Right before the New Years festivities I was running down towards the Parks of Palermo and I noticed a huge event going on. There were hundreds of people lined up along a blocked off street watching all these parked rally cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Except for an annual trip to Charlotte, NC with my best friends for the Coca-Cola 600, I know little to nothing about the world of racing and rallies but after a little more research this Dakar thing seems intense. It is also really popular throughout the world. After writing this post yesterday I went into work and 3 guys (and a lady) from Whales came in who actually competed in the Dakar. They sat at the bar and told me all about the race, their mechanical problems and near death experiences. In one stage of the race, in Chile, the woman told me she had gotten lost in the desert over night and just barely found her way back in time to continue the competition.
Check out these Amazing Pictures from the Dakar Rally 2010 from The Big Picture at Boston.com
Dubbed “the hardest race in the world” it is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race that started in 1978. The original race was from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal, but due to security threats in Mauritania in 2008. The 2009 Dakar Rally was run in South America (Argentina and Chile), the first time the race took place outside of Europe and Africa. The race is open to amateur and professional entries. Amateurs typically make up about eighty percent of the participants.
Despite its name, “Dakar Rally” it is actually an off-road endurance race, called a rally-raid rather than a conventional rally — the terrain the competitors traverse is much tougher and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than the modified sedans used in rallies. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, and rocks. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometres (500–560 mi) per day. – Thanks Wikipedia
The Dakar 2010 just finished up this weekend and it was all over the news and on sports highlights. Here were the winners…
“The second edition of the Dakar in Latin America finished with a podium and award ceremony where the drivers and teams of 88 bikes, 14 quads, 57 cars and 28 trucks were celebrated. Blue was the color of the day with Cyril Despres winning his third Dakar whilst Argentine rider Marcos Patronelli won in the quad category. In the car category, Carlos Sainz won the rally raid after a tough and close battle with Nasser Al Attiyah. On the truck side, the road was much clearer for Vladimir Chagin, who lined up the records in this year’s edition: he equated the record number of Dakar victories of Karel Loprais with a sixth victory in the truck category.”
– “LA VIE EN… BLUE” Dakar after race press release (Saturday 16 January 2010) from Dakar.com
Marcos Patronelli, the Argentine rider who won the quad category made history as he edged out his brother who finished second in the same event.
