X-Raid shows off its new T1+ beast for the Dakar: “It’s so fast!”

To be first in the Dakar in the car category, it is necessary to have a T1+. The T1+ is a type of car that debuted at last year’s Dakar so that 4x4s can be compared in performance to two-wheel drive buggies. The explanation is simple, two-wheel drive cars have larger wheels and more suspension travel, which allows them to perform better on different surfaces. One of them is in stone. The 4x4tThey had to go through the rocks at a slower speed and still made a lot of holes. This is how the T1+ was born. With a T1+ he won the 2022 Dakar Nasser Al-Attiyah with Toyota, for example. This is the natural step for all 4×4 manufacturers who want to win. And therefore, one of the most powerful structures in the world of raids, X-Raid also wants to take that step forward. now, all this is a fact. This Monday saw the presentation of the new Mini John Cooper Works Plus, which will be presented in Dakar with two units with the aim of being at the top.

The MINI X-Raid will also bet on the path of a sustainable future followed by the Dakar and will run on second-generation HVO fuel, a “biodiesel made from used vegetable fats and plastic bottles, for example”. “As a result, the fuel does not compete with food production like HVO1. In addition, in the future the engine power will no longer be controlled by an air limiter, but electronically. With HVO fuel, the X-Raid is achieves a large CO2 savings”, said the team in the statement in which it presented its new animal.

Project led by Joan Navarro, Catalan engineer

“The MINI JCW Rally Plus is based on the all-wheel drive MINI JCW Rally and thus retains the typical MINI appearance in many areas. The notable exterior changes are the longer and wider front end and the wider wings. In addition, the engineers managed to optimize the aerodynamics, which improved the cooling of the brakes and shock absorbers”, pointed out MINI about this vehicle, which has a lot of Catalan blood, because the one more he was an engineer for Carlos Sainz since the X-Raid era (now an engineer for Carlos’ car at Audi), Joan Navarrowas commissioned to build this MINI T1+ as ‘project manager’.

The vehicle will be put to the test in its first Dakar in 2023, and although expectations are high, in a first year in a Dakar the most logical thing is that youth problems arise. But it can give a lot to talk about. X-Raid carried out 4 days of testing in France last week before the presentation to the world of a new animal that, in addition to “going very fast”, according to team sources told MD, is aesthetically groundbreaking.