NORRA Announces Dates, Payment Plan, New Classes and More...

NORRA (National Off-Road Racing Association) has sent out invitations to prior racers and announced a number of changes to vehicle classes amongst other changes.  Some of the racer beneficial changes include a payment plan starting this month so you can stretch the cost out over a long period of time.  One of the class changes includes the elimination of a "rally" class and now includes three Rally-Raid classes (I would imagine "Rally-Raid Production" would cover most stage rally vehicles) and divides vehicles into a number of categories based on age and eliminates an "overall" winner (though adds an "overall" winner for each age category).

I don't know (OK, I'm pretty sure I won't) if I will return to this race in '16 but it was such a great/horrible/wonderful experience for me as a racer I can't help but recommend it to any rally/offroad racer out there.  Nowhere else in North America will you have a chance to race some 1000 miles in a single rally event.  Kudos to NORRA to continuing to make changes that benefit racers and not remaining static.

NORRA 2016 Announcement

SandBlast Rally Makes Cover of ADV Moto Magazine

Available digitally or at your local Barnes & Noble its good to see stage rally get coverage in a quality magazine here in the US. With the explosion of Dual Sport riding and motorcycles here in the US over the past few years this is great coverage for NASA's Rally Moto program. Besides the cover there are a number of pages devoted to additional photos and story. Of course everyone's favorite cowboy hat wearing Rally organizer/enthusiast/motorcycle rider made one of the shots...just a glutton for the camera lens...

Intro to Antonio Narino the Only American on a Bike in 2015 Dakar

The 2015 Dakar is upon us…

While American entrants have always been few and far between in the world’s most prestigious offroad race the ’15 edition is especially lacking in riders and drivers flying the red, white, and blue.  While Tony Gera was able to win a free entry into the event via his 2014 SCORE Desert Racing performance, it is only SoCal resident Antonio Narino who will be present on a bike from the US in this year’s event (as rider #164).

Originally from Columbia, Narino moved to the United States where he enrolled at Duke University to study business, a background that would result in his employment with Hunter Industries (a major irrigation company).  Like many in our world though, Narino had his priorities “straight” and one of the first things he bought upon arriving in America was a motorcycle in order to continue the passion he had picked up racing numerous enduros in his home country.  

This passion (Narino says he has never considered himself a real racer) lead him to build up his Rally-Raid and ADV resume over the past decade.  His travels (many solo) included two wheeled trips through Cambodia, Patagonia, Bolivia and Alaska.  On the racing side Narino ran in events such as the ’07 Por Las Pampas Rally, ’10 Rally dos Sertoes, and the ’07 Baja 500 and Vegas to Reno races as well as recent NORRA Mexican 1000 events and ’14 Baja Rally.  With this history as well as various desert training sessions including a visit to Morocco this past year and trips in both ’09 and ’12 to follow along with the traveling circus that is the Dakar, Narino is taking his first shot at entering the pinnacle of offroad racing this year.

While Antonio’s “nothing worth doing is ever easy” attitude is a major asset, as is his long term mountain biking and weight training regimen, he is participating in the ’15 Dakar as a Marathon/Malle-Moto entry.  This “pure” type of class allows no engine changes during the event (per Antonio the ASO reserves 20 spots per year for the Malle-Moto entrants for which you have to apply and be accepted into) and requires an individual to perform all their own maintenance and service—no crew, no mechanic, no assistance of any kind (not even to cook your food).  For the “privilege” of running this class the ASO provides you a “trunk” in which you have to store all your gear, spares, tools and equipment and will transport it to each bivouac.  In order to maintain absolute focus on the task at hand, Antonio has left all family and friends at home so as to eliminate any distractions.  Having seen racers at prior events bring their wives along and watched the drain on attention that this can bring, he felt his focus needed to be maintained on the race.

 

As of this writing, Antonio will have already arrived in Buenos Aires and unloaded his bike and be proceeding through scrutineering where each of the never ending checks administered by the ASO will be finished with a stamp, he has already completed a dream.  Just arriving at the start is a major accomplishment for any racer while an actual finish in the event is near unthinkable.

