Paris Dakar statistics of all-time winners. Legends of Dakar: Five of the most successful teams in the history of rally-raid. From coast to coast
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Books
- The mystery of the glass crypt, Yulia Nelidova. 1907 Former lawyer Emil Gershin, returning from a long trip to the Himalayas, will have to solve the mystery of the death of Dr. Inozemtsev. To do this, he will have to face...
- The Mystery of the Glass Crypt, Nelidova Yu.. 1907. Former lawyer Emil Gershin, returning from a long trip to the Himalayas, will have to solve the mystery of the death of Dr. Inozemtsev. To do this, he will have to face...
The famous French motorcycle racer Thierry Sabin came up with the idea of organizing a purely desert rally in 1977, after he himself got lost in the sands of Tenere (a region of the Libyan Desert) and was rescued by the Tuaregs: Sabin believed that the race through the Sahara Desert would be a real test - a challenge for the strongest racers all over the world.
MOTOGONKI.RU, January 2, 2018- He gathered a group of enthusiastic people and on December 26, 1978, the first off-road multi-day race started at the Trocadéro in Paris, which changed auto and motor sports beyond recognition. That “Dakar” is called the Dakar of 1979, but the countdown still starts from ’78.
What has changed in 40 years?
Participants
The very first Dakar was attended by 182 crews: 90 motorcyclists, 80 jeeps and 12 trucks. 74 starters reached the finish line. Since then, the predominance of motorcyclists on the starting list has been the hallmark of the marathon rally. In 1979, there was no division into categories and classes of equipment, so there was only one podium and one winner, and it was the Frenchman Cyril Neveu on a Yamaha XT500, and the prizes were taken by Gilles Comte and Philippe Vassar - all three on motorcycles.
In 2017, 143 motorcyclists, 79 jeep crews, 50 truck crews, as well as 37 ATVs and 8 UTV crews took to the start line - a total of 317 participants. Now each type of transport is included in its own classification: BIKE, QUAD, UTV (SxS from 2018), CARS and TRUCS. Cars are divided into three subcategories - T1, T2 and Open. Even team technicians (T5 class) unofficially participate in the truck category (and receive starting numbers).
The record for the number of Dakar participants was set in 2005 - 688 crews at the start, mainly bikers and jeeps.
Route
From 1978 to 2008, the race was held in Africa. In the first rally, the route was laid through traditionally “French” countries (former colonies where French is the official language) - Algeria, Niger, Mali, Upper Volta and Senegal. Then, the geography of the race expanded, including across Europe: in addition to France, the route began to be laid in Portugal and Spain; The list of participating countries on the African continent included Morocco, Niger, Egypt, South Africa, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania and others. Every year, despite remaining committed to the idea of conquering the desert, Thierry Sabin came up with more and more new routes, and the length of the route varied from 8,000 to 15,000 km, the races lasted from 10 to 20 days.
Since 2009, the race has been held in South America. The main “base” is Argentina, where the rally started and/or finished all these 10 years. In the early years, the route was laid across Chile, but in 2015 the Chilean side was forced to abandon the race due to technical, administrative and financial difficulties. In 2017, the race started in Paraguay - for a change. Now the resources of Peru and Bolivia are involved; these countries share the burden of providing the caravan with each other along with Argentina: each country accounts for a third of the route. In 2018, its duration will be almost 9,000 km: the paths of motorcyclists, jeepers and trucks will diverge several times, so in total bikers will cover 8,276 km, cars - 8,793, and trucks - 8,710 km. 9000 km is the new “standard” length of the marathon rally route.
Race conditions
The African chapter of the Dakar is a story of pure desert racing. The exception was the 1992 edition from Paris to Cape Town (South Africa), where part of the route passed through the Namibian highlands with altitudes of up to 2000 m, and where participants had to cross deep rivers.
South America is an incredible mix of classic rally tracks, desert and dune areas, and the high Andean Cordillera. Since 2009, rally participants have been faced with a daunting task: they must be prepared to climb 3,000 m and descend to ocean level. The highest point of the route in recent years was the 5000 m mark on the way along the Bolivian Altiplano (the highest plateau after Tibet) in the 2017 race. Most of the routes in Bolivia pass at an altitude of more than 2000 m above sea level over several days.
