Was printed in: Wyprawy 4x4 - July 2007

Start to the prologue. I can hear info from the navigator: “3 km straight, no obstacles”. The referee counts down three, two, one, I step on the throttle pedal, the noise of the engine and the rumble of rocks hitting chassis is building up. I am straining my ears with anxiety to hear the information from navigator. I hope that I will be able to hear them in this noise. After what I experienced during previous rallies I’m waiting for his shout, when suddenly I hear his voice in my helmet, loud and clear: “Straight piste1 km, on v-junction, turn left, 300m, caution, wadi 500m, jump, then long straight".

I would never think that the intercom gives such a comfort and increases safety so much. The car is doing over 120 km/h now and I assure you that in Land Cruiser cockpit, deprived of all acoustic suppressions, when the engine runs at its max, the ventilation air inlet is open and the MT tyres are travelling on the gravel and rocks, it gets really noisy. The noise is indispensable element of the racing sports and constantly accompanies rally teams for many hours every day. Special stages of desert rallies are very fast, hot and last for hundreds of kilometers. In such conditions it is hard to communicate and without communication you cannot even dream of getting to the finish line.

Desert Racer Team is using the Terratrip intercom, which has proved to be very helpful. During the special stages the driver and the navigator ride with their helmets on. The layers of foams and other materials, from which the helmets are built, make the noise bearable. On the other hand the helmet suppresses both unnecessary noise and info conveyed between the driver and the navigator. That’s when the intercom comes in handy.

Our one did absolutely brilliant. The sound level and quality was good, loud and clear, the intercom amplifies the navigator’s voice, filtering additional noises from the cabin. We had quite fine acoustic comfort level, if one can speak about acoustic comfort level on desert rallies. Its easy to use control panel allows adjusting volume level, individually in each helmet.

The quality of work of intercom is as important as its durability. Desert rallies put all equipment through the utmost tortures. During the fast stages they suffer not only from shocks but also large amount of dust and high temperatures. In spite of all that the conditions are similar to the ones during all other rallies. What matters, is the distance, it happens that here one special stage is longer than many other traditional rallies. The true torture begins when you climb the dunes. It is here where both the driver and the navigator leave the car very often, usually forgetting to unplug the cables, which causes strong pulls and other shocks. The helmet with intercom lands in the car stuck in sand. I also use to throw the helmet in the sand or dig out the car without taking it off and forgetting that the microphone is sticking out of it and exposing it to extreme shocks and hits.

The intercom did very well, ensuring perfect sound quality and exceptional durability. Despite the extreme treatment none of its elements was damaged and it would be hard for me to point out any weaknesses. The only thing is that maybe now I would choose the wireless version. It is very useful on the dunes but it increases the weight of the helmet, which by the way is usually taken off during digging due to the heat. Wireless version is useful when the navigator runs up the dune to show the driver which way to go and how to approach it. A well-tuned team can, however, show it with gestures.

I consider the Terratrip intercom, as well as the rally computers made by them, to be a very successful product and definitely worth recommendation. Many rally teams use them and everyone who we talked to was praising them and not without reason.