Buggyra Racing’s Tatra trucks powered by renewable diesel at Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia

Photo: Buggyra Racing Organisation

The Buggyra Racing Organisation announced Jan. 1 that all of its Tatra-brand trucks are being fueled with renewable diesel, also known as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), during the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia this month.

Buggyra said it has been developing Gyrtech biobased diesel engines for the second season as part of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. FIA stands for Federation Internationale de l’Automobile and is the governing body of motorsports.

Photo: Buggyra Racing Organisation

Buggyra stated that these units are now sufficiently tested to power both the Dakar Phoenix truck driven by Jaroslav Valtr and Robert Kasák as well as the Tatra 815 driven by Martin Šoltys.

Martin Koloc, head of the Buggyra Racing Organisation, said, “We know that smog and the overall ecological burden of trucks is a big problem. Sustainability is clearly at the forefront of our future development focus. That is why our development center has been dealing with this issue for a long time. FIA federation pursues green racing that would not be a burden on nature. This gave rise to the HVO project for racing trucks. It is the reason why we are now starting at Dakar Rally, where we will be refueling all our racing Tatra trucks with [renewable diesel].”

Knowledge gained from what Buggyra says is the world’s most demanding rally will not only be used in the Buggyra Research and Development Centre, but it will also valuable data for the Czech automaker Tatra.

“Even though our team competes in the heavy-duty league of Dakar, we do not like to compromise our mission and goal towards carbon neutrality in the near future,” Koloc said. “In the future, motorsport will have to get used to the fact that without sustainability there may no longer be any racing. It is mainly about development of technologies that will be able to be used in normal traffic. Dakar offers very good platform for testing this fuel and raising awareness of its benefits and existence.”