Rasputin Gryazi

The **Rasputin Gryazi** is a fanonical Mud Plugger created by JustAlex93.

## Details

Developed in the 1970s for rural areas where cars for ordinary people could not traverse, the Gryazi by Rasputin Motors proved to be a best-seller, having captured at least 40% of the European market for 4WD vehicles, and was even the only Soviet vehicle to have ever been sold in Japan starting in the 80s, inspiring the creation of the Ozutsu Centavo. The Gryazi had the distinction of being the first mass-production vehicle to combine a unibody architecture with a coil-sprung independent front suspension, making it a sort of precursor to the modern day crossover SUV. It has a recirculating ball truck steering box for off-road reliability, a feature also seen in the Centavo.

While Soviet-made vehicles did not attract much interest from those west of the Iron Curtain, there were those who saw potential in it because of their ability to traverse rough and treacherous terrain. Particularly, cross-country rally drivers, who began to use race-prepped Gryazis in the Paris-Dakar rally starting in 1979. Among those who fielded such vehicles is Rasputin-Hoch, a French dealership of imported Rasputin vehicles, which would later be involved in the development of the Alkonost Raid T3 rally raid car.

Gryazis prepared for competition had won in many an off-road racing championship in the early to mid-1980s, including victories in competitions such as the Algerian Off-Road Rally, the Rally of the Summit, the Rally of Tunisia, the Atlas Rally, the Baja España Argon, the Paris 24, the Cameroon Rally, the Baja Hungary Rally, the Hungarian Raid Rally, three victories in the Australian Off-Road Championship, a 1-2-3 finish in the Australasian Safari, a 1-2-3 finish in the Rallye des Pharaons, and, most notably, the **VERY FIRST** world rally raid championship title!

A couple of racing-prepped Gryazis were also fielded alongside an Alkonost Raid in the 1995 Paris-Moscow-Beijing rally raid.

At one point in time, a Gryazi racing prototype driven in the Italian off-road racing championship was prepped with a V8 engine that was made by, of all companies, Enthusia. That same engine was tuned from the stock 215 bhp to 300 bhp, and was connected to each wheel by means of a direct power-transmission chain drive. The front wheels ran parallel along the longitudinal axle with the two axle shafts starting towards the wheels. The vehicle had no driveshafts, eliminating the need for heavy diffs apart from the central diff, which was operated by a fourth pedal in the cabin. It also featured a trick suspension system with two nitrogen shock absorbers and two springs laid on top of each other for additional ground clearance. It also had an adjustable damper in the middle of the chassis that controlled the angle of the triangular suspension arms via belts, changing clearance and acting as an anti-roll bar.

When Rasputin Motors received an invite from the M.R.A. for their vehicles to be used in the upcoming MotorStorm Festival to be held on Pandrosia, they took a number of their Gryazis and prepped them for MotorStorm racing.

## Gallery

'85 BST-Pastel 102 Proto (driven by Trigger Finger)'95 Master Rallye T3 livery (Player livery)Solaria liveryMarleau Cigarettes liveryBudapest-Bamako Rally liveryThree-toned purple/white/orangeRasputin dealership team liveryYellow
## Trivia

* The Gryazi is inspired by the Lada 4x4 (formerly named the Niva) off-road vehicle, especially those that are prepped for rally raid racing.
	+ For its aesthetics, it has the wheel arches of the MG Metro 6R4, the tail lights of the Austin Mini, and the headlights of the Zastava Yugo. It also has a larger window on its rear door.