Detail

For the first time the DDW Rallye Team has participated in the Rallye Dakar, the most challenging rallye of the world. Some members of the SCHOMÄCKER team visited The Netherlands to obtain detailed information and get more experience concerning the resilience of SCHOMÄCKER springs at the Rallye Dakar.

409 teams in total participated in the rallye, heading for the finishing line in 94 cars, on 144 motorbikes, 56 lorries, 20 quads and 95 side-by-sides.

The route went from Ha'il via Riyadh to Jeddah, with 4148 km of special stages and 4275 km of connecting stages. In contrast to previous Dakar races, most legs of the 2022 route were on sandy ground.

High-quality spare parts are key to a front position. In the past years, the DDW team used springs from our competitors. Every day the springs broke and had to be replaced, costing energy, time and money. This is how SCHOMÄCKER came into play because our quality springs are the best - also for missions under the motto "extreme, fast & furious". Our highly motivated engineers immediately carried out a thorough requirements’ analysis and quickly developed a successful solution: a new 3-blade parabolic spring specially designed for the DDW rallye vehicle with its extreme operating conditions.

Changing springs on sandy ground is a big challenge. Every day without a change is already a great success in itself. To be totally on the safe side, the SCHOMÄCKER springs were changed – but only once during the entire rallye. This means our SCHOMÄCKER springs, specially developed for the DDW Rallye Team, have definitely more than paid off.

Throughout the rallye SCHOMÄCKER were in regular and close contact with the rallye team through our sales partner, the Dutch spring specialist Eeltink. Together, we celebrated the excellent the result the team had achieved by securing and outstanding 17th place!

The special springs were also tested in action by another rallye team. In the meantime, several rallye teams have expressed interest in the new SCHOMÄCKER spring for extreme use. We will follow the next rallye with great interest and keep our fingers crossed for all teams using the SCHOMÄCKER spring.