Zdeněk Kahánek, a Tatra worker who went on to race the Dakar Rally, handed away Thursday. He was 81 years previous.
Rising up within the Tatra Mountains, Kahánek attended a mechanical engineering faculty in Kopřivnice. After finishing his obligatory two-year service within the Czechoslovak army, he was employed by Tatra Vehicles as a check driver in 1963 on vans just like the 813, 148, and 815.
In 1986, Tatra started promoting vans to international prospects fascinated with operating the Paris–Dakar Rally. Kahánek’s familiarity with the 815 prompted the producer to enlist him as the motive force of a factory-backed truck, and he made his debut that yr in a 6×6 815 VE nicknamed “Ostrý-II”.
Whereas Tatra coworker Karel Loprais usually stole the present within the Truck class because the 1988 winner and eventual six-time champion, Kahánek had his moments as nicely. He defeated Loprais outright when he completed third at school on the 1990 race and thirty-third total.
Kahánek continued to race the Dakar by 1994 however exited in his final begin. He remained concerned with the race by driving service vans over the subsequent two years earlier than retiring for good in 2003.
In 2017, he obtained behind the wheel of Ostrý-II as soon as extra alongside co-drivers Josef Kalina and Miroslav Gumulec. Tatra had acquired the truck the yr prior and performed an in depth restoration that spanned 270 days,
“At present, on 5 September 2024, Zdeněk Kahánek left for motorsport heaven. Tatra Vehicles extends its honest and deep condolences to his household. Zdeněk might be missed,” begins an announcement from the corporate. “He devoted his complete life to the Tatra model. In each skilled and aggressive capacities, he contributed to constructing the corporate’s fame.
“Within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, he represented the model with T 815 racing vans in Europe and Africa, together with the famend Dakar Rally. Through the early levels of Tatra’s participation on this planet’s hardest marathon rally, he was the undisputed chief of the manufacturing unit group. On this position, he paved the best way for Tatra’s future aggressive successes.
“Zdeněk Kahánek was a superb driver and a fair higher mechanic who knew Tatra vans right down to the final element. He left an enduring mark at Tatra. We keep in mind him with honour.”