Security
The very first start on December 26, 1978 was a serious gamble: symbolic support from the authorities and minimal technical support for the participants became a real test for the athletes. The riders personally maintained their motorcycles, they had to transport provisions from bivouac to bivouac, and most of the cargo was transported by horse-drawn vehicles and trucks. Refueling along the route was carried out at designated points where fuel supplies arrived. So, if you missed the checkpoint, you could get lost in the sand forever. There was no need to wait for medical assistance: the race was served by only two (!) ambulances and one helicopter, which was mainly engaged in searching for those lost in the sands.
Now the race is supported at the state level, with the participation of local authorities. A.S.O. organizes a bivouac and logistics between camps along the route. The bivouac is a huge tent city, which even has its own mobile clinic. Each bivouac has a press center and a large dining room with catering, where rally participants are offered a wide variety of dishes and at least two meals a day. Each team sets up its own camp and transports 10 tons of equipment from bivouac to bivouac, including the personal belongings of the riders.
The race is served by 137 specially prepared vehicles, including: 1 equipped medical aircraft, 6 aircraft for transporting journalists, film crews and A.S.O. personnel, 10 helicopters (including 7 medical and 3 for race control), 10 equipped ambulances , 10 buses for transporting staff and guests, 60 escort jeeps and mobile technical equipment, 50 trucks, as well as a fleet of ATVs. The day before the start, scouts go out onto the route - a route reconnaissance group that checks the passability of the previously laid course or changes it otherwise.
Navigation
Until 1992, all navigation on the Dakar was carried out using maps and handwritten road books. In 1992, GPS technology was first used, thanks to which a 20-day route was completed along the west coast of Africa to Cape Town (South Africa).
Now the use of ERTF Unik II GPS navigators, as well as IriTrack satellite tracking systems, is mandatory for each race participant. To prevent the passage of the route from becoming an easy walk from point to point, Unik’s navigation capabilities are limited: the navigator only shows the direction to the next control point on the route, hiding the current coordinates on the ground from the pilot; the navigator records the route track to record the passage of all checkpoints, the telemetry data is then studied by the directorate.
Missing checkpoints (CP) entails a fine (additional minutes). IriTrack is a “safety beacon” that is always in touch with race headquarters; it can be used to send a distress signal. To navigate the route, race participants use a “legend” written in the roadbook: a listing for each day of the race is issued at the briefing before the start or in the evening of the previous day. The “Legend” may change depending on messages from scouts along the route, changes in weather conditions, etc. Flashing Unik II is also necessary in these cases.
Safety
From 1978 to 2007, desert racing was not threatened. Safety issues concerned mainly the personal safety of each rider in the battle with the desert. However, the 2008 race was disrupted due to the terrorist threat and the virtual lack of government control over the vast areas where the large-scale sporting event took place, after which A.S.O. was forced to change continents.
Since 2009, the Dakar Rally Marathon, as already mentioned, has been taking place in South American countries, which guarantee strong support and support. Argentina showed its most ardent support for the Dakar. Rally participants receive a special status when crossing the state border. The safety of riders and bivouacs in 2018 will be ensured by 22,000 police and national guards along the entire route.
The Dakar Rally can confidently be called the most famous and “patriotic” in Russia, in which the whole country, and not just motorsport fans, is proud of its success. It is in this marathon of survival that KamAZ trucks show the whole world their power and reliability, forcing them to respect the domestic auto industry. Russian trucks literally “do not notice” their rivals, taking the “gold” of the podium almost every year.
The victory is especially prestigious due to the many thousands of kilometers of the race and its conditions, when the roads change directions, sand dunes become mud puddles, and the sultry sun becomes torrential downpours. The ideological inspirer and organizer of the “Paris Dakar Rally” was the Frenchman Thierry Sabin, who almost died during the “Nice-Abidjan” 1977. A motorcycle racer lost in the desert was accidentally discovered by the Tuareg tribe three days later. This prompted him to work out a new route across the African continent - dangerous and difficult to pass, with a minimum number of roads and a maximum number of natural obstacles.
The debut season of “Paris-Dakar” took place in 1978, and took place on December 26 in Paris, from Trocadéro Square. The finishing point was Dakar, the capital of Senegal in West Africa, which the pilots reached three weeks later, passing through Algeria, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. 182 racers entered the starting line (90 on motorcycles, 80 on cars and 12 on trucks), but only 74 reached the finish line. The drivers covered about 10 thousand kilometers, with more than 3 being special stages.
