Tito and Silvio Totani they are great protagonists at Dakar 2024 making headlines for the rescue carried out on a truck overturned in the fifth stage, from Al Hofuf to Shubaytah, an unassisted Marathon stage. Their feat, which took place at dusk when the sun had already set, sparked considerable media coverage throughout Europe, with the Dutch media at the forefront praising the Italian crew number 271.
The feat of the Totani brothers at the Dakar 2024
The Totani brothers' feat was immortalized in a video that quickly went viral on social media around the world. Without hesitation, the two Italians at the Dakar, participating in the 'T1 four-wheel drive' category, on board a Nissan Patrol GR Y62 with a 4,800 cc petrol engine, 6 cylinders and 320 HP, they managed to straighten the truck Iveco Powerstar of Richard de Groot of the Dutch Firemen Dakar Teaminside a basin (pit) among the dunes of the Arabian desert, where both the truck and the Totani brothers with the Patrol and two other vehicles were trapped.
Truck overturned at the Dakar, the “break” of salvation
The recovery maneuver is a classic “torn“, as they say in off-road jargon, in this case “tear”: it consists of tying the two vehicles together with a rope (strop) particular (more elastic than a classic rope) and take a running start with the vehicle that has to carry out the towing. In fact, Totani's Nissan took the necessary run-up to acquire kinetic energy, which was then transformed into the force necessary to right the truck overturned on its side. (Watch the video).
It's not an easy maneuver, as it is to turn a truck it is necessary to use a considerable amount of energy. The Totani brothers, Silvio and Tito have long experience in off-roading and this allowed the rescue to be a perfect success.
What happened
In reality, four vehicles participating in the race had ended up inside this basin, including the overturned truck, and were unable to get back out. Silvio Totani took matters into his own hands, aware that only a truck could have saved them and pulled all the crews stuck out of the pit. For this reason, a side-by-side (buggy), the smallest of the vehicles present, helped free the Nissan Patrol which was stuck in the sand. Subsequently, Silvio himself made the decision to try to straighten the truck, succeeding perfectly in the undertaking. At the end of everything, with the help of the restored Iveco, they managed to free themselves and return to the bivouac.
Meanwhile, due to a radiator problem discovered last night at the bivouac, they made the strategic decision to skip the next stage, number 6 Shubaytah-Shubaitah, to be able to repair their car. This move was motivated by the fact that the stage was a type Marathonextending for two days without any assistance.
By skipping the stage, they avoided the risk of being trapped in the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world, unsupported with great risks. Given the heroic undertaking of the Totani brothers were allowed not to participate in the Shubaytah-Shubaitah leg without penalty to be able to repair the car on which a radiator problem has been found.
The heroes of L'Aquila, Silvio and Tito Totani
“We arrived in the dunes at night – explains Titothe navigator from Riyadh – in conditions in which you get a thousand things right and then there's one you get wrong: so we ended up in a 'megacrater' coming down a large dune and we were at the bottom trying to figure out how to get out with the car completely covered in sand. A 'side by side' (small 4-wheeled off-road vehicle, editor's note) then went down into the ditch and overturned next to us and therefore the Dutch team's truck. Up on top there were a couple of Japanese and another 'side by side'.
In short, a 'nice omelette' for everyone. We coordinated – continues Tito – straightening the 'side by side' first, removing the sand from the tyres. Then we all put our car back together and then switched to the Dutch truck. Normally, crews always help each other, especially in the positions at the bottom of the ranking, where we all try to go all the way together, in the true spirit of the Dakar”.
Well done, we can say that the Totani brothers won the 2024 Dakar for the notoriety they managed to secure with their epic feat. The website of the Totani dealership.
Read also:
→ Photos from DAKAR 2024
→ Italians at DAKAR 2024
→ DAKAR 2024 stages and dates
→ Off-road and 4×4 activities
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