Peugeot details 2008 DKR with 340-hp diesel [w/video]

Fri, 04 Jul 2014

It would be all too easy to write off Peugeot Sport these days. The French automaker's competition division, once run by FIA president Jean Todt (before he was head of Ferrari), hasn't competed in Formula One in 14 years, in the World Rally Championship in nearly a decade, and shut down its Le Mans Prototype program – the only one to really challenge Audi in the modern era – two years ago.

Peugeot is still racing, though – it's just selecting individual events instead of entire seasons in one series or another. It conquered Pikes Peak last year with Sébastien Loeb and posted the top time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with the same car and driver just last weekend. And next year, it will take on the famously grueling Dakar Rally with the 2008 DKR.

The French outfit announced the new off-road racer in March and revealed it in April, but it kept the key technical details a secret until now. As development progresses, Peugeot has revealed that the 2008 DKR packs a twin-turbodiesel V6 mounted amidships and driving 340 horsepower to only two wheels (presumably the rear ones) instead of all four.

The 2WD setup means a lighter weight and clearance in the rulebook to use bigger 37-inch tires, which it's fitted to a suspension with 18 inches of travel. Plus if Team Peugeot Total manages to win the rally raid, it'll be the first to do so in a two-wheel-drive diesel.

Fortunately Peugeot has lined up a crack team of drivers to handle the 2008 DKR, lead by two-time World Rally Champion and 2010 Dakar winner Carlos Sainz. Five-time Dakar motorbike winner Cyril Despres and Stéphane Peterhansel (who has won at Dakar five times each on two wheels and on four, including the last two years) will share the wheel. Check out their ride in the video and press release below.

A bold technical gamble: Meet the Peugeot 2008 DKR

After grabbing public attention with the stunning new 2008 DKR, Team Peugeot-Total has finally lifted the lid on the inner workings of this muscular beast, which will take on the 4x4 brigade on the 2015 Dakar with just two driven wheels.

Dunes, mountains, dry river beds, canyons, furnace-like temperatures, salt deserts, rough terrain, fesh-fesh sand... These are just some of the joys that await the 2008 DKR on the next Dakar Rally. To tackle this tremendous challenge, Team Peugeot-Total has followed a very daring technical path: "Much like we did at the Le Mans 24 Hours by electing to run a closed-cockpit car, we decided to adopt an innovative concept," reveals Peugeot Sport Director Bruno Famin. "When it comes to cross-country rallying, the biggest question is whether to run with four-wheel-drive or just two. After a detailed study of the question, we decided to go for two-wheel drive transmission which presents a number of interesting benefits." This bold decision will enable the team to try to become the first to win the Dakar with two-wheel drive & diesel engine.

In order to balance out the chances of the different solutions, the rules in effect compensate the inherent advantage of 4x4 vehicles by allowing two-wheel-drive machinery to benefit from certain advantages. Technical project manager Jean-Christophe Pallier summarises them: "In motorsport, weight is counter to performance. However, in the case of cross-country rallying, two-wheel drive cars are allowed to be significantly lighter than 4x4s. They are also entitled to use bigger wheels which provide them with a certain advantage when it comes to coping with the many pitfalls associated with this type of terrain. On top of that, they allow us to minimise the front overhang. The 2008 DKR can practically climb vertical walls! And that's not all! Longer suspension travel – 460mm instead of 250mm – enhances its ability over dunes and when soaking up uneven ground. That's a key asset on an event like the Dakar!" Another advantage of the larger wheel size is a system that enables the tyre pressures to be adjusted remotely from inside the cockpit upon entering a zone of dunes – a tactic that could yield a gain of precious minutes!

In order to exploit these benefits fully, Peugeot Sport's engineers put their creativity to the test to come up with an extremely compact car. With its 340bhp, V6 twin-turbo diesel mid-rear engine, the 2008 DKR resembles a muscular feline ready to pounce and soak up obstacles. "Fitting all of the vital assemblies into such a small space gave us quite a headache!" admits Pallier. "Small cars tend to perform more comfortably over twisty WRC-type stages, so this arrangement increases the potential of two-wheel drive cars in situations where the 4x4s tend to have the edge."

Beyond the conviction – expressed by Red Bull for the last two years – that two-wheel-drive vehicles possess attractive qualities that shine through even across the most inhospitable of terrains, this technical approach also makes sense for the French manufacturer, as Bruno Famin explains: "Given that the production 2008 is a two-wheel-drive crossover equipped with Grip Control technology – which enables it to go just about anywhere – it is only right that the 2008 DKR derivative should similarly take on the challenges of the Dakar with just two-wheel-drive." So all that now remains is to let it off the leash!

By Noah Joseph