The division of equipment into auto, motorcycle and truck classes occurred in the second year (January 1980), so there was only one award podium in 1979. It went entirely to motorcycle racers, and the “gold” and the title of the first Dakar champion (initially used as a generally accepted abbreviated name for the rally-raid) was won by the Frenchman Cyril Neve, who competed on a Yamaha XT500. His compatriots, the “motorists” in a Range Rover V8, also distinguished themselves, winning the victory for the only time in the history of the tournament with a trio of pilot, navigator and mechanic. Subsequently, other crew members took over the functions of the latter. The “truck” category received an official winner in 1980. This was the Algerian team on the Sonacome, a truck from the Algerian auto monopoly, created as a branch of the French Berliet.
The massive failures of the participants in the debut rally, which turned out to be a “survival” rally, did not bother the auto world, gathering even more people who wanted to try their hand next year. Traditionally, it began in January in Paris and ended in Dakar, but since 1995 (due to public protests regarding the massive accumulation of equipment creating a transport collapse in the city), the French capital has given only two starts (1998 and 2001). It was replaced by the Spanish Granada (1995, 1996, 1999) and Barcelona (2005), Arras (2002), Marseille (2003) and Clermont-Ferrand (2004) from France, the Portuguese Lisbon (2006, 2007) and even Dakar itself (1997 and 2000).
The finish place was also changed several times. In 1992, the Paris-Dakar crossed the whole of Africa, finishing in South Africa, in Cape Town, near the Cape of Good Hope, the extreme southwestern point of the African continent. In 2000, drivers drove from Dakar to Cairo, Egypt, and in 2003 from Marseille to Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt). In 1994, the race was “looped”, starting and ending in Paris, and in 1997, doing the same with the capital of Senegal. In total, during the entire period of the event, 29 countries took part in the stages.
The last season of the “classic” West African “Paris-Dakar” was 2007. The organizers took the threats of al-Qaeda terrorists, who demanded the cancellation of the race and killed four French citizens in Mauritania in December of the same year, seriously. They decided to move the competition to Latin America until the situation “normalizes” (in fact, for an indefinite period, given the activity of various terrorist groups), refusing to hold the 2008 rally.
Description
Rally Dakar differs from other rally tournaments in its format, where the champion is determined at the finish line, based on. Stages are not weekends stretched out on the calendar with summation of points, but daily races, with breaks for sleep and repairs in clearly indicated places. Considering that it takes up to 10,000 km to travel, a significant part of which are “special stages”, and the “tracks” are famous, the task for many drivers and “iron horses” becomes impossible.
In some seasons, less than half of the starting crews reach the finish line, so it is not surprising that the race has received the status of a “marathon rally”. It attracts professional racers and “amateurs” who decide to test their strength in a sporting competition to the limits of their capabilities. The latter are the majority, and often up to 80% of drivers have nothing to do with. The participation of female pilots and famous people, representatives of both sports in general and show business and politics has become a pleasant seasonal tradition.
The organizers provide technical support and ensure the safety of the competition, following ahead of the races, equipping places for food, repairs and rest, if required, for mass entertainment events. It is estimated that during a rally day, about 1.5 tons of food are eaten and approximately 6 thousand liters of water are drunk. Gasoline for equipment, about 15 tons for all participating crews, also travels in a “caravan” along the route, and the purchase of local fuel is prohibited. About 15-20 thousand people are responsible for the safety of the rally raid, including employees of the host countries.
Over the decades of the Dakar, no less than 13 thousand pilots managed to successfully complete the entire race, proving their high level and receiving a gold medal as a reward, officially confirming their high achievement. It was separately calculated that more than 60% of the starting racers were never able to reach the finish line, leaving the race.
The main prize in the rally is a one-kilogram “Golden Bedouin” figurine, a stylistically made gold bust of a desert inhabitant, wrapped in traditional clothes. The importance of the very idea of conquering off-road terrain is emphasized, and not the financial benefit of a place in the standings. It is also supported by car enthusiasts, submitting a large number of applications for participation in each season, ultimately spending more than earning in the race.
