FEATURE
P72
I
t's easy to forget how far the Dakar
has come. Forty-one years after
Jean-Claude Bertrand dreamed up
the grand notion of an extreme off-
road odyssey, traversing the deserts
of North Africa with 38 champagne-
fueled motorcyclists on Boxing Day
1975, Australian Toby Price finally
wrestled domination of the world's
toughest motorcycle event away from
the Europeans by taking victory in
Dakar 2016–with the race now held in
South America.
That first "Abidjan to Nice Rally" in
1975 never made news until the follow-
ing year when Thierry Sabine became
lost in the Ténéré Desert for three
days, only to be rescued by none
other than Jean-Claude Bertrand. But
it was Sabine's name that made the
headlines and seizing the opportu-
nity sparked by the publicity, Sabine
repaid Bertrand by purloining his
concept, rebranding the event "Paris
to Dakar," and claiming authorship.
Held in the grip of winter the Paris
to Dakar proved phenomenally news-
worthy as an eclectic bunch of mo-
torcyclists, now joined by enthusiasts
in stripped out sedans, dune buggies
and butchered 4x4s, blasted across
the sunny deserts of Morocco, Mau-
ritania and Mali. Ten years later these
enthusiastic amateurs were joined
by a score of highly paid profession-
als embroidered in colourful shades
of Gitanes, Gauloises, Cinzano and
Courvoisier. Manufacturers such
as BMW, Honda, Yamaha, Citroën,
Peugeot and Porsche poured for-
tunes into promoting Le Dakar as the
ultimate product test.
DAKAR WINNER TOBY PRICE
RIGHT TIME,
RIGHT PRICE
FORTY YEARS AFTER DAKAR'S GENESIS, AUSTRALIAN TOBY PRICE
WON THE TOUGHEST OFF-ROAD RALLY ON EARTH.
BY PETER WHITAKER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANNY WILKINSON/RED BULL
