ORECA tackles the Dakar with SMG and a hybrid engine

The Dakar and its energy transition program continue to attract new renowned players in motorsport. WhileAudi is preparing to line up three hybrid 4x4s on the 2022 edition in Saudi Arabia (January 1-14), that Guerlain Chicherit develops a hydrogen vehicle for 2024 and that Pipo Engines imagines an engine also powered by hydrogen, it’s ORECA’s turn to follow suit.

The ORECA Group will in fact develop a hybrid engine in association with Team SMG. The objective of the ORECA Magny-Cours teams is simple: create a competitive and hybrid car that will consume half as much as a T1 type thermal vehicle, the queen category of rally-raid.

“ORECA is a company that has always challenged itself, explains Vincent Garreau, Client and Project Director. Our new challenge is to offer a competitive vehicle with emerging technologies and to manage to put these solutions in the hands of customers, whether official, semi-official or private, in order to perform at their best on the Dakar. .

We have a wonderful playground to express ourselves. It was essential to be part of this Dakar Future movement. The goal was to be able to provide a short-to-medium term response to all these customers to compete in this event. » The roadmap plans to run the car in early April 2022.

“Because we believe in it, we are going to use our 20 years of experience in rally raids to design, build and develop it, indicates for its part Philippe Gache, the founder of SMG. We will also take care of its marketing. »

The choice of hybrid architecture, although common in contemporary automobile racing, still represents audacity in a race as grueling as the Dakar. “The heat engine will move the car forward; from that point of view, it's quite basic, recognizes the former pilot.

Afterwards, an e-machine will provide additional torque and power. The thermal block will be quite modest, it will be a 4-cylinder 1 cc turbocharged engine. » The thermal power will be around 200 horsepower. The electric MGU (motor-generator unit) will provide up to 80 kW and 110 Nm of torque.

Association between two Dakar connoisseurs

ORECA and the Dakar are a story that dates back to the last century. At the turn of the 1990s, Hugues de Chaunac was in fact responsible for assembling and entering supercharged Lada Samara T3s. Under the front hood, there was an original 3.5 liter flat-six Porsche !

J. Ickx and C. Tarin at the Paris-Dakar 1990. © DPPI / F. Baudin

The drivers at the time were big names: Jacky Ickx, Hubert Auriol and Patrick Tambay. However, Lada and ORECA will never manage to beat the Peugeot then official Citroën, despite successes in other events such as the Rallye des Pharaons.

The SMG company founded in 1997 has a wealth of desert experience, only through buggies built in-house. Carlos Sainz had turned to the French team to compete in the Dakar in 2014 and had set two scratch times before abandoning.

Recently, SMG supported the Chinese brand Haval, which rebadged buggies, as well as Han Wei (10th in the 2020 Dakar), who will participate in the 2022 Dakar. Toyota Land Cruiser from the Auto Body team, dominant in class T2 (4×4 close to the series) are also prepared in the workshops in Fréjus (Var).

H. Wei at the 2021 Dakar. © Florent Gooden / DPPI