Dacia in Colorado…what’s a Dacia?!

It was announced back in January that Jean Philippe Dayraut would drive a highly modified Dacia Duster to the top of Pikes Peak next month. Most people probably have never heard of a Dacia though. Well, just to clear things up, Dacia is a Romanian car company that has been around since the mid-sixties.

They have never been part of the United States auto market, but are a huge part of Romania’s economy and exporting.  The Duster is a new car that Dacia released in 2010 to the European market.  Could this project be a way for Dacia to promote itself in the United States? Peugeot tried it in the 1980’s with it’s 405 Pikes Peak car.Not much information has been released about the Pikes Peak project since January, but a few more photos and info about the car have leaked their way onto the Internet.  The car will be powered by a Bi-turbo 3.5L Nissan GTR V6 engine producing over 850HP.  It has been built by the team at Tork Engineering in France, who also build and run the Dacia Duster in the Trophee Andros Ice racing series.

The Pikes Peak car weighs 900kg,  has all-wheel drive, a composite body, and a huge front and rear spoiler.  Right now Tork Engineering is in the final stages of the build, and it may look a little different when we see it at the peak.  Judging by these photos it looks like Dayraut and the Renault-Sport crew should be able to put a very respectable time down come June 26th.

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