Paris to Dakar Madness in the Desert

[Sombrero]

Documentary telling the story of the world's craziest race.

In 1977 French motorcyclist Thierry Sabine was in serious trouble, lost in the Libyan desert and dying from thirst. Whilst most men would weep and think back over their lives, Thierry thought about coming back - to do a rally across the Sahara Desert. The 9,000km Paris-Dakar rally was born. The rally became a beacon for eccentric adventurers battling the terrain in customised vehicles, seduced by the romance of the desert and the extreme challenge. It soon became a victim of its own rapid success. Caught up in controversy and with a total of over 60 deaths, in 2008 this incredible event was brought to an end in Africa by terrorism.

Featuring winners Cyril Neveu, Hubert Auriol, Jean Louis Schlesser, Ari Vatanen, Stephane Peterhansel, Martine De Cortanze, former participant Sir Mark Thatcher and many more, this is the story of the biggest motorsport event the world has ever seen and one of the greatest challenges of human endeavour ever conceived, told by those that took part.

How the West took on a landscape of incredible beauty and scale. And lost.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH2u7gtkziE[/youtube]

[autogyro]

The bottom picture shows me in Agadez, halfway across the Sahara between Algiers and Lagos.
The trip used Ginger Baker's range rover that I modified and Ginger and I did the trip in four and a half days.

This trip was two years before the first Paris Dakar and was the inspiration for the event.

Ginger and I did the trip with absolutely no support and carried everything we needed in the vehicle.
The range rover was one of the first off the production line and had already been across the Sahara and all around west Africa.
The modern Paris Dakar has a complete rally circus in support so is hardly a man's event, even though I respect those who later lost their lives on it.
The Thatcher boy gets non of my sympathy.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Got a quick question: Is Jacky Ickx the only F1 race winner to also win on four wheels in the Paris to Dakar race