Having met and picked the brains of fellow American riders such as Andy Grider, Jonah Street, Kurt Caselli and Kellon Walch, Antonio believes he has picked up a few strategies that may get him to the finish.  In seeing the heights that the course reaches one might think that power loss might become an issue though Antonio has seen that the fuel injected nature of his bike largely mitigates that concern.  Communication issues can also present a problem with the ASO speaking all French, the spectators and many entrants speaking Spanish and practically everyone else attempting to get by on butchered English.  Fortunately Antonio speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese easing his communication with nearly everyone present.  Navigation should also be something Antonio has buttoned up having participated in and conducted training with Dave Peckham and Rally Management Services for a number of Dakar competitors who sought to perfect their navigation arts.

The real key to his success Antonio believes is to just keep moving.  Keeping up a minimum pace despite everything the Dakar will throw at him he knows will be a brutal proposition.  Breakdowns and errors are bound to happen, its dealing with them in an efficient manner that will keep him in the event.

Hopefully keeping the repairs to a minimum will be a combination of both Narino’s skills and the quality inherent in his chosen bike.  The 2013 Husqvarna 449 he will be riding will not be his own.  While he has been a long time rider of Husqvarnas, the logistics, expense and hassle of shipping and prepping his own bike from SoCal was actually more of a pain than his alternative plan.  Buying a fully Dakar prepped (Sentinal system with light and noise notification, navigation tower, etc.), yet very light and nimble (comparatively) Husqvarna 449 in Portugal and having it shipped to Buenos Aires along with the vast majority of other Dakar racers drastically simplified the process.

While most of us won’t be part of the millions following the 2015 Dakar in person, Antonio should be able to bring back some his experiences, lessons, tips, and stories for release either here or another publication TBD.

Nissan Returning to Super Bowl Advertising Showing Titan and Murano

For almost 20 years Nissan has been absent from advertising during the Super Bowl.  It has now announced plans to return with one produced by advertising powerhouse TBWA/Chiat/Day for the '15 edition of the Super Bowl in early February next year.

Why now?  Well, because Nissan has its three flagship vehicles with redesigns/introductions coming to production in the '15 model year.  For crossovers you have the new Murano which has seen a very recent introduction as a '15 model, for sedans you have the '16 Maxima which is to be introduced in the first half of '15 and of course and perhaps the focus of this ad you have the production of the '16 Nissan Titan diesel for trucks at the January NY Auto Show.  Though none of these will be Nissan's sales leaders (the Rogue, the Altima and the Frontier will likely still lead their category sales in '15) these are the top offerings in each segment and represent the models Nissan hopes its customers aspire to when buying the less expensive models.

Nissan Returns to Super Bowl Advertising...

2016 Nissan Titan Cummins Diesel Spy Shots

 Until now all the next generation Nissan Titan photos we have seen have been more or less merely test mules using the existing Nissan Titan body/frame with its new engine shoehorned into the bay.  Little was able to be discerned about the nature of the actual looks of the 2016 version.

With its full introduction only a few months away we are finally seeing what is likely a near production ready version of the coming diesel Titan being taken out on the road.  While still heavily camouflaged at this point there are a number of items worth pointing out in these photos.

First we have the single exhaust pipe and a small one at that.  Look at any heavy duty diesel truck and you will see a giant honking exhaust pipe hanging out the back to expend all those gases.  Evidently one example of how a smaller turbo diesel will change things up is in the exhaust design.  Lighter and in only a single outlet is different than a lot of the diesel trucks out there today.

Secondly we have evidence of the differentiation of the '16 Titan from its Ram counterpart.  The next gen Titan was originally going to be co-developed by Nissan and Chrysler/Dodge/Ram.  When that deal fell apart a few years back one wondered just how much would Nissan pull from the early Ram designs for its next fullsize truck.  Well, in terms of rear suspension??  Not much.  While Ram has moved to a coil sprung rear suspension these photos show that the Titan has retained the leaf spring suspension that is more common (and simpler?)  You might argue that the coilspring setup of the Ram is a more advanced system and maybe you're right...but its nice to see that Nissan went back to the board and came up with their own idea rather than taking what was Ram's preference at the time of their cooperation.

We also see evidence in these photos of additional nods to fuel economy found on most modern trucks including the aero skirt at the very front of the truck.  These have been viewed as major targets for curbs, rock and other debris typical of locations where fullsize trucks operate but have become fairly standard across the industry and one of the first things to be removed by many offroad oriented owners.

