After putting a heart in his stomach and finally confirming that he did not have too many problems in aircraft manufacturing, at least in terms of materials, Zhang Lan began to care about the preparation of the Alice "Snow Leopard" team for next year's Dakar Rally: now the entire Alice "Snow Leopard" team, the team members have run in quite well, and the excellent performance of the car has also given them a strong self-confidence to win.

Like previous editions of the Dakar Rally, this year's Dakar Rally will be held on January 1 on time, and will also be scheduled in Paris, France. It's early December 1997, and with less than a month to go, the tournament, which is eagerly watched by more than 500 million people around the world, is about to begin.

It has now arrived at the area designated by the organizing committee for the team to assemble. Although I don't plan to participate in the whole event - and I don't have that time - as the owner of the team, it is necessary to cheer the team on and boost the team's morale before the event starts.

When Zhang Lan, Xiao Chenxi and Alice arrived in Paris, France, they had just gotten off the plane, and they could already feel the happiness that this event brought to fans, as if they were having a grand carnival. \\/\Well, of course, this style of modification has to be a prototype of those competing cars to achieve this effect, and the cost of modification is quite expensive.

Compared to the World Rally Championship, the Dakar Rally is more of an off-road rally than a rally, as there are essentially no ready-made roads where the event passes. In addition to the route maps provided by the organizing committee, the drivers and navigators also rely on a compass or even a GPS. to reach and pass through every assembly point. This has almost become the signature feature of the Dakar Rally.

Again, for the team. Daily maintenance is also a big problem for the race track, and the maintenance teams of the teams participating in the Dakar Rally are not able to reach the designated area in advance by road like the World Rally Championship. Then you can comfortably wait for your team's cars to come and resupply them, because the Dakar Rally cars are mostly driven on no roads, so each team charters a special plane with all the accessories, supplies and maintenance technicians to fly to the designated area before the car. \\

Now in the assembly area of each team designated by the organizing committee, you can see helicopters taking off and landing in the sky. As the owner of the team. Compared with the "Black Hawk" multi-purpose civilian helicopters used by other convoys with a payload of only a few tons, Zhang Lan directly leased a Mi-26 "Halo" super-heavy multi-purpose transport helicopter from Ukraine for the convoy.

This super-jumbo helicopter with eight blades, a total power of 14,710 kilowatts, a payload of more than 20 tons, and a load capacity that even exceeds that of the US tactical transport aircraft C-130 "Hercules in the air," as soon as it appeared at the designated team assembly site for the Paris-Dakar Rally, covered half of the sky of the entire assembly area, and at the same time attracted the envious eyes of countless team leaders and racing drivers: If your team had such a thing that was designed for military use at the beginning of its design, There is almost no need to worry about the team's logistical support ability, and you only need to focus all your energy on how to race. \\/\

Except for the Alice "Snow Leopard" team, which used this super-large military helicopter so lavishly, as for the other teams. Most of the places of use are the civilian version of the UH-60 "Black Hawk" multi-role helicopter. Even the richest and largest Volkswagen fleet has rented a European EH101 multipurpose helicopter. Its maximum payload is only 5,500 kilograms.

Well, of course. Such a strong transportation capacity is piled up with a lot of money. Zhang Lan paid for this, the cost of the Ukrainian aircraft lease, the subsidy paid to the pilot, and the fuel consumption of the aircraft during this period of time, and the money spent was also quite a lot of money.

Naturally, Zhang Lan's big deal attracted the attention of the team. Watanen stood in front of the helicopter, looking at this super jumbo, and his smiling eyes narrowed into a slit: ***, even if the axle of the car is broken during the race, as long as the car can insist on returning to the maintenance site, then it can also get the most effective repair.

