- The GoKoBra Dakar Team 2012
GoKoBra participated with 2 buggies in the Dakar 2012 race which turned out to be to challenging for the majority of all competitors but the both participating GoKoBra buggies finished the race!
On the contrary to previous small single seater buggies, with the GoKoBra buggy the participant will be able to overcome almost each obstacle and challenge in a rally like Dakar without help of third parties. However driving and navigating alone is a real challenge. But also it provides incredible satisfaction and proud if it works out well.
The current GoKoBra buggy has grown into a competitive car to participate in rally raids and provides a lot of fun for the competitor whilst riding in combination with the challenges of participating without a navigator in a rally raid.
The GoKoBra buggies can be bought or rented - GoKoBra has ready to race buggies and is also able to provide service for participants of rally raid races so you can opt for an all-inclusive package for a race.
After many years of motorsports experience and a successful participation on a motorbike in 2009 in the Dakar race, Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Kees Koolen switched to the car category. Their intention was not to just pay a lot of money to a professional team and navigator but to build a single seater small buggy which provides the competitor with both a challenge and a lot of fun. Another goal was to provide an alternative to participants to experience rally raid with a lower budget requirement.
Shortly after the after the finish of the Dakar 2009 Jurgen and Kees drafted their initial ideas. Being dependent on a third party, the first Dakar mission with a lightweight buggy in 2010 failed within 3 days and Jurgen and Kees decided to establish their own team and build their own buggy; GoKoBra was born.
In only 7 months a first version of the GoKoBra buggy was designed and build. Unfortunately, due to the short preparation period, during the Dakar 2011 this new buggy had some major shortcomings which could not be solved during the Dakar 2011 race and both Kees and Jurgen had to abandon the race halfway at the rest day.
After the Dakar 2011 race the buggies were improved and tested according to a long list of modifications. In July 2011 Kees and Jurgen participated in the Silk Way rally with modified buggies but engines which had already more than 13.000 race kilometers before the start of the Silk Way race; Kees finished after an adventerous rally, Jurgen had to pull out due to technical difficulties but GoKoBra learned a lot from the race based on which the buggies and maintenance schedule were further improved.
During the Dakar 2012 GoKoBra proved the quality and reliability of the buggies; both Jurgen and Kees finished. All racing days, except 2, they finished during day light. Especially in the stages with dunes the buggies proved their competitiveness close to professional teams who already compete in the Dakar for many years.
