One of the toughest Dakar rallies ever

A trio of MINI All4 Racing crossovers took the top three spots in the 2014 Dakar Rally, which saw Spanish driver Joan ‘Nani’ Roma come first. It was the first win for Roma in a car at the Dakar Rally (he won the event on a motorcycle back in 2004 when the rally was still held in northern Africa), and it was the third consecutive win for Germany’s X-Raid and the MINI ALL4 Racing.

Wanderlust

The toughest rally in the world started by accident.While competing in the 1977 Abidjan-Nice Rally, Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike while in the vast Libyan desert. Eventually he made it out and was rescued, though even after his return to France, he was enthralled by the amazing landscapes he’d seen and the profound affect it had on his life. He vowed to share this fascination with as many as possible. He started to dream up a new rally, starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers, across Agadez and finishing at Dakar.

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.

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 30 years, it has generated innumerable sporting and human stories.

By 1981, 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.

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.

1986: The black year

Thierry Sabine, French singer Daniel Balavoine, journalist Nathaly Odent, pilot François Xavier-Bagnoud and radio technician Jean-Paul Le Fur all met their deaths in a helicopter accident. Thierry Sabine’s ashes were scattered in the desert and his father Gilbert, aided by Patrick Verdoy, took over the helm. The race went on but no one’s heart was really in it.

1991: Start of the Peterhansel era

On four wheels, meanwhile, the Finn Ari Vatanen clocked up his fourth title in the category, a record that still stands today. Another young motorcyclist sporting a blue bandana, first seen on the rally three years earlier, rode his Yamaha to victory, the Stéphane Peterhansel era had begun. He went on to win the event again in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998. He then switched to the car category for 1999, joining the works Mitsubishi team in 2003. He went on to win the event for the Japanese marque in 2004, 2005 and 2007, and took his 11th victory in 2013 driving an X-Raid prepared Mini Countryman, making him the most successful competitor in the history of the Dakar Rally.

Was 2014 Dakar’s toughest year yet?

Midway through this year’s Dakar rally, many riders, drivers and their crews have been quoted as stated that “this year’s toughest rally in the world was the toughest in the world”.

By stage six some 70 riders had quit the race, having faced a marathon stage and two days’ rallying with no technical support. “This time they’ve gone too far,” they said, claiming that the organisers had made the world’s toughest race too tough.

They may have had a point – as several factors combined to make this one of the toughest contests in the long history of the Dakar.

Searing heat

Unseasonably hot weather that saw temperatures soaring to 50°C didn’t help. The layout of the stages also demanded a lot of the competitors. There were some of the longest stages since 2009 when the Dakar moved to South America, and heavy rains in the days before the start in Rosario had reshaped the trails.

As the number of withdrawals mounted up, including that of high profile competitors like Sam Sunderland and Francisco Lopez, concerns about safety grew bigger.

Withdrawals

“If everybody finished the race, it wouldn’t be the Dakar”, says David Castera, sporting director of the toughest rally-raid in the world. Withdrawals, he explains, are part of the race.

According to the archives, the record for competitors quitting the race was set at the 2005 Barcelona-Dakar when 473 withdrew. The second highest was Paris-Algeria-Dakar in 1988 when 452 athletes didn’t reach the finish line in Lake Rose. But there were more competitors taking part in both those rallies with 688 and 603 in all classes.

More competitors, more withdrawals. But what about the rate at which they retired: does that better indicate how the Dakar challenged competitors? In the 1986 Paris-Algeria-Dakar, out of 486 starters, only 100 vehicles reached the race end, a rate of 80% withdrawals.

In 2014, 216 vehicles have given up before finishing, 50% of the starting list and more than any other Dakar in South America, but far from the rate when they raced in Africa.

Stage length

Among all the criticisms, the majority have been directed at the length of the stages. Stage five, the 911km marathon from Chilecito to Tucumán is the longest since 2006, but not a record. That was set on day two of the very first Paris-Dakar in 1979. The competitors rallied across Algeria from Algiers in the North to Tamanrasset in the South, a total of 2 370km. No mean feat for 1979.

When you consider the total length of the Dakar, then 1986 takes the record again with a colossal 15 000 km – exactly 1 000km more than the second highest in 1985.

Ever since the Paris-Dakar in 2001, the route has been less than 10 000 km. If we only take timed special stages into account, then the 1990 Paris-Tripoli-Dakar is the leader with 8 564 km followed by the 1987 Paris-Algeria-Dakar with 8 315 km.

The most tragedies

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