Lastly, size-wise the new Titan looks to have beefed up quite a bit compared to its prior version.  Asian trucks (the Toyota Tundra and Titan) have always been viewed as being just slightly undersized compared to their American brethren--a 7/8ths size truck or the like.  The crew-cab version here does not appear to lack for bulk or length with the passenger cab looking particularly cavernous.  The windshield also looks more raked than its predecessor and should help the overall aero and diesel sipping nature of the vehicle.

Here's hoping we see more of this in less and less disguised versions in the period leading up to its full introduction in Detroit in January '15.

2015 NASA Rally Sport Schedule

Well, this looks like what we have so far. There are rumors that there may be another event or more (?) added to the schedule that don't appear in this video but this is what exists so far and are the longer running, reliable events. It also doesn't include Hyperfest which is a typical event that is very short in nature but a good time and a points (though at a reduced rate) event for the Atlantic Rally Cup) race. Nice to see Rally Idaho and Magnum Opus back again in '14. Hopefully I'll be racing at a number of these!

Introducing the New 2015 Nissan Frontier!

Yup...this is it.  While the rest of the world will get the Frontier that was shown a few months back as the next generation Navara and will be produced in Thailand for distribution for 43 other countries, THIS will be the Frontier that we will see here in the States.


With tons of torque immediately on demand thanks to its electric motor and no use of gasoline this will be the perfect work truck for your local plumber and electrician.  Plus it makes a great looking little beach truck for surfers and hipsters everywhere.  Can't wait to get my hands on one!

NORRA Mexican 1000--Part 2(c)

Ahh...so we are off to our third day of racing.  The good news is that with the prior days success and 175 stage miles under the tires of the race truck we know that a full tank of gas will get us through any stage without pitting.  The lack of any mechanical issues during the events longest stage gave us great confidence as to its ability to operate in this environment.  With a night's sleep in A/C, a clean and modern hotel and some decent breakfast in our stomachs, things were looking up...

Of course an hour or so of an improving mood was too much and we are back between the grindstones in short order.  While our General Tire A/Ts looked almost brand new we noticed a large screw in the tread of a rear tire and knew we needed to make a change.  So off comes the bad tire and a front tire to swap to the rear.  The spare that was being placed on the front was mounted on a different wheel than what was on the rest of the vehicle--no biggie...except that the difference in offset and wheelspacer on the spare wheel/tires require open lugs in order to seat against the wheel...and....I didn't pack any open lugs so we can't put the wheel on truck and we are left with the option of trying to run on a tire with a giant screw in it or try and track down some open lugs.

Elliott I can tell is about at the end of his rope with my and my nonchalant planning/preparedness and wanders off, likely to keep himself from throwing a punch at me.  Tim retreats to the inside of the van to leave the disaster to me to handle and Paul remains his usual upbeat self, not letting anything shake him.  Me?  I am in period of self loathing, asking how I could be so stupid and feeling like I had let everyone down.

Fortunately Elliott and Paul track down a local auto supply store a few blocks away and run off to grab a few sets of open lugs (the front bolt thread pitch is different from the rear so having a couple sets of proper open lugs is best) and I try and prepare the truck to quickly swap the tires upon their return.  Paul and Elliott return with the lugs and we get the proper wheels/tires on and Elliott and Tim take off in the race truck to find the start of the second of the day's stages (again, due to the late arrival and last minute obstacles we have decided to only try and run the later of the day's stages).

Paul and I take the "screwed" tire to a local shop and get it plugged so that we keep our # of spares sufficient.  We head out of town shortly after looking to meet the race truck at a road crossing about 1/2 way through the stage.  We have a loooong day of driving ahead of us just to reach the road crossing...we're talking like 6+ hours just to get to the half way point of the second stage.  The day is again filled with lengthy road construction resulting in near brownout conditions from the dust and seemingly endless straightaways.  We do however reach the aforementioned road crossing in fair shape and sit down to await our drivers with some burritos from the roadside family shack located here.  We watch other vehicles cross and wait...and wait...

