The Allure of the Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally is a very unique racing experience. It is a rally event that goes from Europe to Senegal every year. It features motorbikes, cars, jeeps and trucks testing these different types of vehicles over a very tough endurance race. The race is open to amateurs and professionals alike and anyone is welcome to participate. The spirit of the race and how it got started are very interesting aspects of this now famous race.
This race has been around for over thirty years now and it is still going strong. The race was founded, “in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. 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”. Just how good is that story; a racer who gets lost in the desert is so enthralled by the spectacle of the place he decides to start his own race to commemorate what the area meant to him. Most people would have cursed the day they set foot in a place that they got hopelessly lost in but not Thierry Sabine, he wanted to help others experience how it felt for him to get lost in such a vast and challenging environment. He wanted to share his love of off-roading and sense of adventure with all.
The message behind the rally is a great one too. The rally has become “a unique event sparked by the spirit of adventure, open to all riders and carrying a message of friendship between all men”. That message right there is one of the reasons why the rally is so popular and famous. When an event stands for something like breaking down racial barriers and peace and friendship between all, it will probably go down really well with most people in the world. It is an event like this where those participating know that if they ever get stuck somewhere or breakdown someone will come and help them out. All those involved in the rally become like a fraternity and try to help each other out.
This rally is unique also because of the fact that the terrain is a lot tougher than most rallies and so the vehicles used have to be a lot tougher as well to cope with the harsh conditions. Just the fact that the rally is taking place in a desert is cause enough for concern but the fact that these vehicles have to go at top speed for long periods of time will probably make most engineers quit their jobs. However the vehicles are modified to deal with harsh conditions, with beefed up suspension to cope with the rough ground, bigger tires, under vehicle coating and strengthening and probably a full roll cage inside each vehicle. The motorcycles have most of the same beefed up components as the cars and trucks but they don’t get roll cages because there is actually no place to put them.
Another interesting aspect of the race is because of security concerns for the last few years the Dakar rally has been taking place in South America. It seems Africa is a no go zone for a friendly and unbiased vehicle rally. This is sad because it seems that the moving of venues has changed the whole race, now the Dakar Rally isn’t even going to end in Dakar anymore but end in South America. The other sad part is that a race like this promotes harmony and peace between nations and if it can’t be held in an area because of safety concerns then that defeats the message that the Rally stands for altogether. Hopefully the race will come back to Africa and we will get to witness more amazing racing and exciting and crazy situations that have come to be the norm with the Dakar Rally.
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