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NEWS
Australasian Safari rolls on with Toyo tyres
Support vehicles are themselves supported by Toyo tyres for this year's SafariOrganisers of the 2013 Australasian Safari will be using Toyo tyres on event support vehicles for the second year in a row.
Toyo's Open Country M/T off-road tyres will be used on the "Zero" vehicle that clears the course – at rally speed – ahead of the competitors, and on the sweep vehicle that mops up at the tail of the field.
The use of Toyo tyres this year follows the atypically puncture-free performance experienced when the company provided support vehicle tyres for the 2012 event.
"We didn't have even one failure on any of our course vehicles last year – and it's difficult to believe that it was just down to luck," said event director Justin Hunt.
"Our (support) vehicles are modified not for speed but for survival, yet each carries at least 300kg of additional equipment putting substantial pressure on suspension and tyres," he continued.
And even though competing vehicles usually experience a high attrition rate that sees complete sets of tyres typically being replaced after two days – or even less – the organisers do not expect the support vehicles to require any tyre changes during the event.
Justin Hunt says tyre management is critical for vehicles competing in the Safari.
"The ability to handle high heat with low inflation is critical to tyre survival on the Safari. Tyre integrity is further tested by the need to regularly deflate and reinflate tyres according to the conditions," he said.
"Many tyres cannot stand the rigours of regular reinflation across conditions which vary from soft sand to hard flint stones."
The 2013 Australasian Safari will be run from September 19 to September 27, covering 2800 competitive kilometres from Perth to Carnarvon and back over a total event distance of 3200km.
The event is recognised as one of the toughest events on the rally calendar and its international status is confirmed through being listed in 2013 as a round of the prestigious Dakar Challenge.
Toyo will be reimbursing event tyre costs for the highest placed competitors wearing its tyres in this year's Australasian Safari.
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