This Belgian buggy might be the future of motorcycling, weirdly

The 2024 Dakar will be graced by the presence of HySE, otherwise known as the hydrogen fuel development company set up by the Japanese ‘big four’: Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki; and their Belgian-built buggy.

HySE was officially announced earlier this year, when, understandably, most interest was taken with Kawasaki, which had applied for trademarks relating to its hydrogen project at a similar time. 

However, as Suzuki showed with its recent reveal of its 2023 Japan Mobility Show exhibitions, and as Yamaha and Honda had proved previously, too, the house of Akashi is not the only one to meddle with the most common element in the universe.

Indeed, all four have experience in dealing with hydrogen. In 2024, all of that experience be combined into one almighty effort on the Dakar Rally - the most famous rally raid in the world.

To contend with such a challenge, and to complete such a feat, the ‘big four’ have created this…

Yes, it’s a buggy. We’d expect this kind of thing from the Jazz’d up folk at Honda, or the Swift-thinking engineers at Suzuki, but we thought better of Kawasaki and Yamaha (we’ll allow UTVs since they’re quite capable of falling over).

That said, much of the vehicle’s creation was outsourced to a Belgian company called Overdrive Racing, with HySE focusing on the 998cc 16-valve DOHC supercharged four-stroke motor, which has been developed and built with the eventual intention of using it in a motorcycle.

Named ‘HySE-X1’, the buggy will compete in the ‘Mission 1000’ category at the Dakar, with this being featured from next year is part of the ‘Dakar Future’ programme, aimed at experimental vehicles, not entirely dissimilar to the ‘Experimental’ class in the Endurance World Championship.

Before its big race, the HySE-X1 will be displayed - in “mock-up” form, says a press release from all four HySE manufacturers - at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show. When it eventually makes it to the Dakar, the main goal of the X1 is to reveal the remaining issues with its powertrain, and ideally point in the direction of some of the potential solutions.

Kenji Komatsu, Chairman of HySE and Executive Officer of Technical Research & Development Center at Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., said: "We have decided to participate in the Dakar Rally, which we know has a rich history and tradition. Our main reason for participating is to give us the chance to communicate the results of our research in a way that's easy to understand. 

“Also, by participating in the event, we can identify potential issues and refine our technology to solve the technical themes required for the establishment of hydrogen small mobilities as soon as possible. We hope everyone will look for us there and cheer us on!"