Equipment and categories of participants
The Dakar Rally is held for 4 types of vehicles:
- motorcycles
- ATVs (since 2009)
- trucks
They are divided into internal categories with their own digital and lettered numbering, depending on the degree of modification of the vehicle, a wide range of which is permitted by the rules. This is how both “cars” modified by amateurs or factory teams come out, as well as quite ordinary vehicles found on public highways.
Motorcycles
Production models (approved for use on ordinary roads) with one or two cylinders and an engine capacity of up to 450 cubic centimeters are approved for off-road use. Divided into categories:
- Elite – only members of the Amaury Sport Organization participate
- Super-Production – general group of motorcyclists
- Marathon – the main condition; during the rally you cannot change key components and assemblies of motorcycles
ATVs
Separating from motorcycles, two subcategories were formed:
- Single-cylinder, with any two-wheel drive and engine up to 750 cc. cm.)
- 3.2 – cylinders – 1 or 2, drive – “full” is allowed, engine – up to 900 “cubes”)
Cars
Vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tons compete in three classes:
- T1 – “production” SUV models that have undergone modification and tuning
- T2 – “factory” cars, without special modifications
- Open – “buggies” and other equipment that falls within the weight limits
Trucks
The most diverse group, and one of the categories does not even take part in the medal standings:
- T4.1 – trucks must be of the “factory” type, without changes or improvements
- T4.1 – modified and modified representatives of the class
- T4.2 – “technicians” of support services, as fast and improved as possible, but aimed not at winning the race, but at helping other crews
- T5 – trucks of technical departments of teams that do not “tournamentally” participate in rally raids
Regulations and navigation features
According to the regulations, the Dakar Rally distance is divided into daily stages of 700-900 kilometers, including “liaisons” (usually roads and public paths) leading to or from “special stages”. Test points are awarded for the speed and correctness of completing the latter, calculated after each race and adjusting the location of the participants in the standings.
Depending on the location, the position of the drivers at the start of the next day is determined, where a system of temporary handicaps is used. Riders will start individually, at 2-minute intervals, starting with the motorcycle categories and ending with the cargo classes. From the beginning of the second ten of the “tournament” the time between the starters is reduced to 1 minute.
The size of the handicap for all stages is unchanged and cannot be increased or decreased, unlike the “qualified” time for completing the “special stage”. The organizers can change it by imposing penalty minutes for mistakes on the course, “refueling” at local gas stations and assistance in navigation. Time can also be “deducted” (compensated) in the event of force majeure. For example, if a race car driver stops to help a broken down opponent, as per the rules, each participant is obliged to do so.
Navigation also has its own characteristics - the route of the entire rally raid is kept secret. Before the race itself, crews receive information about the next stage, and only information about landmarks and control points (sometimes combined with mobile refueling and technical assistance stations) without indicating their GPS coordinates.
Movement along the route takes place using the Unik II navigation device, which shows the direction to the next checkpoints. The difficulty is that the racer must be within a certain radius of them for the device to pick up the signal. In emergency cases, using a special code, you can open a GPS map with the location of all the “testing” points, but “hints” are punished with a penalty time.
Organizers monitor participants’ compliance with navigation requirements using the IriTrack GPS tracker, tracking their location in real time. It is also used for emergency communication with the crew, in particular in emergency and especially dangerous situations. Secret checkpoints are also used at “special stages”, recording the appearance of each athlete.
Russia in the Dakar Rally
They began competing at the Paris-Dakar in 1991, immediately winning silver and bronze on the truck podium. The "" team, created in 1988, distinguished itself, having virtually no experience of international performances and nicknamed by fans the "Blue Armada" for the color scheme of the cars. The first “gold” of the rally raid was won in 1996 by Viktor Moskovskikh on a KamAZ-49252, which brought two more victories, but under the control of Vladimir Chagin. The pilot from Perm subsequently became a record holder, winning a total of 7 championship titles in the cargo class - in 2000, 2002-2004, 2006, 2010-2011.
In total, the KAMAZ-master team has 15 Dakar gold medals, 13 of which were won after 2002. The history of the race does not know of another such total dominance of one car brand. The reorganization of the Russian team, which rejuvenated the roster after Chagin’s retirement, did not help the opponents either. Eduard Nikolaev, who became a 3-time rally champion, proved himself to be the leader of the young pilots.
