No. 2, 2006
Konstantin Kopylev
DANCER WITH WOLVES
A unique racing car created by LUKOIL racing team craftsmen
It was quitе a while back that the LUKOIL Racing Team conceived of a modern racing bolide based on a mass-produced Russian car. The concept carried motor racers away but remained an abstraction until three years ago when it finally began to take shape. The Oka, the smallest and, perhaps, the least fortunate product of the Russian automobile industry was selected as the starting point of a modification project that culminated in a high-power LUKOIL sports car dubbed Dancer with Wolves.
Fine tuning
Tailoring (or, to use a technical term, tuning) a car to a fault-finding motorist's specific requirements is a tall order involving complicated, costly and time-consuming modifications which are not at all certain to do the trick. Nevertheless, the customization trend has caught on among motorists, and not surprisingly so: who doesn't want his beloved automobile to be "different," to stand right out from the common run of mass-produced motor vehicles?
There are two kinds of tuning - external (decorative) and internal (technical). External tuning means improving a car's aerodynamics by streamlining bumpers, spoilers, thresholds, etc.; seat layout is changed for greater convenience, the cabin interior is re-styled and finished in leather, the seats, the steering wheel and the instrument panel are retrofitted, and a music system installed.
Internal tuning consists in updating the car's assemblies for a more efficient performance, with emphasis on the engine, suspension, braking and exhaust systems. A car emerges from the procedure with more muscle, faster engine pick-up and a steadier grip on the road.
As a matter of fact, there is always room for improvement, and what was initially intended as modification of the basic model may ultimately result in its radical transformation. This is a job for professionals qualified and duly equipped to do it.
The engineers of LUKOIL Racing - LUKOIL's motor racing team - would not settle for less than refining the basic model to perfection. These car racing and customizing wizards' record of achievement is graced by numerous top honors in national and international contests and by transforming a run-of-the-mill Lada car into Russia's unsurpassed Super-tourism racer.
Powered by LUKOIL racing
Russia's smallest car, the relatively cheap and slow-footed Oka, can hardly strike anyone as transformable into something out of the ordinary. That, paradoxically, made all the difference to Yevgeny Malinovsky, LUKOIL Racing's Director and the moving spirit of the project, who was tricked by the challenge of it. The Dancer with Wolves, the product of transformation, came the hard and exciting way. Tuning a Mercedes would hardly have been much fun. The best is the enemy of good, and anyway their ambition was to accomplish the impossible, no less; hence the choice of a car dismissed in the motor racing community as good-for-nothing. They took their time over converting that "tin can" into a highly responsive and road-gripping vehicle - and made it. That was their first project, and they have plenty to show for their pains.
LUKOIL's designers and engineers used a CAD system which left nothing of the standard Oka save for the doors, the windshield and the roof. Its flimsy body was reinforced by a tubular frame and a heavy-duty subframe. The engine was replaced by a sixteen-valve, 108-HP one with a 1.6-liter displacement and shifted backwards, making the car a rear-wheel driver and converting what used to be the engine compartment into a plastic-hooded trunk reserved for a full-sized spare wheel, the storage battery and an enlarged radiator. Incidentally, the Dancer rolls on 16-inch wheels. Torque is transmitted from the engine to the wheels via a modernized six-speed gearbox.
The car's exterior has been changed beyond recognition. Nothing about the new racer's "slant-eyed" snout with an aggressive jaw of a radiator grill is reminiscent of its mass-produced prototype. Elegant plastic dodgers, front and rear bumpers, expanded fenders, bodysills and a rear-door spoiler add up to produce an unmistakable unique look the LUKOIL Racing team's racing cars are instantly recognized by.
The picture is made complete by a leather-lined cabin, a sports-type instrument panel, the Koenig ergonomical seats with the car name embroidered on their backs, pedal pads and a Hella music system. The new car's specifications are worth looking at: curb weight, 920 kg; gross weight, 1,120 kg; overall dimensions (length/width/height), 3360x1650x1330 mm; engine displacement, 1595 cm3; power, 108 H.P./5800, maximum speed, 190 kph; rated fuel consumption, 7.5 l.
The Dancer with Wolves created a stir at the 2003 Moscow International Auto Show where it was first presented to the public and triggered an eager demand. Nevertheless, it is not likely to go into quantity or even small-series production in the foreseeable future. Says Yevgeny Malinovsky: "Unlike Italy's Paninfarina workshop, we cannot afford launching global projects which are too costly and take too much time. We are a racing team and we've made the Dancer just for the fun of it, not for sale."
This statement will, no doubt, only go to further enhance the unique car's value in the eyes of the motoring public.
