|
|
 |
With this “weapons race”, a gap opened up between
the professionals and the amateur competitors, private drivers who often transported
their own spare parts and put their hands in the grease after arriving late at
camp.
But faced with the immensity of the Dakar, human beings, whatever their resources,
remain the essential element. Navigation remains predominant, and the traps of
the Dakar spare no one. The savannah is a treasure hunt and the dunes still cannot
be overcome without effort even by the best-prepared teams. In 1988, one-third
of the competitors remained stuck in the dunes of El Oued. In 1990, dozens got
lost in the Libyan desert or paced back and forth like lions in a cage at the
foot of the enormous dunes of Mauritania. In 1993 once again, one-third of the
participants gave up in the dunes of El Golea, starting from the second stage;
in 1994 the organisation had to cancel a stage because all the competitors gave
up on getting over the triangle of soft dunes in Mauritania.
The magic of the Dakar always works. Motorbike duels between Auriol and Neveu
(1987), interrupted by the former’s broken ankle, or between Orioli and
Arcarons (1994), separated by a few seconds upon arrival in Dakar; the flight
of Vatanen’s Peugeot 405 during the 1988 rally - all keep the myth alive.
A magical course, but also a tragic one: there are many who, like Lalay, Van
Loevezijn and Cabanne pay for their thirst for discovery with their life. The
landscapes they travel through are always so sublime but strewn with traps. Stéphane
Peterhansel tells the story: “The desert at night is always impressive.
You don’t hear anything, absolute emptiness.” But it is in surpassing
themselves that the adventurers in the sands, the great champions as well as
the anonymous racers, find their enjoyment.
|
