Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

TSO Dakar Rallv CEO Hubert Auriol STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS JONNUM II f there's one man who personifies the Dakar !J Rally, it is Hubert Auriol. The Frenchman was there at the beginning, competing in the first running of the event 24 years ago, and he is the only person to have scored wins in both the motorcycle and the car divisions. Not only that, but upon retiring from competition, he signed on to take over the organization of the then-ailing race, as the head Dakar man for promoter TSO. The rally has growr:l and evolved under Auriol's direction, and there has been no shortage of criticism, but he continues to guide the event with a steady hand. That's no mean feat, when you consider the immense logistical problems presented by moving such a huge group of people and equipment from France to Senegal, stopping in deserted camps each night along the way. One day after the finish of this year's Total Arras-Madrid-Dakar Rally, we spoke with Auriol poolside in the gardens of the Hotel Le Meridien in Dakar, Senegal. Many teams used to contest the Dakar Rally, but the participation has dwindled down to just KTM. How can more manufacturers be convinced to participate in the event? When you see what the Honda did at the finish, the XR650R is really a very good bike for rallies. The KTM is obviously fantastic. Maybe we 26 JANUARY 30, 2002' cue • e n have to set the displacement limit at 650cc. It's not that much different, because the KTM is currently 660cc. Because of BMW, we made the limit 700cc, but now, I think that with a single, 650cc is enough. For years, 650cc has been the right size for the engine on many models. I don't think you can go much lower, because you need the power in the sand, but 650cc makes for a very strong and powerful bike. Someone told me the other day, "They mustn't make a production KTM twin, because it's too dangerous." It's so fantastic and so fast that nobody can ride it - only [Fabrizio] Meoni or maybe [Joan] Roma next year, or whatever. The other guys can't ride it. When you see the race we had, maybe we have to take the decision, saying, "Okay, the race is open only to singles, maximum 650cc." Because it's not a service that you're giving to the riders when you allow bigger bikes. They think it has power and etc., but they can't handle it. You are one of the greatest riders ever to compete in the Dakar Rally. How difficult was it to make the transition to businessman when you took over the promotion of the race? If I wanted to be a businessman, I wouldn't organize the Dakar [laughs]. It's a sort of life, and I prefer this life, which for me is very rich and very interesting, because I meet with the media and with the competitors. I go to different countries and have contact with the population. I don't like to use this word, but the Dakar is freedom. There's some- eVIlS thing different here. You can see it as a journalist: When you need to speak with Meoni or another top rider, you don't need to ask for an interview, like if you were at a GP. They'd ask for a press pass, or say, "You only have five minutes." We don't want that. It's human. That's why this race is so important - it's the human side of the race - and for us, it's very important to keep that. That's why I tell you I love to organize it, because I'm not a businessman. Still, though, it's not an easy thing to put on. There's so much to organize and coordinate. Yeah, but I'm lucky. I raced the Dakar Rally since the first one. It really changed my life, and I'm very happy about that; I'm not sad. When I was racing, if I made a mistake, it made me stronger. It was difficult, but I learned, and one day when I switched from racing to organizing, of course it was a big change. But in some ways it's the same as racing, because when you race, you are the leader of your team - you don't win alone. The team is behind you, helping you, pushing you. And you pull the team, because if you win a stage, all of the team is happy - your mechanic, whatever. When you are organizing, you are the leader of the team. I am not organizing this race alone. I am one piece of the whole puzzle. If I don't have a person organizing the logistics, or another one handling the press, there's nothing. I am the leader of the team, and my only goal is to push them, and say, "Okay, next year, we're going to do a good one!" You have to do that; it's the same way in all of life - the army, a company - and that's why we come back to business, because it's the same. Somewhere, you need somebody to give an impulse, and say, "We go there." And around him, you have people who say, "I'll follow him." That's the story. That's why it's not so difficult to switch from racing to organizing, because you have human relations, which are the same as in racing. I used to say that the Dakar is a tour of life, because this race, if you don't take care of yourself, nobody will take care of you. You saw it. In the morning, if you get up and you don't pack up your sleeping bag or whatever, nobody will do it for you. If you don't take care of your bag and your stuff, nobody else will take care of it. And if you lose your sleeping bag in this race, what do you do? Simple things become very important. You have to carry your bottle of water. If you don't, then you can't say, "Okay, I'll go to the shop and buy a bottle." If you don't take your sack lunch in the morning, you have nothing to eat. You won't starve, but you'll be hungry. You have to organize things for yourself and take care of yourself, and it's the same for all the racers and everybody in the race. That's something, for us, that is very important, and we have to keep it. That's why in the camp, we have one bivouac: Everybody eats the same thing, the information is the same for everybody, the rules are the same for everybody. We're not talking about communism, where everything is exactly the same for everybody, but we have everybody in the same room and ask them to get out. If you are more clever than your friend, you are the first. That's fine. It's like in business: If you are more clever than the other guy, you have a better business. The rally was shorter this year, in miles and days, than most of the old, brutal events. Is this better? I would love to make the Dakar a three-month race, but today, that's not possible. This year, we had quite a big challenge to keep it to two weeks. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but I think the spirit was

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