A Weekend At The 2012 Valloire 4×4 Fair
September 8, 2012 2 Comments
We spent the weekend in Valloire at the 4×4 fair at the end of August.
It was a bit cool, but the weather was sunny and other than a thunderstorm on Saturday night, it was a perfect weekend to visit the stands with 4×4 vehicles, accessories, tents, and camping cabins, lingering to talk and exchange information and stories about offroad travel with other passionate fans. We ran into many old acquaintances from the Breslau and Tuareg rallies, in addition to making lots of new ones.
Many of the exhibitors were showing campers, from simple sleeper modules for 4×4 cars and trucks to fully-equipped cabins with convertible kitchen and sleeping areas, including shower and WC. We were impressed by the Globe Camper offroad cabins. We spent a good deal of time talking to the owners and had a chance to speak with some of their clients who had come to the fair and were willing to share their experiences with the product.
There were also several rally assistance trucks at the show, including the Breslau Rallye Organisation’s Renault Kerax 440:
This truck was not designed to have an integrated Central Tire Inflation System, but one has been retrofitted.
QTS Rallye Raid Assistance was also there with their Tatra 6×6 assistance truck.
Erg Machine 
Never saw a tire system like that. Learn something new every day. These trucks are cool. To my knowledge we don’t have this kind of interest in states. Very interesting indeed.
The tire inflation system on the Kerax is typical of a system retrofitted to a truck that doesn’t have one built in. Tatra, Kamaz and Mercedes all have all-wheel drive trucks with a central tire inflation system in which the air passes inside the axle shaft, eliminating the exterior hoses that can be ripped off or damaged in rugged terrain. It’s not a truck, but at least one American vehicle, the Hummer Military H1, has a similar system in which the air is distributed directly to the hubs. The Hummer system is less complicated because of the portal axle; the air hose doesn’t have to pass inside the axle shaft.