The first-generation Toyota Avanza was a pioneering ‘no-frills’ compact MPV that delivered exactly what it promised on the tin – it got as many people as possible from one place to another in comfort. However, the all-new Avanza which goes on sale on the 6th February 2012 has upped the ante considerably by going big: it’s big on style, big on space and big on comfort.
Dream finish for the Imperial Toyota team at the 2012 Dakar Rally.
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-01-16 11:17
Dream finish to the Dakar 2012. Team Imperial Toyota concluded their maiden foray into the ultimate test of endurance with a 3rd place for Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz in the number 301 Hilux, an 11th place for Duncan Vos and Rob Howie in the number 313 sister car, while the team Overdrive entered South African Hilux of Lucio Alvarez and Andy Graue finished 6th in the 2012 edition of the Dakar – Argentina, Chile, Peru.
Peru provides toughest challenge. If anyone thought that the Atacama ended in Chile, they were proven wrong today, on day 13, stage 12 of the Dakar. Not long after the cars disappeared into the seaside dunes, the running order started to change tales of woe started to emerge from the dunes. Conditions were not what most people expected.
Giniel de Villiers: “These were the trickiest dunes we've had so far, anything could happen out there. They're not that big, but steep and tricky, very, very difficult.”
Time to keep it all together. With only three stages to go, all three the South African Hilux's are in the top ten, with Giniel in third place. Today's stage from Arica to Arequipa was another long, harsh trek through the Atacama, alternating between steep rocky climbs and the perils of fesh-fesh.
Giniel finished 4th, Duncan 9th and Lucio 10th, to not only finish inside the top ten, but to also keep all three vehicles in the top ten overall. As on previous days, the Imperial Toyota's ran like clockwork, making their music across the desert without any major mechanical trouble.
The Dakar starts to bite. The terrain for today's 11th stage was very hard on the cars and their crews. Now, firmly in the second week of the race, attrition has become a fact of life for many of the competitors. The organisers, who are familiar with the ways of the Dakar, has taken this into account and the bivouacs have been getting steadily smaller as the race progressed.
It is hard to imagine a more desolate landscape than the one the teams traversed today. Barren and vast, the entire Atacama is inhospitable and unforgiving.
On track and getting stronger. Stage nine on day ten of the Dakar was a 400km sprint across hard, stony tracks which ended in soft sand and the iconic 2,5km descent down a steep dune face into the Iquique bivouac.
Settling down. Today's 8th stage of the 2012 Dakar was a day of consolidation for team Imperial Toyota. The long hard stretches (some of the straights were in excess of 20km long) showed that the Imperial Toyota Hilux's lacked the straight line speed to beat the unrestricted Hummers and turbo-diesel Minis. On the positive side, the three South African Toyotas finished 6th (Giniel), 9th (Lucio) and 10th (Duncan), the first time that all the cars finished in the top ten.
Successful first week for the Imperial Toyota team at the Dakar Rally 2012.
By Toyota_Blogger on 2012-01-09 10:35
With Friday’s stage six between Fiambala in Argentina and Copiapo in Chile cancelled because of bad weather conditions that made it unsafe for competitors to negotiate the high-altitude crossing of the Andes Mountains, the first week of the Dakar Rally is just one stage away from ending.
Instead, the remaining competitors (125 cars, 130 motorcycles, 21 quads and 71 trucks) travelled in convoy through the Paso San Francisco pass at 4 700 metres above sea level directly to Copiapo.
The half time whistle blows. After seven days 4,553 km's and 30 hours of sleep, it is half time. The team gets an opportunity to regroup and catch its breath before tackling the second half of this epic adventure.
Go west young man. Today's stage from Fiambala to Copiapo was cancelled when rain and snow made the Chilean descent of the Andes too dangerous, especially for the motorbikes. The organisers decided that the competitors, the support vehicles and the rest of the caravan would travel to Copiapo in convoy.
The organisational effort that goes into this event is illustrated by the fact that Chilean and Argentine customs officials were housed in an “immigration” tent at Fiambala so that all concerned could clear customs in the bivouac to facilitate a smooth passage at the actual border.