As for Peter Hansel, Juta. Kleinschmidt and Luca. Alfang and a few others had already jumped up and down in the plane cabin excitedly: by the way, they had never seen such a big helicopter in their lives, and standing in front of this big guy, they felt like a little ant, and the helicopter rented by other convoys was similar to the Mi-26 "Halo" heavy multi-purpose transport helicopter rented by Alice's "Snow Leopard" convoy, and it was similar to a small antelope next to the elephant -- getting into this guy's huge belly felt like entering a basketball court!

I have to say that just a heavy helicopter made the members of the team feel full of confidence, and this alone made Zhang Lan feel that his money was not spent in vain: in this event, the confidence of the team is crucial to what the team can achieve! This is also a truth that has been proven over the years in this event.

In order to follow the event, which is so closely watched by fans all over the world, and to make a lot of money by broadcasting this event, more than 180 countries and regions around the world have widely covered the event, and the satellite signal vans of various media painted with their logos and reporters wearing press cards can be seen everywhere in the assembly area of the team. \\\\

The big guy of Alice's "Snow Leopard" convoy also attracted countless reporters to visit, and this big thing made countless reporters smack. The same thing has different uses in the eyes of different people, and in the eyes of these reporters, this big thing, modified to, well, can be used as an air broadcast station. ,

In the assembly area of Alice's "Snow Leopard" convoy, Zhang Lan finally saw the ten Mercedes-Benz 6X6 military all-wheel drive heavy-duty trucks that he had spent tens of millions of dollars to buy.

Touching what he could almost call a prodigal behavior, Zhang Lan sighed in her heart, it really deserves to be produced by Mercedes-Benz, it is really a boutique. Looking at the ten service vehicles and transport vehicles that have been painted in the colors of Alice's "Snow Leopard" team, Zhang Lan has only one feeling in her heart at the moment: the money has not been spent in vain, and these cars can still be used when she participates in the competition next year.

The tires sponsored by the company for the team have also been delivered to the team's station, but the tires are sealed with special bags, and it is not clear what is going on. But it doesn't matter, if you want to see what these tires look like, you just have to go to the wheel of your car and see it.

"The company has done so much for you," in the evening, an impromptu meeting of a team began to be held, and this time it was still Zhang Lan who spoke, "I believe everyone can see it." It's fair to say that even if our team wins the championship in the end, it will be a loss for us. But I hope that everyone will not have too much pressure, and there will be no psychological baggage, and the goal of the team will not change, just do your best. ”

After saying that, Zhang Lan secretly scolded himself for hypocrisy in his heart: in fact, he still hopes that they can win the championship, and if possible, the four drivers of the team will win the top four!

Although Zhang Lan said so, the members of the team did not think so. Whether it's Ali. Wattanen, the old fritter who has been fighting in the Dakar Rally for many years, is Peter Hansel, the overlord of the Dakar Rally motorcycle group, or is it Yuta. Kleinschmidt has never seen a company support its team so much.

We are all professional racing drivers, the blood in our bones is to let ourselves move forward and forward, the goal is always first, if the team whether it is the car or the reserve support to provide such a strong support, you can not achieve good results, then you doubt that you can still be worthy of the car suit on your body.

"Boss, I don't dare to say that I will be able to win the championship in the end," the first person who couldn't help but was the general manager of the team, Ali. "But I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to provide the team with all possible strategies to make sure that the team can stand on the podium when they arrive on the shores of Rose Lake!" ”

Ali. Wattanin's words are not only self-confidence from the company's support, but no team has ever been able to provide such strong support as its own team; I also have the confidence of my own team's high-performance cars, I have been in the Dakar Rally for so many years, and I have never seen a car that can be modified to my team's car so good; It comes from the confidence of his team members, if it is said that at the beginning of the team's establishment, Ali. If Vatanen is still a little skeptical about the racing level of the team's drivers, then after these months of practice and getting along, Ali. Watanen believes his drivers have the potential and quality to compete for the title.

Based on these three points, Ali. Vatanen dared to assure Zhang Lan that he would be able to finally put the team on the podium at the end of the Dakar Rally: the beautiful Rose Lake!

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