Then we begin making inquiries as to if anyone knows what has occurred to our team hoping someone has had radio contact with them.  "Hey" says a course worker, "I think I took some photos of that truck when it crossed the road a while ago!"  Sure enough, looking through his digital files our drivers had actually passed the road crossing BEFORE we even arrived!  Here we are sitting here eating our burritos and relaxing while our guys went through the area an hour or more ago and were out there racing.

Well, Paul and I take this as good news...the race truck must be running well if it made it here that quick and just kept on going.  We hop in the van and begin sprinting down the road hoping that we can catch our guys as they come out on the other end some hour or more down the road.  By the time we reach the other end of the stage the sun is about to set and none of the course workers here have seen our truck.  Then we begin hearing radio transmissions from race controllers that there are up to a dozen or more vehicles stuck in a series of silt beds shortly after the road crossing we had just left.  We wait, and wait and then find out that our truck had stopped in that silt bed area and ceased any movement.  Oh, boy...with a giant van with only 2WD and a trailer we have absolutely zero way to get to them, let alone retrieve them.  Remember...this is Mexico and Baja racing...driving out onto a hot race course is perfectly fine here.  No need to wait till the course is deemed "clear", afterall these are public roads that are never shut.

So we are faced with a dilemma, we are a tad low on gas and the nearest gas station is over an hour away, in the opposite direction from the road crossing we hope to get back to.  Do we spend more than two hours just getting gas before we even begin looking for our guys or do we risk running out of gas in the middle of nowhere (there are NO gas stations for multiple hours in the direction the road crossing requires) but begin looking for our boys right away.  Paul and I decide to take the risk and figure it out as we go and head after Elliott and Tim.  It takes us about an hour to get back to the general area of the road crossing where we hope to pick up the race course and get as close to them as possible and discover what has happened.  We find a couple of roadside stores/houses/shacks that have their lights on and we pop our heads in with Paul using his Spanish to inquire as to the particular road the course is located on.  We grab some additional water and supplies and ask if there is any gas around (as we are running very low now).  We are directed to a local farmer down the road who is known to have some gas in containers for his personal use.  Upon arriving at his house Paul inquires as to the availability of gas and the farmer agrees to supply us with some at a somewhat inflated price.  Gas siphoned into van by blowing into the top of a large container of gas held higher than the gas tank and now tube running to it, we are just about back on the road when a truck with some gringo faces hanging out the windows pulls up.

Come to find out, these NORRA workers had been told to look out for a big Ford van as it might be a couple guys looking for their race truck and drivers.  They had passed us while we were fueling up roadside with the farmer, noticed the van and swung back on the off chance they could talk to us.  Turns out they had left Tim and Elliott just a little while ago a little further up the road where they were located with the race truck!  Paul and I speed off down the highway, our hopes rising now knowing we won't have to search the desert in the dark for our compatriots, nor have to worry about somehow recovering the race truck.

We arrive on scene to find Elliott and Tim waiting and smiling--thank god.  The hood of the truck is off and obviously not running.  We greet and embrace looking to hear just what had happened.  Yes, they had been running well, crossed the road and kept going as they had plenty of gas.  The roads had been beautiful and fast, stage rally type roads that they had made great time on.  Things went downhill quickly however when they hit the silt beds.  Running down a small incline and into the silt a huge wave of the fine powder crests over the hood and windshield of the truck, blotting out all visibility and rapidly pulling the truck to a halt.  In the process of the rapid deceleration the Nissan's engine somehow throws its serpentine belt which rapidly becomes chewed to pieces in the fan.  Without a spare and deep in the silt things looked fairly hopeless--that is, until "luck" takes over and located at this spot (obviously aware of the likely result of numerous vehicles trying to run through the silt) is an individual with a tractor.  Words are exchanged between Elliott and the tractor owner and the tractor pulls the truck out.  Without a serpentine belt the engine isn't going to be doing much of anything.  Some redneck engineering places a series of shoestrings in place of the shredded belt and gets the truck a short distance before that fails as well.  I am a tad fuzzy on the remaining details on Tim and Elliott's remaining trip back to the main road but I believe another competitor's crew or similar flat towed the race truck back to where we now found it.

