It spans more than 7,000 miles.
Down the four-lane highways of southferry. And into the narrow ravines of the
Algerian mountains.
Over the "desert of deserts;' the lifeless Tenere. And through jungles teeming
with more kinds of life than a lone rider
cares to see.
.'
ยท
-.'
'
.. :
'
.
vast dust basins that choke the airflow
from machines and men alike. Through the
dense rain forests of Touba. And finally, for
a fortunate few, out into the clear sea
breezes of the West African coastline for
the final run to the finish.
This is Paris-Dakar, motorcycling's
greatest melodrama. The all-out charge
from the City of Light to the Dark Continent that each year claims more motorcycles than any course yet devised.
The race always begins on January 1.
And, twenty days later, nearly always ends
the same way: with the familiar horizontally-opposed-twin silhouette of a BMW
roaring over the horizon long before
any other machine.
This year, the race results once
again read more like a survivor list. Gaston
Rahier rode his BMW to first. Two-time
winner, Hubert Auriol, rode his BMWto
second. Another BMW ridden by Raymond
Loizeaux finished fifth. And 74 out of the
original 125 starters didn't finish at all.
Strikingly short of moving parts,
BMW's 1000cc opposed-twin engines
showed their innate ability to keep on moving. To outrun smaller bore bikes on the
flatlands. And, because of their lower center of gravity, to outmaneuver other bikes
through ravines and cutbacks alike.
Inspiring the competition to once
again go back to the drawing boards. So
that they can retum with newer, bigger,
faster engines next year.
Which, of course, is what they did last
year. And the year before that. And the
year before that. ...
..,.-
~
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