The hydrogen-powered HySE-X1 reached the halfway point of the 46th Dakar Rally after taking on a 45km stage of dunes and soft sand near the Shubaytah bivouac, still aiming to reach the finish.
Jamie Campbell and Bruno Jacomy used a new approach to manage fuel on the sandier ground, but consumption on the all-dune Stage 6 was too high and they had to stop after 22km. The car was also damaged, and the team set about repairing it to continue.
“Stage six was very tough, 100% dunes. I felt a little more comfortable this morning. I felt better and my nerves were less. We had a good 22km going. Again, we were concerned with fuel and we decided to shorten our stage. Regretfully, the car broke but we are thinking positive to get the car fixed and continue the rally.”
Jamie Campbell, Driver
“I think this was the hardest stage for the HySE. But we learned a lot about the limits of the car and the consumption.”
Bruno Jacomy, Co-driver
Project leader Keita Nakanishi said the car got stuck twice and the soft dune sand drove fuel use up, and that the team needs an engine delivering both more output and better efficiency, which he called a good research topic for HySE.
“We were lacking in both output and fuel efficiency and we realised, once again, that we needed an engine that could achieve both at a high level.”
Keita Nakanishi, Project Leader of HySE Dakar Project
Earlier in the week, the 76km stage from Al-Salamiya to Al-Hofuf included three soft-sand sections that upset the team’s original fuel plan.
HySE (Hydrogen Small mobility & Engine technology) runs in the Mission 1000 class of the Dakar Future Programme. The HySE-X1 is a joint project of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Toyota and Yamaha on an Overdrive Racing chassis.