I may not have supplied the race truck with a spare serpentine belt itself but we did carry one in the van so we conduct some quick field repairs and in short order the truck is back running just fine.  We joke that they can go back and try the silt again and finish the stage but we know that this day too is over for us from a racing perspective.  Driving on the highway with the race truck behind us we travel a few more hours, getting into La Paz quite late again...11??  Midnight??  Later???  We park our vehicles and again crash into our hotel room.

June 11th...The Next Era In Nissan Trucks Arrives...

Nissan has begun hyping its pickup history of late and it has revealed that they will reveal the next generation Nissan Frontier on June 11th.  The video below every so briefly covers Nissan's 80 year pickup history and closes with the shot of the new vehicle under a sheet.  You can see the new LED headlights and the standard Nissan "V" grille.  Also seen are a roof rack system of some kind and an almost bowtie shaped shadow on the lower front grille that I am unsure of...

The big news is that it will be in showrooms (at least Australian showrooms, manufactured in Thailand I do believe) either at the very end of '14 or the very beginning of '15.  Hopefully that means it will be here in the States at the same time as well.  My poor '09 will no longer look like a "modern" Nissan truck...oh, well...maybe I can tow it around with a new Cummins Diesel Frontier!

2015 (?) 2016 (?) Next Generation Frontier Details To Be Released!

Well, we kinda knew it would happen sooner or later but no less authority than Nissan's Global Boss Andy Palmer at last weeks NYC Auto Show revealed that they would begin releasing info on the next generation Frontier in the coming couple of weeks.

With the Titan (introduced in '04 as an '05 model) seeing its complete redesign, the Frontier and Xterra (if it were to continue to exist) were next on the hitlist.  Now that the Pathfinder has returned to its own, unibody, more "refined" model it leaves open the question of how related the Titan and Frontier would be given in their current form they ride on the same basic platform.

Pressed by Australian journalists in NYC and the Aussies get the Frontier in both a 4.0L Petrol and a 2.2L turbo diesel badged with the "Navara" name, Palmer would discuss that no diesel version of the Patrol (the Infiniti QX80 here) would be produced (disappointing many there as well as in the Mid East).  What he did indicate is that not only would the details on the Frontier's replacement come shortly but that "it would be logical" if that replacement also spun off an SUV variant.  Given that the Xterra is the current Frontier's SUV clone, it would seem "logical" that the Xterra would be living on in the next generation of "smaller" truck and SUVs within Nissan's portfolio.

Quoting Palmer "should go back to that basis of good durability, good quality, and good reliability. If I was doing a pick-up, that’s where I’d start...It’s around about the same [size as the current model] - one-tonne pickups are fairly generic in terms of their overall dimensions..I think it’s about what you deliver on fuel consumption, what you deliver on styling...these are the key differentiators for that kind of pickup market"

To me the first part sounds an awful lot like the Xterra's original tag-line of "Everything you need, nothing you don't" while the fuel consumption and style sound a lot like a diesel with a bold design--much like the original Frontiers were, being the first to introduce the quad cab and other queues.

Should be an exciting month or so!  Oh, and given they are releasing this info right now, I'd say the next generation Frontier should be about six months to a year behind the introduction of the next Titan which means, as the next Titan will be introduced in Q1 '15, I'd look for the next Frontier later that year...and with a diesel as well and that means a diesel Xterra could be in the cards as well...

Andy Palmer talks about next generation Frontier and Xterra...

Update!!

Now confirmed that at least in its overseas version it will house a 3.0L turbo diesel and will spawn a 7-seat SUV based upon the same platform...now the 3L diesel isn't much of a surprise but a SEVEN seat SUV is a big surprise...Maybe Nissan feels that people don't want a 5 seat SUV anymore but a body on frame 7 seater??  That seems a bit odd and it also flies in the face of thinking that this rugged SUV (vs. the soft-roading Pathfinder) would hold closer to the Xterra demographic...and it now appears that the reveal of the vehicle will be within the next month per this report...

Next Gen Navara/Frontier/Xterra update...

Classics and Ari Vatanen and More...

The 2014 Australian Rally Championship is now underway down under with Brendan Reeves taking the National Capital Rally win this past weekend in his Mazda 2.  In a case of "this sounds like a bigger accomplishment than it is" there were only 17 national class entries in the event and 10 of them DNF'd.  Not that Reeves isn't a fantastic driver, he is, its just that national class entries seem to be as limited there as they are here in the States.