Legends of Dakar
In addition to KamAZ, over the years the Paris-Dakar was periodically dominated by several automakers that produced particularly successful cars, brought to near perfection by mechanics. We can note 4 championships in a row, from 2012 to 2015, of the BMW concern and its British representative MINI All4 Racing, which fielded 11 cars that successfully reached the finish line.
Citroen, whose ZX sports prototypes won in 1991 and 1994-1996. The French Peugeot took gold four times in a row with the “” and “405” models in 1997-2000, but stopped paying enough attention to rally raids with victories in the “zero”, going into classic auto racing for a long time and triumphantly returning in 2016 with the Peugeot 2008 DKR. In 2017 and 2018, the 3008 DKR brought the auto giant's total number of victories to seven.
The Dakar is rightfully considered the most titled SUV, modifications of which brought the manufacturer 12 championship titles. The first “golden” season was 1985, and in 1992-1993 the Japanese took the titles from Citroen, which was considered the favorite. Complete dominance began in 1997 and ended in 2008, along with the cancellation of the rally in Africa. Over eleven years, the car became the best in its class 9 times, losing in 1999 and 2000.
Since 2001, Austrian KTM has not allowed anyone to approach the championship title, having won it 17 times in a row. Neither Yamaha (9 highest awards), nor BMW and Honda can compete with them, with 6 and 5 titles respectively. However, Yamaha is achieving success in the relatively new category of ATVs, winning every season since 2009.
Incidents
The status of the Dakar as a “marathon for survival” has a very real justification - every season new incidents and tragedies occur. According to some reports, over the years of the event, about 70 people died - participants, technical staff and spectators. The death rate is particularly high among motorcyclists.
Events at the rally sometimes touch on politics, as in 1982, when Mark Thatcher, the son of the “Iron Lady”, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, disappeared in the desert. The whole world searched for him, the navigator and the mechanic for 6 days. The event received a huge public response, the military was involved, whose plane was found by the crew 50 km from the highway. Everyone turned out to be safe and sound.
In 1986, Paris-Dakar took the life of its founding father Thierry Sabin, who died in Mali in a helicopter crash during a sandstorm. Along with him, the pilot, two representatives of the media and a guest of the competition, French singer Daniel Balavoine, crashed. But the name of the ex-motorcycle racer remained forever in history, and his endeavor was successfully continued.
The 1988 season stands out for a series of tragedies, which brought the death of 6 people: three riders crashed on stages, a Malian girl was hit by another driver, and a team of videographers killed a mother and daughter in Mauritania. In addition, the participants were accused of organizing the fire and the subsequent panic, during which three people died.
Five people, including a 5-year-old girl from Senegal who was crushed by a service truck, died in 2005. Among them is Fabrizio Meoni, an Italian motorcycle racer and two-time rally-raid champion. After terrorist killings and statements by al-Qaeda supporters, and the transfer of Dakar to South America, he crossed the ocean and “survival status”. The first victim of the new-old rally, already at the second stage of 2009, was the Frenchman Pascal Terry - the pilot’s body was found only three days later. In 2010, during the start of a racing day, a spectator was crushed to death, and in 2012, Jorge Boero, a motorcyclist from Argentina, crashed.
In 2013, near the Peru-Chile border, a head-on collision between a support crew's Land Rover and two local taxis killed two bystanders and left seven people hospitalized with various injuries. In the same year, and also head-on, Thomas Bourgin, a 25-year-old motorcyclist from France, collided with a Chilean police car. The debutant of the rally raid did not survive.
The third stage of the 2015 season also ended in death, when the body of Michal Hernik, a motorcycle racer from Poland, was discovered. His bike had no visible damage from the accident, the driver himself was not wearing a helmet and showed no signs of violence, and an autopsy indicated dehydration as the cause of death.
"Dakar" on TV
Many articles have been written about the most famous rally raid and even more reports have been filmed, racers give interviews, and spectators share their impressions. There is a lot of video material, from which we can highlight the “documentary” filmed by Discovery Channel in 2006 Race to Dakar(“Forward to Dakar!”), where the main character was British actor Charlie Boorman on a BMW F650. It is considered the best and has an IMD rating of 8.2, surpassing even some Hollywood blockbusters.
