Ironically, the Dakar Rally, the ultimate endurance test for man and machine that requires precise navigation owes its existence to a Frenchman who got lost in the Libyan desert.
In 1977 Thierry Sabine (below) was competing in the Abidjan-Nice rally and had to be rescued after losing his bearings in one of the toughest, yet in some ways most beautiful terrains known to man.
He returned to France defeated but inspired by what he had seen and decided to organise an event which would introduce as many rally enthusiasts as possible to this challenging landscape.
He put together a plan for a rally starting in Europe, taking a route to Algiers before crossing through Agadez in the Saraha desert and ultimately leading to Dakar. His dream became reality and he came up with the motto: “A challenge for those who go, a dream for those who stay behind.”
The rest is history. The first Paris-Dakar set off from the Place du Trocadero on December 26, 1978. It attracted 170 competitors who had to cross 10,000 kilometres of tough terrain through Algeria, Niger, Mali, Upper Volta and Senegal.
It became the most newsworthy motorsport event of the era with its unique characteristic of contrasting ancient civilisations, villages and dried mud huts with machines of the modern world.
The first winner of the motorcycle event was Cyril Neveu who was riding a Yamaha. Unknown at the time, he went on to win many events. The first car winner was a Range Rover.
The inaugural event wasn’t so much about timings as it is now, but more about self-discovery, adventure and attempting to beat targets set by individuals who had no idea if they had what it took to finish what was the most daunting off-road rally of all time.
The launch of the Dakar attracted immediate world-wide attention with competitors and vehicle manufacturers. By 1980 iconic automotive brands like Yamaha, Volkswagen, BMW and Lada each had a team in the event and the number of competitors in the Dakar rose from 170 to 216.
The rally also included a category for trucks for the first time which was won by a Sonacome. In 1981 the event almost proved too popular, attracting massive crowds at the start, to the extent that registration for the rally bordered on chaos.
An extraordinary array of vehicles turned up including 4x4s, buggies, side-cars, and the bizarre including a Rolls Royce and a Citroen CX owned by Jacky Ickx and Claude Barasseur.
This event also saw Hubert Auriol win the motorcycle category which marked the beginning of a long history of success. He went on to become the first man to win the Dakar on a motorbike and in a car.
By 1982 the Dakar had 382 competitors, more than double the amount that started the first event and French brothers Bernard and Claude Marreau, Dakar legends who were nicknamed ‘the foxes of the desert’ won the car section in a turbo charged Renault.
In 1983 the rally crossed the Tenere desert, a particularly hostile environment which covers around 150,000 square miles of wilderness in the south central Sahara. It offered a particularly hazardous challenge for competitors and with terrible sandstorms bringing visibility down to almost zero 40 drivers lost their way and had to be rescued.
In 1984 Thierry Sabine decided to push the boundaries of the Dakar even further and succeeded in plotting a route through Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania. The number of entries reached 427 and Porsche joined the party by sponsoring the Jacky Ickx team which went on to finish in sixth place.
In 1986 the Dakar suffered a terrible tragedy when its creator Sabine, French singer Daniel Balavoine, journalist Nathaly Odent, pilot Francois Xavier-Bagnoud and radio technician Jean-Paul Le Fur were killed in a helicopter crash (below).
Sabine’s ashes were scattered across the desert and although the rally continued the result became secondary to the sadness of the deaths.
Sabine’s father Gilbert took control of the rally which continued to grow with Peugeot joining the action and winning at the first attempt with Ari Vatanen and Bernard Giroux winning the car class.
The motorcycle class led to an exciting battle between Hubert Auriol, Cyril Neveu, and Gaston Rahier. Auriol looked certain to win but fell and broke both his ankles leaving Neveu to collect his fifth victory.
The year 1986 saw another record breaking Dakar with 603 vehicles taking part; 183 motorcycles, 311 cars and 109 trucks. The rally ventured into Libya in 1989 and it was also the first time a youngster Stephane Peterhansel made an impression, finishing fourth on his Yamaha motorbike.
He won his first title two years later and was to become a Dakar legend. In 1992 there was a route change with the Paris-Dakar becoming the Paris-Cape Town and it was also the first time that GPS was used by the competitors.
This Dakar presented competitors with particularly challenging conditions, including wartorn Chad but it didn’t stop Hubert Auriol becoming the first to win on a bike and car, something he described as his “greatest victory.”
For the first time the Dakar did not start in France in 1995 but from Spain and saw Peterhansel continue to dominate on his motorcycle. He also won in 1998, his 10th victory on the 20th anniversary of the event.
Afterwards, he said: “My 10 Dakar years are the most memorable of my life.”
In 2000 the rally crossed Africa from west to east, from Senegal towards Egypt and as there was a terrorist threat the organisers introduced an air-bridge to avoid the dangerous area.
The rally finished at the base of the Pyramids. In 2001 the amount of airborne assistance available to competitors was reduced to emphasise the core value of the Dakar with assistance vehicle replacing helicopters.
It also saw a woman, Jutta Kleinschmidt in a Mitsubishi, finish in the top four for the first time. The 2008 edition of the Dakar was cancelled after the murder of four French citizens and three Mauritania soldiers days before the rally was due to start.
French authorities identified a terrorist threat aimed specifically at the Dakar.
In 2009 more than four million spectators came out to greet and watch the competitors in Argentina and Chile which is where the latest Dakar will take the competitors this year, along with a first visit to Bolivia, as they face new challenges and remember the man who started it all, Thierry Sabine.
