Kumho Tires Provides Road Venture Tires To Dakar Rally
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., January 8, 2009—Kumho Tires, one of the world's leading tire manufacturers, today announced it will be a tire provider for the international Dakar Rally. The UK Bowler team’s vehicle Nemesis will be riding on 18-inch Road Venture tires.
The 2009 Dakar Rally spans 15-days from January 3 to 18 starting and finishing in Buenos Aires, Argentina while passing through Chile. Dakar Rally is receiving worldwide attention as the first major motor sports event of 2009. Dakar Rally, also known as the “Extreme Race,” because it tests the limits of man and machinery over 9,574 kilometers.
“The Dakar Rally Tires, embodying years of technology advancements, are exclusive 18-inch tires developed and provided by Kumho Tires,” said Chung, Taek-gyun, Senior Vice President of Kumho Tires Product Development. “We look forward to enhancing global competitiveness through a great showing in this memorable event.”
Last year, Dakar Rally was to begin in Lisbon, Portugal, but due to terror threats and security issues, the event was cancelled for the first time.
Kumho Tires is providing Road Ventures, which perform well on wet and dry, sandy and muddy road conditions. Kumho Tires is confident that its products will maximize the competitiveness of Bowler team. The tires were introduced by BBC last year, and have been gaining favorable attention through its participation in other rallies.
Kumho Tires also boast global competitiveness in off-road rallies. The tires were used with tremendous success in 1992 and 2000, where the tires prevailed over 10 thousand kilometers, and helped the French SMG team to earn a number one ranking for 2007 in the Solo Class.
The History and Title of Dakar Rally
Since its debut in 1979, the Dakar Rally has been the world’s greatest motor endurance rally. It is also well known as the Paris-Dakar Rally since the rally originally ran from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal. The inception has varied over the years, and the title of the rally has changed in turn.
Class Composition
The four major competitive groups in the Dakar Rally are the car class, which ranges from buggies to SUVs, the truck class, the motorcycle class and the quad class. Kumho Tires is participating in the car classes, which consists of 7 sub-classes according to engine and drive type, and is dominated by four-wheel-drive vehicles and buggies.