The 7-episode documentary is considered a must-watch for those wishing to take part in the event and covers all stages of a driver's preparation for the rally, starting with medical tests and paperwork. He shows the viewer the events from the “first person”, explaining all the subtleties and nuances of the race, showing the difficulties of the route passing through deserts and rocky off-road conditions under 50-degree heat, followed by sub-zero night temperatures.
The Paris-Dakar Rally is a good example of a timely successful idea. Frenchman Thierry Sabine was one of the best racing drivers of the 1970s. The circumstances of his life were such that at a certain moment he was able to start a pendulum that has not stopped for the fourth decade.
A pragmatic start
In the 1970s Europeans, who have nothing to do at home, are driving around the northern part of the African continent on two- and four-wheeled vehicles. These small races were known to a narrow circle of fans. But even then there were prizes. Sponsors provided financial support, and administrators dealt with organizational issues.
The official history of the Dakar portrays the nascent race as being driven entirely by the enthusiasm of the riders. This is not entirely true: there was a lot of enthusiasm, but the commercial component was present even then.
Thierry Sabin was one of those “enthusiasts” who raced across the sands and rocks of Africa on a motorcycle. He was 28 years old. While participating in one of the rallies in 1977, he got lost in the African desert of Tenere, stretching across the territories of Niger, Libya and Chad.
History is silent about the miracle by which he escaped. It is only known that local nomads helped him. The very fact of returning from the African desert was extraordinary: Sabin became a famous, as they would say now, media figure. He receives the nickname "rescue from the sands." Against the backdrop of Sabin’s heroic aura in the community of racers, their sponsors and administrators, the prospect of organizing a large-scale race, which by all calculations could attract the attention of a large number of people, looms.
The calculation turned out to be absolutely correct. By the end of 1978, a route with a schedule of daily tasks had been prepared, participants had been announced, and Thierry Sabin, as a “true pioneer,” began to come up with exciting slogans. The most successful one is still used today: “Duel for participants. A dream for the audience."
Difficulties with the name
On what basis the Dakar race was called a “rally” is not entirely clear. The meaning of the word “rally” is a race along a track, which can take place over short distances and over long distances between cities and countries. However, the presence of a general purpose road, any kind, not necessarily paved, is a distinctive element of this type of race. In contrast, Paris-Dakar is an off-road endurance event (human and vehicle). To eliminate terminological confusion, the name “rally raid” was invented, which came to mean an off-road race. But the complex term did not catch on: they still use simply “rally”, although this is incorrect.
The race started from Paris for the first 6 years. Since 1985, the starting point of the rally has changed periodically. Various regions of France, Spanish cities and even Portuguese Lisbon became the starting point. In this regard, the presence of Paris in the name became irrelevant. They left it as a simple “Dakar Rally”.
Africa is a turbulent continent. Low living standards, political instability, terrorism - these factors plagued the rally throughout the African stage. The organizers of the Dakar were able to hold the race along the initial route 2 times: in 1979 and in 1980. The riders, after landing on the African continent, followed through Algeria, Mali, Niger and further east through small African countries to Dakar in Senegal.
But already in the third race, in 1981, for safety reasons they began to change the route: the race took place bypassing one country or another. In 1984, the route was laid out with a significant deviation to the south, with a stop in Côte d’Ivoire. The difficult situation in Algeria led to the fact that since 1989, landings on the African continent were carried out alternately in Tunisia, Libya and Morocco.
Despite minor changes in routes, the general direction of travel for 12 years was from the northern coast of Africa to the south, to the center of the continent, and then to the western Atlantic coast. 1992 was a revolutionary year. The organizers abandoned the detour from north to west and decided to hold the world's first trans-African race. The rally participants crossed the continent from north to south – from Libya to South Africa. The route, naturally, was straightened out as much as possible, but it still turned out to be long - more than 12 thousand km.
For safety reasons, skiing in central Africa has been stopped since 1994. They carefully pave the way along the west coast with a stop in the relatively calm Mauritania and Mali.
The routes of 2000 and 2003 stand out. The first one again became trans-African, only this time - from west to east. The riders traveled from Dakar to Cairo. In 2003, Sharm el-Sheikh became the destination.
