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Thanks to the repeated participant of the Dakar Rally Aurelijus Petraitis, the first “Lithuanian” Dakar car has been preserved, it has been exhibited in the Museum of Energy and Technology for almost 10 years and the exhibition of the Molėtai Technical Museum has recently been decorated.
It is one of the few real historical cars from Lithuania, which has left a very clear mark on the history of motorsport in our country.
How is this car? Toyota Land Cruiser, built in 1987. From the “birth”, the car was prepared by the specialized French company “SAFARY 4 x 4 Garage Vautrin Jack” especially for the Dakar Rally. The factory body was removed and instead the welded tubular frame was “clad” with a fiberglass body.
In the center of the body, behind the partition, there is a 250 l fuel tank. Only the headlights, doors, and windshield reminded me of the original Toyota.
The 3431 cm³ diesel engine is also specially prepared for competition, significantly increasing its power. According to Romualdas Beresnevičius, who participated twice in the Dakar Rally with this car, the power can reach 250 hp.
File photo R.Žičkus / 1998. R. Beresnevičius at the start of the Dakar Rally
I think that’s a bit of a stretch, since the Toyota, which was ten years younger, only had about 200 hp. The chassis is reinforced, adapted for off-road use. Maximum speed of about 180 km / h. 1989 car conversion work was completed in 1990-1995. The French drivers took it three times on the Dakar Rally.
Romualdas Beresnevičius transferred from a motorcycle to a Toyota Land Cruiser
In 1997, the Lithuanian Dakar pioneer Romualdas Beresnevičius, who had already tried to overcome the African Dakar Rally desert by motorcycle in 1995, approached Hubert Auriolis, one of the main organizers of the race, with a request for help. find an inexpensive SUV suitable for the Dakar Rally. Romuald was offered a 10-year-old Toyota that was once specially prepared for the Dakar. There were no alternatives.
Small French Safary 4×4 companies with n years of Dakar experience have been very successful in attracting Dakar pioneers from various countries, taking a lot of money from them, but promising almost miraculous help in the race. Romualdas Beresnevičius and Arūnas Lekavičius experienced this a few years later. The old Toyota was revived, fixed and back to the Dakar to the great delight of the French and Lithuanians.
File photo R.Žičkus / 2000 R. Beresnevičius and A. Lekavičius overcome the Dakar route
As evidenced by several surviving photos, Romualdas Beresnevičius started in Dakar in 1998 with French license plates. Based on this, it can be concluded that Toyota was not even in Lithuania, and the drivers went to the Dakar without even training and getting acquainted with the team.
Our compatriots then represented the French SAFARY 4×4 Garage Vautrin Jack team. Lithuanians Romualdas Beresnevičius and his co-driver Arūnas Šalkauskas were sitting in the car. In those several surviving photos from 1998, only rider R. Beresnevičius was photographed at the official Dakar start ceremony. The photos were taken by the co-pilot, there was no one else. At that time, neither journalists nor Lithuanian fans were going to the Dakar.
The lack of experience and support already after several stages forced the first Lithuanian gardeners to give up, they did not reach the goal. Thats the reality. That year, there was a lot of discussion in the Lithuanian press about Romualdas Beresnevičius’s participation in Dakar. There were all kinds of speeches, good and bad. However, we will not leave the data about the first Lithuanians who brought tricolor to the Dakar from the history of motorcycles and motorsports. We can only thank you for your determination.
The second test
The first unsuccessful attempts to beat the Dakar did not stop the stubborn racer. At the end of 1999, R. Beresnevičius was able to find sponsors again and raise a budget that would allow him to start in Dakar.
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