Garland guns for sixth Safari win

Bruce Garland will be shooting for his sixth Australian Safari win – and the first for a diesel vehicle – when he competes in the 3000km desert race in a modified Isuzu D-Max ute later this month.

Garland and long-term co-driver Harry Suzuki are tackling this year's Safari in preparation for the 2013 Dakar, which will run through Chile, Argentina and Peru next January.

The pair’s best result in the Safari of recent years was third outright in 2010 – and first diesel – in their 2011 Dakar-spec D-Max, of which more than half was built using original Isuzu production parts.

Garland's Isuzu Motorsports team says the latest ute is lighter, stronger, faster and better handling than its predecessor but still based around the D-Max’s steel cab, chassis frame and 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine.

Built with the benefit of three years’ experience competing in the legendary Dakar Rally, it also features rugged, long travel suspension designed to soak up the bumps at high speeds and provide a relatively comfortable ride for its occupants during the extreme offroad course.

A bullish Garland said the new ute "is light years ahead of the one that finished 11th outright during the 2009 Dakar".

The 3.0-litre turbo diesel engine produces approximately 181kW of peak power and 589Nm of maximum torque, compared to 130kW and 380Nm respectively, for the standard D-Max engine.

However, the Safari race engine will not be used in the Dakar Rally. Under the latest rules for the diesel pick-up class, the competition engine must be closer in spec to the standard engine.

The Sydney-based offroad champion will make his 16th start at the Safari after an enforced lay-off of more than a year, the result of fracturing a vertebra during the 2011 Dakar Rally, and then having a heart attack while on holiday two months later. He had five bypasses done by the specialist team at Melbourne’s MonashHeart.

However, the Isuzu will face some fresh competition this year from another production-based ute, a Volkswagen Amarok. A prototype Toyota Hilux 2012 built by OverDrive Toyota Motors Sport and driven by Venezuelan driver Nunzio Coffaro, will also be competing for the first time.

The Amarok will be driven by Safari rookies, Melbourne property developer Sam Beck and co-driver Chris Kenny.

According to Beck, only a few adjustments have been made to the German ute, which in recent years has been the official car for the infamous, 14 day, 9000km  Dakar.

“We’ve put in a roll cage and changed the suspension, but the (2.0-litre twin turbo diesel) engine and drivelines are the same,” he said.

The 27th running of the Safari begins with a ceremonial start in Perth on September 21 before competitors trek 425km north to the mid-west coastal city of Geraldton for the start. The Safari ends in Geraldton on September 29.

Stay up to date with all the latest Safari news at the official website. And to whet your appetite, check out the highlights video below from last year's event.