After winning the 2017 Dakar Rally in January, what better way to prepare for another gruelling endurance race than by testing your truck in the most extreme winter conditions?
Fearless driver Eduard Nikolaev has proved his mettle with two Dakar wins for Team Kamaz Master as well
as victory at the Silk Way Rally.
Nikolaev and his team knew they couldn't afford to be resting given such stiff competition in their rally-raid category.
That's why they put all their energy into perfecting a 10-ton racing truck «Terminator» with 1000 hp in the secret laboratories of KamAZ.
For this special event in Arctic conditions, Nikolaev pushed his 16-liter diesel monster to speeds of about 140 km/h.
Once the former mechanic gained speed, he launched off a snow jump and flew through the air over 30 meters, pulling 12G.
Nikolayev, 32, explained: «To test the truck, we went to Kirovsk in the Murmansk region, one of the snowiest regions in Russia. There is a lot of deep snow there until late spring.»
For our KamAZ-4326, these conditions were a lot like driving in the sands of South America or Africa, and for the team, it was a great training for driving skills on the upcoming 'silk' dunes.
It's -21 degrees Celcius outside.
Still, before we started shooting, we had tested more than 120 kilometers of polar roads for filming purposes.
And we cleaned the 3 kilometer long strip of the closed Kirovsk airport from snow one meter deep.
Four loaders and a tractor fought the meter-high snow non-stop for three days.
5000 tons of snow were moved during clearing.
Production, technical, organizational, support and catering teams are all in place.
The sound check isn't just for the engine.
Field wheel realignment for better balance.
Eight jumps…
26 team members
4 teams
Project leader: Dmitry Kachan
PR: Vadim Shevchenko
Film crew: Wind Channel
