Yamaha and BMW for motorbikes, Lada, Mercedes and Range Rover for cars gave impetus by being involved from the first rallies. Recognition of the sporting test by international bodies conferred a sporting credibility on it that some had found insufficient until then. In 1984 and 1986, the victory came back to a Porsche and in 1985 it was the first Mitsubishi prototype that stood out. Thierry Sabine and his organising team adapted to this unexpected keen interest by setting up much more extensive logistics so that the safety of the competitors would be ensured and the sporting results would stand without any possible controversy. Throughout the different rallies, the official teams as well polished up their weapons and implemented considerable means to have their names registered in the winners’ list of such a test. But Thierry Sabine kept watch to ensure that this financial and technological escalation doesn’t distort his test. “This year it was necessary to act in such a way that the human element regained its place, that is, before the machine, that human qualities are able to take precedence over the mechanical qualities of their engines or the financial capacities of their team”, he warned at the start of the 1985 race.

The traps of the Dakar level the playing field. The hard labour is the same for everyone. A mixture of unique genres, the Dakar enforces the same route for cars, motorbikes and lorries. Faced with the sandstorm of Ténéré, which caught 40 competitors in the desert for a night in 1983, fatigue, falls, mechanical disasters, because everyone is in the same boat. Everything can be wiped out in a second. “The race track is like the sea, if you’re not afraid, that’s bad”, Michel Merel explained. “I’m afraid of the course; you don’t play with it, you can’t joke around there.” This anecdote by Fenouil, justifying a fall right in the home straight because he was asleep at the handlebars of his machine launched at full speed, has also gone round the world. The Dakar is a story of people, of character. Never to give up, to find one more dose of courage, to find the strength to continue the route: this is the only recipe for success in the Dakar, the last modern adventure still financially accessible to amateurs. The general public and the media are fascinated by this succession of feats and these first images of setting out in line in the immensity of the Ténéré. The stars of sport, television, the cinema and song are attracted by this exceptional adventure. Claude Brasseur (Jacky Ickx’s co-pilot), Thatcher’s son and Daniel Balavoine came to experience in the Dakar the fascinating stories they’d been hearing for years on television. And these stars then turn into people like anyone else, minuscule faced with the immensity of the desert. “You’re a little grain of sand, you rediscover here all the humility of humankind, there are no stars”, Michel Hidalgo testifies.

But on 14 January 1986, the magic was brutally interrupted. Thierry Sabine died in a helicopter accident. Deprived of its guide, the test would never be the same again. latter 1970's early 1990's