A “miracle” in the desert or how to lift a 12-ton truck

The pilot of KH-7 Epsilon Team’s MAN 6×6 truck, Jordi Juvantenyadded this January 31 dakar. By his side, his great friend and co-pilot José Luis Criado reached number 32. Everything happened to them in the most difficult race in the world, but they will not forget the Dakar 2023. Jordi and José Luís want to give back a small part of the joy that the Dakar gave them by working hard in 2022 in a project that should help the future of the career. They were presented as a lead in the project. This year was marked in red for the entry of competitors running on hydrogen, but they found that, due to the complexity of this company, they were the only ones who dared to present themselves in Saudi Arabia with a hybrid truck with a system to replace 30 40% of diesel for completely clean fuel: hydrogen.

The first surprise came on December 8. “When the truck was on the ship and traveling to Saudi Arabia, the FIA ​​sent us an e-mail saying that since the hydrogen projects are not ready for this year, they have postponed the hydrogen regulation in 2024”Juvanteny revealed to MD.

The second surprise came when they were in Saudi Arabia. “They told us we couldn’t compete because there was no published regulation.” They are 3 complex days and many changes. “On the last day they changed our bib number 4 times.” They even proposed to run the stages with diesel and use only hydrogen in the links. But that’s not the idea. The KH-7 Epsilon Team has worked on a system that will be useful not only for the Dakar, but also for the future of the product. Specifically, for port of Barcelonahis technological sponsor, who is interested in analyzing the data from his truck in Dakar and the subsequent tests to draw valid conclusions for the use of hydrogen in the transport of goods.

“At the Port of Barcelona, ​​6,000 trucks come in every day. And besides trucks, we must think about ships, planes, mining, public works machinery. Hydrogen has a lot to say, Juvanteny coached MD in the run-up to Dakar. For all this, it is important that they can compete with a system that, when tested by FIA technicians, positively surprised everyone. There is no point in racing on diesel alone. And finally, after much doubt, ASO created a special category at the last minute so that the KH-7 Epsilon Team could compete outside the FIA ​​cars, as the only car in the ‘Challenge New Energy’ class, but starting late, 15 minutes away. apart, that the earth was completely destroyed and knew that they would come at night every day. The challenge of reaching the goal is very complex.

“In a star hotel”

The crew goes through each day with a record, showing that the hydrogen system works like a charm. and at times similar to what they did in previous years, although this time more sustainably. They embroider it, but everything went wrong in stage 12.

The team tries to climb a large dune where there are several trucks and a car with complications. “We are only three meters away from achieving it”Juvanteny recalled. The pilot had to reverse the gear, back about 100 meters. And when it was almost down, a patch of sand broke away and the truck fell to the right. It is impossible to lift it. They had to spend the night there, and because the truck overturned, they had to take off their sleeping bags and lie down on the sand. “This is a star hotel. If we were in a position to taste it, it was brutal. It was cold, but not too much and with the sleeping bag it was fine”Jordi said.

“The next day they told us they would come to help us. And after 24 hours, in the middle of the afternoon, two vehicles from the organization arrived. They told us that two trucks were coming, but they could not make it because the site was difficult to access”he added. They started working with what they had. They were a total of 9 people and two vehicles. Using 10-meter slings, they pulled the truck to move it centimeter by centimeter and, in turn, moved the sand. With the tires out of sand under them and the truck wobbling, resting on the chassis, along with the other two vehicles they began to stretch it to lift it a little, speeding non-stop through the vehicles as they added sand on one side so that the truck will lean on it and raise its inclination. They pulled again, and the third time, with four cars linked two by two in the form of a small train, the 12-ton truck rose. “It’s a miracle!”, Juvanteny said. They all started to shout with joy.

It was late, and there they were offered some pasta dishes in the middle of the desert. “It’s pasta with boat sauce… but it’s delicious!”, remember the Catalan, because he assured them that the nerves they suffered from had hardly eaten all day. The next morning, it was time to leave the complex and then travel more than 950 km by road to Dammam. They came, but left. Of course, they were happy to get their truck out there and show their adventure the good performance of their hydrogen system, providing relevant data for the Port of Barcelona. Now, they hope that in 2024 the FIA, with their help, will create a regulation that will allow them to compete like any other truck. All this, after making history. They became pioneers.