Hummer y Robby Gordon Motorsports se han aliado para conquistar el próximo Dakar con este Hummer H3 preparado por el Team Dakar USA. El objetivo de este nuevo reto de Hummer, es demostrar que el Hummer H3 es un coche off-road puro y puede competir en las mas extremas circunstancias, para así ir haciendo hueco en el mercado europeo. Puro marketing, básicamente porque el H3 que llevarán al Dakar se parecerá a uno de serie únicamente en la carrocería.
La preparación, supervisada por el propio Robby Gordon y su equipo del Team Usa Dakar, consiste en un chasis tubular acoplado a la carrocería de serie. Para las suspensiones han empleado un conjunto de amortiguadores y muelles diseñados por ellos mismos. En cuanto al motor, será un V8 basado en los que actualmente produce y monta en sus vehículos General Motors.
Integrantes del equipo Team Dakar USA
Robby Gordon – Driver
Darren Skilton – Navigator
Tom McDonald – Manager, Logistics
Donnie Guerreo – Chief Fabricator
James Ding-Jiun Lin – Electrical
Bobby Golasinski – Mechanic
Matthew Walrath – Fabricator
George Scott – Fabricator
Bharat Naran – Mechanic
Barrie Thompson – T5 6x6 Driver/T5 Mechanic
Brian Williams – T5 4x4 Driver/T5 Technician
Billy Gaspar – Spare Parts
Nik Carlson – Media Car Liaison
Especificaciones Técnicas -Hummer H3-
CHASSIS & SUSPENSION
Material: 4130 steel alloy space frame construction
Wheelbase: 120 inches
Track: 88 inches front and rear
Overall Length: 174 inches
Overall height: 65 inches
Weight: 4,500 pounds
Front Suspension: Double “A” arms with coil-over springs and specially calibrated, four position-sensitive by-pass shocks by King. Total vertical wheel travel 20 inches.
Rear Suspension: Semi-trailing lower arm with integral hubs, 934 series CV joints and stub axles by Kartek Manufacturing. King coil-over four-position shocks and springs. Total vertical wheel travel 20 inches.
Brakes: Four wheel disc ProAm brakes by Kartek Manufacturing. A special hand-operated “splitter” brake in the cockpit enables the driver to make tighter and faster turns by isolating the right and left rear brake systems
Steering: Robby Gordon Motorsports power-assisted rack and pinion. One turn lock to lock (37 degrees)
Fuel System: Twin fuel tanks, with Fuel-Safe fuel-cells carry 100 gallons of Regular Grade ASO mandated pump gas. Mileage varies according to conditions, but under the worst-case scenario the Hummer H3 can cover 500 miles without refueling
Jacking System: Twin Howe integral chassis mounted hydraulic rams can lift either side of the car to facilitate a change of tires or extracting from sand and/or mud
TIRES & WHEELS[/FONT]
Tires: Toyo Open Country M/T 37 x 14.50R15 (two spares are carried on board)
Wheels: Robby Gordon 15 x 6.5 alloy racing wheels with integral bead locks.
NAVIGATION
Navigation Aids: Twin Terra-Trip odometers with KVH digital compass, twin GPS, with ASO supplied Iritrac team navigation/locator units. Note: ASO GPS units are purposely limited in accuracy by the organizers to place a premium on the team’s navigation skills. By ASO regulation no communication systems of any type are allowed. The Iritrac system will allow viewers to follow the progress of the race in real time on the team’s website, Robby Gordon.com The Hummer is also equipped with an ASO required Belize satellite tracking emergency, homing beacon which, if activated, immediately disqualifies the entry.
BODY & INTERIOR
- <LI class=MsoNormal>Body: Carbon fiber replica of the Hummer H3 made by Menards Engineering Limited in Oxfordshire, England. The two-place cockpit for driver and navigator is completely sealed, filtered by UNI and cooled by an engine driven-air conditioning system. <LI class=MsoNormal>Seating: Twin Custom built MasterCraft buckets with Simpson five point harnesses. Driver and navigator also wear custom made Simpson fire suits <LI class=MsoNormal>Electrical and Lighting Systems: Twin Pro-Comp batteries power a Milspec type, custom wired RayChem harness designed and fabricated by James Lin. Lighting by three Hella HIDs units on roof and two high beam/low beam Hella HID units on the front bumper with 55 watt street legal lamps.
- Custom fabricated RGM/RacePak digital instrument panel allows monitoring of all vital systems.
Rear mounted, GM designed, fuel injected, normally aspirated, with alloy block and heads, 427 CID, LS1 series V8, built by Katech Engineering in Detroit and specially tuned and mapped for desert racing by Scott Urshell of UMI in Phoenix Arizona.
- <LI class=MsoNormal>The engine build specifications, with the exception of compression ratio and its wet sump, are almost identical to those used by GM Racing’s factory Corvettes to win the GT1 Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, France, on three different occasions. <LI class=MsoNormal>ASO regulations limit power by use of a sealed induction system using a 37mm inlet anulus. A four-gallon plenum feeds double filtered air to the engine. Bassani Headers with a single Magnaflow muffler keeps the engine within FIA mandated noise limits.
- Cooling: Seven-gallon re-circulating through a Ron Davis radiator with two integral heat exchangers for engine and transmission coolant. Ten gallons of emergency coolant/drinking water are carried on board in two five-gallon containers.
5-Speed sequential Albins/Weddel manual shift transaxle. Power is fed through a multi-plate Tilton Engineering clutch assembly.
sigue siendo un novato en el Dakar. 
Impreza007
