DUNE BUDDIES

The Dakar Rally still has a fearsome reputation for genuine risk to life, so just imagine doing it in a Renault 30 TX or a Tatra lorry. Octane meets the intrepid crews on the Dakar Classic

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THE LEGEND OF the greatest motoring adventure was born in the mid-1970s when French motor-cyclist Thierry Sabine got hopelessly lost in the Libyan desert during a rally and decided the best way to mark his near-death experience was to share it with the world. In 1979 the first Paris-Dakar was held over a route that made its way 10,000km from the French capital to Senegal. Some 182 vehicles set off, of which only 74 survived to the end.

The enormity of the challenge, the otherworldliness of the landscapes and the sheer thrill of the danger made it an instant hit, not only with legions of amateur rallyists and professional playboys but with works teams, too. By 1984 entries were close to 500, with classses for bikes and cars, and the 1982 Mark Thatcher incident already well behind it. In case there is some slim possibility you've forgotten, the UK Prime Minister's son and his privileged 504 team were lost for six days in the desert. It was a stark and high-profile reminder that the Paris-Dakar could bite.

Sabine died in 1986 (in a helicopter crash on the event), but his baby continued to thrive under his father Gilbert. hitting 600 starters in 1988. Then it began to change, and struggle, and by 1993 the reins had been handed to the Amaury Sport Organisation, which is still in charge.