The snorkels, or air intake pipes, allowed air to be directed into the engine from roof level. Their purpose was to prevent water and sand dust from entering the engine.
During the Safari Rally, it was notable that the snorkels on Toyota and M-Sport Ford cars were attached throughout the weekend, even though they were not beneficial on nearly every special stage. Hyundai, on the other hand, resorted to snorkels only sporadically.
Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux revealed in an interview with the French Rallye-sport.fr website why Hyundai acted this way with their new solution.
“It saved us more than once in fesh-fesh areas. Our snorkel had a valve that allowed us to switch directly from the normal intake to the snorkel. When it was activated, the performance loss was significant.” Fourmaux began.
“It felt like I was driving a Rally2. I spoke to a Hyundai driver who didn’t have this valve on their snorkel, so it was definitely a disadvantage for them. This shows that a small team can do a good job,” the Frenchman added.
M-Sport Ford is not a pure factory team like its opponents Hyundai and Toyota, so it operates on a smaller budget. While Hyundai and Toyota conducted their preparatory tests for the Safari Rally in Spain and Portugal, the Ford drivers carried out their preparation at M-Sport’s testing area in Northern England.
At first glance, one might imagine that the island country does not offer conditions similar to savannas. However, according to Fourmaux, the test was not in vain.
“That day was still useful to me, even if it wasn’t ideal. It would have been better to drive in Sardinia or Portugal. In the first loop of the rally, the settings weren’t very suitable. Fortunately, we quickly found solutions with the team at the next service.”
“It’s good to see that we can quickly adapt and improve performance. That’s also where I’ve been able to make progress in recent months with the team,” Fourmaux said.
