THE DAKAR HISTORY

[interested]

EVERYTHING that you know during this DAKAR years ....
Any information, story or whatever related with Dakar races you can wrote here

[interested]

AN ENDURING CHALLENGE

The adventure began back in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. Saved from the sands in extremis, he returned to France still in thrall to this landscape and promising himself he would share his fascination with as many people as possible. He proceeded to come up with a route starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers and crossing Agadez before eventually finishing at Dakar. The founder coined a motto for his inspiration: "A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind." Courtesy of his great conviction and that modicum of madness peculiar to all great ideas, the plan quickly became a reality. Since then, the Paris-Dakar, a unique event sparked by the spirit of adventure, open to all riders and carrying a message of friendship between all men, has never failed to challenge, surprise and excite. Over the course of almost thirty years, it has generated innumerable sporting and human stories.

[Artemis]

Nice topic ... I like it
I don't watch that often Dakar races, but still I like races, and i like to learn the History about everything in the world
So I will post some informations about the past in Dakar

greetings for the topic

[Artemis]

1979 : All together at the Trocadero

Thierry Sabine's gamble took shape on 26 December 1978, as 182 vehicles turned up in the Place du Trocadéro for a 10,000-kilometre journey into the unknown, destination Dakar. The encounter between two worlds sought by the event's founder unfolded on the African continent. Among the 74 trail-blazers who made it to the Senegalese capital, Cyril Neveu, at the handlebars of a Yamaha 500 XT, wrote the opening entry on the honours list of the greatest rally in the world.

[Artemis]

1981 : Ordinary adventurers

The Paris-Dakar rapidly won over the public, fascinated by these ordinary adventurers defying the desert with limited resources. Yamahas and Hondas "cobbled together at the back of the garage" rubbed shoulders with Thierry de Montcorgé's Rolls-Royce and the Citroen CX of the F1 driver Jacky Ickx, accompanied by Claude Brasseur. Hubert Auriol, already nicknamed "the African", won his first Dakar.

[Artemis]

1983 : Welcome to the Tenere

The first visit to the Tenere desert was as astounding as it was terrifying. The competitors found themselves plunged into an interminable sandstorm which caused no less than 40 drivers to lose their bearings. Those who strayed furthest had to spend as much as four days getting back on course. The legend of the Dakar was underway.