VOLUME 62 ISSUE 32 AUGUST 12, 2025 P135
expanding those stories
with even more anecdotes
shows what you can really
accomplish when you put
your mind to a meaningful
task.
While I knew much of
Beppe's rally exploits,
I knew little about his
foray as one of the leading
lights behind the Camel
Trophy, where he repre-
sented Italy in the 1985
event held in Borneo.
The Camel Trophy was a
mind-blowing adventure
race held in Land Rovers
and Range Rovers and, for
a short while, on Honda
Dominators, in a separate
race called the Camel
Marathon Bike.
The Camel Trophy
wasn't really a race, even
though there were win-
ners awarded. It was a
staggering event of hu-
man endurance, one that
valued sportsmanship
and community equally to
outright speed.
Each race had a spe-
cial mission to help the
country in which it was
run, such as providing
drinking water, so it gave
back to the locals as a
thank you. Beppe was
instrumental in getting the
two-wheel version of this
race going, and some
of the things they had
to do just to make it to
the finish defy belief. In
today's sanitized world,
it would be almost im-
possible to get a race
like this going now.
The term "he's a man's
man" was probably
created to describe
Beppe Gualini.
One facet of Una Vita
Fuori Traccia is the incred-
ible collection of photos
Beppe has amassed over
the years. A gifted and
enthusiastic photogra-
pher, Beppe, along with
help from longtime friend,
legendary MotoGP photog-
rapher Gigi Soldano, whom
Beppe met on that first
Rally of The Pharaohs in
Egypt in 1982, has backed
up each story with visual
proof. From the little Fantic
125 sliding around in front
of the great pyramids of
Egypt, his words about Da-
kar founder Thierry Sabine,
being held at gunpoint
near the Libyan border, to
becoming the first motor-
cyclist on Machu Picchu
(pictured top right) in Peru
and getting his leg almost
cut off in a chainsaw ac-
cident gone wrong in Brazil
during the Camel Trophy,
it's all there.
My job leads me to
meet some incredible
people, but few have left
as lasting an impression
on me as Beppe. This
man has done more in
his lifetime and a hundred
people combined and
refused to be drawn in
by the mundane trap that
encapsulates the world.
Una Vita Fuori Traccia is
a testament to one man's
will to live life to the fullest,
embracing the uncomfort-
able to find an inner prom-
ised land that most think is
a fairy tale.
Each chapter in the
book is marked by a quote
about the never-ending
quest for adventure, but
few sum up this lifestyle
better than the final words.
"Adventure doesn't exist.
It is only in the mind of the
man who pursues it, and
as soon as he touches
it, it vanishes to appear
much further up, in an-
other form, at the limits of
the imagination."
Beppe's adventure
will only end when he's
breathed his last breath,
but he can probably take
it easy given all he's ac-
complished in his lifetime.
Thankfully for us, he's cre-
ated this incredible book,
Una Vita Fuori Traccia, for
us all to vicariously live
that adventure with him.
Rennie Scaysbrook
UNA VITA FUORI
OFF TRACK)
Beppe Gualini Una
Vita Fuori Traccia
By Beppe Gualini
Price: $87
Published by Beppe Gualini
https://www.gilena.it
