Astra » BM309

In 1985, the Princess of Monaco Carolina, her husband Senior Casiraghi and Astra Veicoli Industriali S.p.A. set a goal to win in the legendary rally raid Paris-Dakar. The main idea was to make something special which would give an advantage for the racing team. So they decided to make a truck which would beat other teams on a sand terrain.

Astra engineers fitted 6x6 trucks with additional tracks to increase offroad capability on sandy surfaces. The caterpillars retracted into the special niches above the rear wheels using hydraulic.

But this feature had several significant drawbacks. First of all, the caterpillars and hydraulic system weight a lot. So the BM309 racing trucks weights 16 tonnes comparing with 10 tonnes from competitors. The power of 12-liter Detroit Diesel 8V-92TA-9A90 was not enough. The second, the caterpillars in raised position significantly increased the center of gravity, which made the driver had to be extremely careful at corners. And the third, the factory had no time to test the design.

The result was quite predictable: one of two trucks (with the Princess of Monaco and her husband) was crashed and dropped out of the rally. The second trucks (it wasn't equipped with tracks) finished on the 15th position (out of 20 trucks).

BM309 BM309 BM309 BM309
BM309 BM309 BM309 BM309
  1. 赵四
    2013-07-17 13:12:10

    astra还有着车

Follow us

Database search

Brand:

Country:

Type:
 

Unknown models:


Do you know? View all »

Recent Comments:

Ashok Leyland » ALRD 20

I want to buy Ashok Leyland Alrd-20

AEC » Militant MkI ( model O859 / O860 )

The Coles crane in pic 24 is of great interest,I drove one of these Mk.4s in Germany back in 1970-71,it was nt in this colour scheme though!.Is this crane still around?.rnAlan

Ashok Leyland » Stallion MkIII / MkIV

I want sensor diagram and function about sensor bs111 military vehicles

Ashok Leyland » Stallion MkIII / MkIV

Please send me tecnical data als mk-4abs