[MOTORCYCLES AND SOCIETY]

The 2008 Dakar Rally

The the 30th edition of the Dakar Rally, the most challenging adventure race for off-road motorcycles, will kick start on the 5th of January 2008 in Lisbon.

The first competitors of this one-in-a-kind event took off from the place du Trocadéro in Paris in December of 1978, and were the pioneers of several generations of ordinary adventurers. The 263 motorcycles competing in the 2008 race and representing 50 nationalities will take off from Lisbon heading towards Senegal’s capital where the finish line will be crossed on Sunday January 20th.

A total of 9273 km will have to be covered during the 15 days of the race with 5736 km of specials, 1500 km more than in 2007. Dakar veterans predict that the 800 km through Morocco will be one of the most challenging stretches and that the Dakar Rally in 2008 will be more challenging than previous editions. Three marathon stages where there will be no assistance available for the riders can make all the difference in the final results.

KTM, Yamaha, Honda, Husqvarna Aprilia, BMW and Suzuki are either participating with their own factory teams or through independent teams. KTM has the possibility to score the 8th victory in the Dakar. Of the 263 motorcycles competing, 124 are made in Austria.

Dakar 2008 offers to its entrants a long journey in the Saharan desert that has made the legend of the rally. After leaving Europe where two specials will be competed on Portuguese soil, the race will spend four days in Morocco. Eight stages are then planned in Mauritania before reaching Senegal: “An ocean of sand” insists Etienne Lavigne, director of the rally. The concept of the course which honours several ‘’historical’’ stage cities like Guelmine in Morocco, Nouadhibou in Mauritania or Saint-Louis in Senegal, was guided by one objective: density. The terrains covered by the Dakar race are some of the less populated in the world. For the first time in the history of the Dakar Rally, there will be two specials in Morocco where the bikes will follow a separate route from the cars and trucks.

The Dakar race goes beyond sports and adventure. Today considerable efforts are dedicated to charity. Founder of the rally Thierry Sabine was well aware of how difficult life was in Africa and the emergency to act, also knowing that the rally could be a precious tool. In his spirit, the vocation of the Paris Dakar was to be useful to the countries that host it. The actions that were initiated in 1985 have continued to inspire the organizers and then the rally competitors who also help out in different projects.

To follow the Dakar rally online www.dakar.com