More interesting to me at least, is the always quality "classic" stage rally vehicles that come out to these ARC events.  For the Nat. Cap. Rally we have an old Mini, your typical gathering of Datsuns and Fords and, for one stage at least, Ari Vatanen behind the wheel of an epic looking Audi.  The classic class win was taken by the Toyota Celica #70 of Neal Bates.  Enjoy.

National Capital Rally...

2016 Toyota Tundra Getting Same Cummins Diesel as Nissan Titan...

So now it appears EVERYONE is jumping on the diesel bandwagon...

Toyota is now known to be adding a diesel option to its 2016 Tundra using the same 5.0L Cummins engine as the Nissan Titan will use.  This is a great move for Cummins as they are likely hedging their bets against the Titan being a low volume vehicle and generating additional business for their factory.  When you go from producing engines for Dodge or other high volume sellers, putting all your eggs in an unproven basket like the Titan is not wise.

Couple items here as it impacts Nissan.  1) it means that if Nissan wants to appear as a market leader and not a market follower it will need to get the diesel Titan to market BEFORE the Tundra, likely pushing Nissan even harder to get it wrapped up. 2) the Tundra is no slouch of a truck in terms of quality and so the Titan better be damn good or else why not just move over to the Tundra and get the same engine but better overall quality. 3) the Toyota diesel is reportedly more of a "test" for the Tundra to see if its a viable product before Toyota goes off on its own and produces its own diesel.  Nissan then has an opportunity to truly get in bed and market around the Cummins brand vs. Toyota who is likely not to push the Cummins brand very hard if it intends to go its own way in the near future.

Regardless, it will continue to push the domestics on trucks harder than they ever have been before and more competition is always a good thing....

Tundra and Titan to share Cummins diesel...

Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner Formally Introduced...

 So this is the reveal at the Chicago Auto Show.  The Nissan Diesel Runner powered by a Cummins diesel.

A 2.8L four cylinder engine that is producing about 200 hp and 350 ft. lb. of torque.  Fuel economy is estimated to be 35% better than the current V6 Frontier putting it at about 30 mpg.  The vehicle this engine has been dropped into is your standard 2014 Nissan Frontier Desert Runner.  This will not be the case in the future.  If the 35% gain in mpg is what they are getting with the current version of the Frontier then I would imagine with lighter weight material and a new design the future Frontier should improve upon this figure.

The next generation Frontier will also need to see improvements in its frame and structure to handle the towing capacity the new engine will allow.  So while this stands as a nice proof of concept and a way to gauge interest in a small(ish) Nissan diesel pickup, it should in no way be thought of as a representation of the next Frontier which is still a ways a way.  The primary goal here I would think would be to continue to associate the Nissan name with Cummins and get the public thinking about Nissan as THE diesel truck company for small and mid/full size light duty trucks.  Oh, and that carbon-fiber hood with the acrylic see-through hood is awesome!

Nissan Frontier Cummins Diesel Coming Soon!

 The Chicago Auto Show is usually the sleepy step-sister to the Detroit, New York and LA autoshows but perhaps that's not the case this year.  Certainly it doesn't seem to be that way for Nissan.

Revealed this morning--or rather, discovered this morning, is the fact that Nissan is revealing a Nissan Frontier powered by a Cummins diesel!  Still under a tarp some eagle eyed attendees have spotted the Cummins badge under the Frontier's tarp as well as a horde of Cummins execs strolling about the Nissan display.  Now the vehicle under the tarp looks to be your standard 2014 Nissan Frontier so this is likely not a production model of the next generation Frontier but instead a way of showing the auto world that they are developing the next gen Fronty with a diesel engine--though you never know...Nissan does sell an oil burner version of the Frontier in international markets so could they be shoe-horning a Cummins diesel into the 2015 version of the Fronty?  Might they be just rebadging the international diesel with the Cummins logo and selling it here to pair up with the true Cummins powered Titan coming in a year from now?  We'll find out soon enough!

Oh, and here are some more Nissan Titan spy shots from about a week or two ago up in Wisconsin doing some cold weather testing.  Closer and closer I can feel the excitement building!