The African story ended in 2008, when a few days before the start of the race, the French Foreign Ministry officially warned the organizers that holding it along the proposed route would pose a potential threat to the safety of not only the participants, but also several thousand spectators. The terrorists planned to carry out the attack in Mauritania, along which most of the route passed. There was no time to work out a new route: the race was cancelled.
American routes
Since 2009, the Dakar Rally has radically changed its location. From Africa, located near the European coast, it moves across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. There are no shootings, hostage takings, or hotel bombings here. Organizationally, the event only benefited from the move. It has become more expensive and longer for European fans to travel.
Since you can’t really travel through the tropical jungle, less hot and more passable Argentina, Chile, Peru and a little Bolivia were chosen for the races. Today the South American Dakar is a well-organized, safe competition. However, crazy routes of 15 thousand km. remained in the distant 1980s.
Table 1. Routes, length and number of participants in the rally 1979-2016.
|
Route |
Route length |
Number of participating vehicles |
|||
|
Total, km. |
Of which special stages, % |
At the start, pcs. |
Of these reached the finish line, % |
||
| 1979 | Paris – Algiers – Dakar | 10 000 | 32 | 182 | 41 |
| 1980 | 10 000 | 41 | 216 | 38 | |
| 1981 | 6 263 | 54 | 291 | 31 | |
| 1982 | 10 000 | 60 | 385 | 33 | |
| 1983 | 12 000 | 43 | 385 | 32 | |
| 1984 | 12 000 | 49 | 427 | 35 | |
| 1985 | Versailles – Algiers – Dakar | 14 000 | 53 | 552 | 26 |
| 1986 | 15 000 | 52 | 486 | 21 | |
| 1987 | 13 000 | 64 | 539 | 23 | |
| 1988 | 12 874 | 51 | 603 | 25 | |
| 1989 | Paris – Tunisia – Dakar | 10 831 | 61 | 473 | 44 |
| 1990 | Paris – Libya – Dakar | 11 420 | 75 | 465 | 29 |
| 1991 | 9 186 | 63 | 406 | 43 | |
| 1992 | Paris – Libya – Cape Town (trans-African) | 12 427 | 50 | 332 | 51 |
| 1993 | Paris – Morocco – Dakar | 8 877 | 50 | 153 | 44 |
| 1994 | Paris – Spain – Morocco – Dakar – Paris | 13 379 | 33 | 259 | 44 |
| 1995 | Granada (Spain) – Morocco – Dakar | 10 109 | 57 | 205 | 50 |
| 1996 | 7 579 | 82 | 295 | 41 | |
| 1997 | Dakar – Niger – Dakar | 8 049 | 81 | 280 | 50 |
| 1998 | 10 593 | 49 | 349 | 30 | |
| 1999 | Granada – Morocco – Dakar | 9 393 | 60 | 297 | 37 |
| 2000 | Dakar – Cairo | 7 863 | 64 | 401 | 56 |
| 2001 | Paris – Spain – Morocco – Dakar | 10 219 | 60 | 358 | 39 |
| 2002 | Arras (France) – Spain – Morocco – Dakar | 9 436 | 69 | 425 | 31 |
| 2003 | Marseille – Spain – Tunisia – Sharm el-Sheikh | 8 552 | 61 | 490 | 38 |
| 2004 | Auvergne Province (France) – Spain – Morocco – Dakar | 9 507 | 49 | 595 | 27 |
| 2005 | Barcelona – Morocco – Dakar | 9 039 | 60 | 688 | 31 |
| 2006 | Lisbon – Spain – Morocco – Dakar | 9 043 | 53 | 475 | 41 |
| 2007 | 7 915 | 54 | 511 | 59 | |
| 2008 | Canceled due to safety reasons | ||||
| 2009 | 9 574 | 50 | 501 | 54 | |
| 2010 | 9 030 | 53 | 362 | 52 | |
| 2011 | 9 605 | 52 | 407 | 50 | |
| 2012 | Mar Del Plata (Argentina) – Chile – Lima (Peru) | 8 393 | 50 | 443 | 56 |
| 2013 | Lima – Argentina – Santiago (Chile) | 8 574 | 48 | 449 | 67 |
| 2014 | Rosario (Argentina) – Bolivia – Valparaso (Chile) | 9 374 | 56 | 431 | 47 |
| 2015 | Buenos Aires – Chile – Buenos Aires | 9 295 | 51 | 406 | 51 |
| 2016 | Buenos Aires – Bolivia – Rosario | 9 075 | 53 | 354 | 60 |
| AVERAGE: | 10 040 | 55 | 402 | 41 | |
How the Dakar race works
This is the freest racing in the world. Anyone can participate, using any vehicle, from a motorcycle to a truck. Despite the fact that automobile corporations make full use of the rally as an advertising platform, the organizers have always welcomed those wishing to participate “from the street.” The amateur spirit of Dakar is still alive. Anyone can apply to participate. But there are fewer and fewer such “eccentrics” every year. Perhaps people have become more pragmatic. Perhaps the time of Dakar is passing.
