Radical DACAR Concept Could Change Off-Road Racing
Earlier this year, Hankook issued a challenge to students at
Pforzheim University’s School of Design: create a tire concept for
vehicles of the future. Contest winner Samir Sadikhov (the same
designer responsible for the Ferrari Xezri and RAD Beast) thought a bit
further off the beaten path than some of his competitors, and given what
he came up with, it’s clear why he won.
Meet Sadikhov’s DACAR tire concept,
a design that envisions Hankook’s space age entry into the world of
Dakar off-road racing. While radical in concept, its implementation is
quite simple, and was even inspired by a pair of grippy Reebok ATV
sneakers.
The result is a truck tire that can adapt to rough terrain by
morphing its surface on the fly. Hexagonal graphene blocks form the
tire’s tread pattern. In on-road form, the tire surface grips tarmac
like your average road tire. But thanks to an adaptable inner-wheel
profile that pushes the blocks outward and away from one another, a
knobbier surface is formed that can grab and grip to off-road surfaces
like the best mud and all-terrain tires.
Worried about a puncture?
The graphene blocks in Sadikhov’s concept incorporate their own air
bladder, and at least conceptually could be replaced individually rather
than swapping out a whole tire. Flexible carbon fiber composes the
concept tire’s sidewalls, and the wheels are made of hardened carbon
steel.
The larger concept vehicle, also dubbed the ‘DACAR’, might merely be the
result of the edgy tire concept, but there’s no denying it’s quite the
looker. The pod-shaped off-roader – inspired by the hexagonal tire
treads – features futuristic visuals and a definite style not far-off of
the Dakar Rally’s massive T4 truck class.
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