2008. Alright, the rear lights are fairly familiar but now sit between two sizeable exhausts and a spoiler the size of a surfboard. It's a bloody terrifying thing.
They're 37-inch wheels!Other drivetrain details are absent at present but that styling surely necessitates something appropriately powerful. And very loud.
2008 DKR unleashed!
Peugeot shows off next year's Dakar racer; all nearby run and hide
Mmm yeah, looks just like a 2008
If the look of it wasn't scary enough, Peugeot's decision to go 2WD (presumably to the rear) with the 2008 DKR should do the trick. Best leave the explanation to them: "We carried out an in-depth analysis of what already existed in the world of cross-country rallying and weighed up the benefits of the different solutions. In the end, we opted for an approach that was quite different to that of the competition. Given the off-road capability of two-wheel drive transmission and its ability to run on sand, that's the choice we ultimately went for. It enabled us to fit bigger wheels and also to benefit from more suspension travel." That's the view of Project Leader at Peugeot Sport, Jean-Christophe Pailler.
They're 37-inch wheels!
Carlos Sainz is confident that two-wheel drive isn't an issue having contested in the last two Dakars without four-wheel drive. "I am convinced it is a solution that can win the event". We'll be following this Peugeot Sport project with interest; can it do the same at the Dakar as at Pikes Peak?
Discussion
British Beef said:
37" tyres surely... not 37" wheels.
The French seeme excellent at marketing intersting race cars which resemble nothing that they actually sell to the public for use on the roads, or anything that has even a pretence of being similar.
The same strategy has worked rather well for Ferrari and McLaren with their F1 cars. The French seeme excellent at marketing intersting race cars which resemble nothing that they actually sell to the public for use on the roads, or anything that has even a pretence of being similar.
How does this square with Peugeot requiring a 3bn Euro rescue package from the French state and China and deciding to cut their model range in half, in order to try and return to profit?
Surely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows f
k all about?
Surely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows f
k all about?
Wow. menoy said:
British Beef said:
37" tyres surely... not 37" wheels.
(...)
Doesn't a tyre constitute part of a complete wheel? (...)
They are 37" or 94cm diameter tyres. The wheels are probably around 18".
I find it very interesting that they have opted for 2WD, incredible that they have the audacity to think they can traverse the Andes and vast rocky deserts at speed with 2WD when the mums near me need all four wheels driven to pick the kids up from school.
Edited by MiseryStreak on Tuesday 15th April 16:03
10 Pence Short said:
How does this square with Peugeot requiring a 3bn Euro rescue package from the French state and China and deciding to cut their model range in half, in order to try and return to profit?
Surely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows fk all about?
hmmm, and having pulled out of sportscar racing at the last minute when they had already invested the bulk of what would have been needed for another seasonSurely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows f
k all about?If the car is in that exact form, I'm semi suspicious it's wrongly wheeled and tyred for the Dakar (in fine PH tradition, I am actually asserting that 15 seconds looking at some pictures makes me more knowledgeable than an entire French car maker).
Looks like not enough flotation at the back or overall for its track and weight. They will need extra to compensate for the lack of driven wheels. Assume fairly special LSD too, or it's going nowhere. Powerful it may be, but if your tyres are too small, it counts for nought.
ETA: the exclamation (twice!) that they are 37" wheels is annoying and really does make the place look very untidy. Sort it out, please?
ETAA: I take it all back. I've thought about it some more and I think Sainz occasionally suffers from having too wide of a track on his car. When you're in standard sized wheel tracks/ruts at speed and youre a foot wider than them, it's a pain in the arse and can contribute to lots more punctures. Peugeot have nailed it and will win everything in site.
ETAAA: I've been drinking.
ETAAAA: I've thought about it some more. I now think that it is over tyred for its track. They've had to go big on tyres to compensate for less driven wheels, but stuck with what looks like a track width similar to that of the 4wd cars. I think this will bring them undone on sandy descents. Expect all of these to roll over and catch fire spectacularly.
Looks like not enough flotation at the back or overall for its track and weight. They will need extra to compensate for the lack of driven wheels. Assume fairly special LSD too, or it's going nowhere. Powerful it may be, but if your tyres are too small, it counts for nought.
ETA: the exclamation (twice!) that they are 37" wheels is annoying and really does make the place look very untidy. Sort it out, please?
ETAA: I take it all back. I've thought about it some more and I think Sainz occasionally suffers from having too wide of a track on his car. When you're in standard sized wheel tracks/ruts at speed and youre a foot wider than them, it's a pain in the arse and can contribute to lots more punctures. Peugeot have nailed it and will win everything in site.
ETAAA: I've been drinking.
ETAAAA: I've thought about it some more. I now think that it is over tyred for its track. They've had to go big on tyres to compensate for less driven wheels, but stuck with what looks like a track width similar to that of the 4wd cars. I think this will bring them undone on sandy descents. Expect all of these to roll over and catch fire spectacularly.
Edited by Reardy Mister on Tuesday 15th April 17:00
Edited by Reardy Mister on Tuesday 15th April 17:06
Edited by Reardy Mister on Tuesday 15th April 17:09
Reardy Mister said:
If the car is in that exact form, I'm semi suspicious it's wrongly wheeled and tyred for the Dakar (in fine PH tradition, I am actually asserting that 15 seconds looking at some pictures makes me more knowledgeable than an entire French car maker).
No need for all that mass and width up front and not enough flotation at the back. They will need extra to compensate for the lack of driven wheels. Assume fairly special LSD too, or it's going nowhere. Powerful it may be, but if your tyres are too small, it counts for nought.
It will be mid engined, won't it?No need for all that mass and width up front and not enough flotation at the back. They will need extra to compensate for the lack of driven wheels. Assume fairly special LSD too, or it's going nowhere. Powerful it may be, but if your tyres are too small, it counts for nought.
i love it when French manufacturers go completely rat-arsed bonkers. they are normally so boring and staid, producing incredibly dull and worthy vehicles, that when they let rip on something like this, i just can't help but laugh.
Renault's mad moments typically take the form of force-feeding F1 insanity into an espace or a clio, and peugeot goes large off-road, producing cars that Master Blaster would shy away from as being too ostentatious.
Vive la folie francaise!
Renault's mad moments typically take the form of force-feeding F1 insanity into an espace or a clio, and peugeot goes large off-road, producing cars that Master Blaster would shy away from as being too ostentatious.
Vive la folie francaise!
10 Pence Short said:
How does this square with Peugeot requiring a 3bn Euro rescue package from the French state and China and deciding to cut their model range in half, in order to try and return to profit?
Surely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows fk all about?
Take your sensibilities elsewhere, this looks freaking awesome!Surely they'd be better off investing in volume product than a race barely anyone outside of motorsport knows f
k all about?
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