The rules of the Dakar race are minimal:
- All participants in the race must strictly follow the given route and complete daily tasks.
- The average length of the route is 10 thousand km. About half of them are occupied by so-called “special sections”: sand, mud, grassy soils, rocks.
- The entire route is divided into daily continuous stages. The length of each is up to 900 km.
- As a rule, one day in the middle of the rally is a “rest day” - no racing is held.
- Routes for motorcycles, cars, trucks and ATVs vary in difficulty and length. The winner is determined in each type of transport.
- The South American race lasts 15 days (the African ones were 22 days);
- The month of the event is January.
Dakar winners
For almost forty years, the Dakar race has developed some trends typical of sports competitions. In particular, participants and teams representing a particular country specialize in certain vehicles. Accordingly, in each of the four types of race there are leaders who win most often. For example:
- Russian teams are usually the best in truck racing (KAMAZ vehicles, of course);
- the French traditionally lead the way in motorcycles (don’t forget that the founder, the Frenchman Thierry Sabine, was a motorcyclist);
- in cars, the French are also often the best;
- Argentines usually take the lead in quad bikes.
Below is a summary table of representatives of the countries that most often won in Dakar.
Table 2. Countries whose representatives were the best in rallying from 1979 to 2016
What about Thierry Sabin?
He took an active part in organizing these races for 9 years. In 1986, during the rally, he and several other people flew in a helicopter over the Malian desert. As a result of a sandstorm, the helicopter lost control and crashed. So, the desert allowed him to survive at the age of 28 so that he could create the best and largest race in the world. But she took his life at 37.
The initiator of the Paris-Dakar race was the Frenchman Thierry Sabin, who in 1977 got lost on a motorcycle in the desert. The aborigines saved him, it seemed that he should rejoice and never return to the desert again. But Sabin was not that kind of person; he was so delighted by the desert that he wanted to show its beauty to everyone. The extreme sportsman created a rally route that united continents. The beginning is Paris in the center of Europe, the end point is Dakar in the very west of Africa. The Paris-Dakar route passed through Algeria, but then the political situation became more complicated, and riders began to pass through Morocco or Libya.
The route of the famous rally, still considered the most difficult and prestigious, has changed more than once. Moreover, the changes were very serious.
- In 1989, the Paris-Dakar route passed through Tunisia and Libya, and a year later Tunisia was excluded from the route. From France they began to be transported to Tripoli (the Libyan capital);
- In 1992, for the first time in history, the race ended not in the city that gave it its name, but in Cape Town. The route passed through the whole of Africa;
- 1994 - the route was made looped;
- The year 1995 also made its own adjustments: the start of car competitions was given not in Paris, but in Grenada.
Unfortunately, the route of the incredibly interesting and difficult Paris-Dakar race was often changed for security reasons - the organizers were afraid of terrorist attacks and did not want to take risks. Therefore, in 2000, the rally again had to end not in his native Dakar, but at the foot of the mysterious pyramids in Egypt. In 2008, the marathon was canceled for the first time - again due to terrorist threats.
Route 2015
Now the route of the Paris-Dakar race has completely changed. From previous years, only the name “Dakar” has been preserved as a memory. Now the entire route runs through South America; in 2015, cars will start from Buenos Aires. The route will be 9,000 kilometers (it is worth noting that 5,000 are special stages), so that the riders, having driven through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, will return again to Buenos Aires. On the map this route looks like an almost perfectly smooth circle.
No matter how the Paris-Dakar route changes on the map, the spirit of competition, the courage and determination of athletes who are ready to take risks and overcome difficulties remain indispensable.