Under the sponsorship of Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam, the AKA Racing team upgraded the original Mitsubishi Triton into a professional road racing car and became the first Vietnamese team to compete in the AXCR 2019 cross-country road racing tournament held in Thailand and Myanmar. Triton and the racing team overcame all challenges, conquered all terrains in difficult weather conditions to successfully complete 6 stages, finishing in 17th place out of 34 and winning the Most Impressive Racing Team award.
AKA Racing's Cars
With outstanding performance, meeting a variety of work and outdoor needs on many complex and rugged terrains. Mitsubishi Triton owns a powerful 2.4L Diesel engine, the engine body is made of aluminum alloy, applying MIVEC variable valve technology for a capacity of 181PS at 3500RPM and a pulling force of 430Nm at 2500RPM. With a lightweight engine, high capacity, and balanced front and rear of the car, Mitsubishi Triton can operate continuously on thousands of kilometers of extremely harsh racing tracks of cross-country road racing.
The legendary 2-wheel drive system Super Select 4WD - II is equipped with a center differential that allows the vehicle to engage the bridge while traveling at speeds up to 100 km/h and operate 2 axles at high speeds up to 120 km/h. This is one of the factors that convinced the AKA Racing team to choose to use the Mitsubishi Triton to compete in road races. The 6-speed gearbox on the Mitsubishi Triton helps racers shift gears smoothly and accelerate strongly. The sporty gearshift paddles on the steering wheel help make shifting gears faster and easier when the vehicle is traveling at high speeds on rough, harsh roads.
Since participating in the race for the first time in 2019, which was suspended due to the pandemic for two years, this year the AKA racing team has the opportunity to return to the AXCR with a Triton pickup racing car that has been completely upgraded according to FIA technical and safety standards for international rally racing and equipped with special equipment for cross-country rally racing.
Two Vietnamese riders will participate in AXCR 2022
The high-speed rally racing format is always full of dangers and difficulties. To meet such harsh nature, the participating cars must be durable and strong, any spare part on the car must meet the ability to work with high intensity and for a long time continuously in the same day to complete races of up to 500 km.
Rally is said to have originated in France with the first race of 127 km from Paris to Rouen. Since then, the model of going from point A to point B has been the foundation of this most dangerous racing format. Despite many ups and downs, even being banned due to the level of risk, through decades of improvements in technology, vehicles, rescue... Rally racing has increasingly expanded and attracted a large number of fans. In Vietnam, Rally is a sport that is still new to the general audience but is not unfamiliar to the community of speed enthusiasts on all terrains. The pinnacle of this racing format is world-class races such as Paris - Dakar, World Rally Championship WRC. Among them, we can mention AXCR - the oldest and most severe cross-country rally race in Asia.
More specifically, with the vehicle's original wheelbase length, large ground clearance and optimized approach angle, departure angle and ramp-over angle, Mitsubishi Triton can operate flexibly compared to other pickup trucks in the same segment, from narrow forest roads to dangerous mountain passes.
Mitsubishi Triton is the ideal choice of AKA Racing to conquer the most rigorous rally races at home and abroad. With thorough investment and support from Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam, AKA Racing is committed to pursuing and popularizing rally motorsport (road racing) to become a favorite sport for the general public in Vietnam.
AKA Racing's cars on the track at AXCR 2019 overcome all complex and difficult terrain
Motorsport is essentially an extreme sport. High-speed rally racing is even more dangerous, difficult and harsh, with the nature of conquering surprises and being a team sport, a combination of each member of the team, from driver, co-driver, to technique, logistics, tactics... The smooth combination in the deployment of the racing team, the calculations and risk management, all for the highest goal of rally racing, which is to reach the finish line and reach the finish line safely.
After being completely upgraded according to FIA technical and safety standards for international rally racing but still retaining the most important parts of the original Mitsubishi Triton such as the powerful engine heart, superior transmission system and the ability to engage the special high-speed bridge, AKA Racing and Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam are completely confident that the AKA Triton racing car will continue to write the first pages of history for rally racing in Vietnam as well as bring the Vietnamese national flag to the international arenas of this most attractive and harsh sport.
