Tire changes are an inevitability in long-distance off-road racing. They’re also somewhat labor intensive, costing the drivers’ precious time and energy. Not so much if you’ve got an on-board jacking system though!
Christian Lavieille has been working in motorsports for most of his life, and is out in the South American desert doing battle in the infamous Dakar Rally right now. Before he set off he posted this video of training, in which this race-ready Toyota’s tire gets swapped out in about a minute thanks to hustling racers and of course, an on-board jacking system.
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It’s basically a system of hydraulic-powered rods tucked into the car’s body. Instead of having to find the jack, get it ready, dig a space for it, and make sure you’re pressing the right part of the car, you can just push a switch and extend!
This system could also be used to free a vehicle from a bog in some situations.
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Kartek, one of the companies that builds such a system, has another demo you can check out if you just can’t get enough self-jacking right now.
As to why you don’t have this in your car, well, it would add significant cost and weight for something a road car would realistically only need a few times a year.
That said, if you’re building a rock crawler you might want to put one of these setups on your Christmas list!
Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.
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