On may 15, the first alternative lesson with the KAMAZ — master sports team, a multiple prize winner and seventeen-time winner of the Dakar Super Marathon, took place in the official community of “KNRTU — Favorite Technological University” in the social network Vkontakte.

The speakers were Eduard Nikolaev, team's pilot, Honored Master of Sports , and Yevgeny Yakovlev, navigator, World-class athlete, Head of the Design Department. A meeting was held by a graduate of KNRTU - Leonid Yefimov. Live video conversation with speakers was accompanied by exciting video footage of the rally directly from the cab of the legendary KAMAZ - in the sands and among the snows of the Russian North.

The participants of the meeting told that the crew of the team consists of a pilot, navigator and mechanic. According to the pilot Eduard Nikolaev, the truck is actually driven by a navigator. In rally raids you have to drive through the dunes, overgrown and rocky areas.

The audience learned about the technical characteristics of the truck, all components of which have a large margin of safety. The engine power reaches 1000 HP, the car accelerates up to 100 km/h in 8 seconds, and the weight of the truck according to the rules of the competition must be at least 8 tons. Moreover, the prepared KAMAZ is able to withstand not only the desert. In the winter of 2017, the team set a world record in the Murmansk Region, making a jump of 37 meters on a 10-ton truck.

Every year, before the competition, tests and training trips are held. In Naberezhnye Chelny, three practice grounds are equipped for this purpose with an imitation of the route.

On the track, team members bear serious physical exertion when the spine and neck are affected. In addition, participants experience psychological stress. Trainers and specialists help them keep fit.

The lesson also showed production processes - from the engineering laboratory to the race track. It is interesting: for 6 hours of passing the route, the pilot presses the clutch pedal 1,5 thousand times, 2 thousand times-on the brake and 5 thousand times-on the accelerator.

The uniqueness of the sports team is that it develops, designs and builds racing trucks itself.

The fascinating stories of the speakers and videos from the competition inspired the audience and caused a lot of encouraging comments. Several thousand users of the social network joined the project in real time, and taking into account subsequent offline views, their number exceeded 12 thousand people. Students were interested in whether it is possible to learn how to drive a racing KAMAZ, what changes in the truck from each competition (the main thing, the speakers answered, is the suspension, smoothness of the ride and engine characteristics). After each competition, the team immediately begins to prepare for the next race. "The main task is to modernize cars and never stand still."

Each speaker chose one of the most interesting questions, the authors of which will receive souvenirs from KAMAZ-master. Eduard Nikolayev chose the question of overcoming psychological difficulties during the race, and Yevgeny Yakovlev noted the question "Can a girl be in the team if she is trained as a navigator?".