Thursday 27th March 2008

Dakar Rally To Return To Africa?

Organisers hint at plan to bring rally back to its roots

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The organisers of the Dakar Rally are looking to bring the event back to Africa by 2012.

The 2008 race had to be cancelled due to terrorist threats and in 2009 will run from 3-18 January in Argentina and Chile.

This is the first time the classic event will not run its traditional route.

However Amaury Sports Organisation owner Patrice Clerc said he hoped that the rally would return to Africa once safety could be guaranteed.

‘We're totally dependent on the geopolitical situation,’ he said.

‘I don't know if it will be permissible for us to return by 2011 or 2012.’

[hirsty27]

Why don't we see any of this event on T.V.?

Anybody know where/if it is shown?

[RB Will]

eurosport usually do nightly coverage of it every year

[bruceyT]

Cani beat a beat Dakar, it was cancelled this year folks xx

[jonathannealeuk]

If they are waiting for guarantee of safe passage then I fear this event will never happen :-(

[Ug_lee]

I don't get it. It can't be any more dangerous now than in the 80's?

Probably because it's a huge insurance risk, so probably wack up the premium to make it uneconomical to run?

[MrKipling43]

bruceyT said:

Cani beat a beat Dakar, it was cancelled this year folks xx

Was it?! Blimey, I hadn't heard about that!

Dakar: the last of the old-school motor sport challenges.

[Andrew[MG]]

Don't most people crash and get injured anyway?

[Jungles]

I sincerely hope it returns. The Dakar Rally isn't a Dakar Rally if Dakar is not in it!

[Crazy of Cookham]

I do believe the reason was due to terrorist threat. Groups had been identified from air and could have laid mines anywhere on route. Its difficultto see how this will be overcome as it only takes a small group to make a threat. Its the world we now live in.

[Lutz]

Ahhh, what the ..... It used to be Paris Dakker, then Lisbon Dakar, probably will now be Buenos Aires Dakar.... Will it return? Who cares ..... overinflated media event ... As it has lost everything to do with Africa years ago, who cares if it comes back...there are much better raids out there, that really get in touch with the countries they cross

[Turbobanana]

Lutz said:

Ahhh, what the ..... It used to be Paris Dakker, then Lisbon Dakar, probably will now be Buenos Aires Dakar.... Will it return? Who cares ..... overinflated media event ... As it has lost everything to do with Africa years ago, who cares if it comes back...there are much better raids out there, that really get in touch with the countries they cross

Hate to burst your bubble, but there's a lot of us out here who DO care if it comes back. Can't happen too soon, in my opinion.

[Paul Holroyd]

It was a sad day for motorsport when the Dakar was cancelled this year.

It was cancelled 24 hours before the race was due to start so all of the teams had all ready been their for the around 2 weeks. This had a huge effect on teams and sponsors, just look what happened to the Petersen White lightning team this year No ALMS due a huge loss of money. Other teams also have gone into liquidation due to the cancellation.

Dakar has a lot of history it will be a real shame if it never comes back.

[flattotheboards]

Andrew[MG] said:

Don't most people crash and get injured anyway?

Thats part of the appeal

[hirsty27]

Paul Holroyd said:

It was a sad day for motorsport when the Dakar was cancelled this year.

It was cancelled 24 hours before the race was due to start so all of the teams had all ready been their for the around 2 weeks. This had a huge effect on teams and sponsors, just look what happened to the Petersen White lightning team this year No ALMS due a huge loss of money. Other teams also have gone into liquidation due to the cancellation.

Dakar has a lot of history it will be a real shame if it never comes back.

www.porschesport.com

A sad day for Motorsport!, more like a sad reflection on life in general. How long have we,-(humans) been around now?, and we still can't get along with each other. Now that's tragic!

[ScoobieWRX]

Why don't they just run it in UAE, Jordan or Saudi for now?? South America seems like an effing long way to go bearing in mind the cost of this event in any case. IMHO it's the small privateers that will suffer in the end by not being able to attend due to the huge cost involved in shipping themselves and their kit to South America and back!!

FFS, bring it back to Africa!!

[hirsty27]

ScoobieWRX said:

Why don't they just run it in UAE, Jordan or Saudi for now?? South America seems like an effing long way to go bearing in mind the cost of this event in any case. IMHO it's the small privateers that will suffer in the end by not being able to attend due to the huge cost involved in shipping themselves and their kit to South America and back!!

FFS, bring it back to Africa!!

They can't run it in UAE, Jordan or Saudi Arabia because of the same reasons why it was called off in Africa. All of those countries are actually closer to these extremist hotbeds than Africa is,-(Is'nt Saudi Arabia on the boarder with Iraq!..), you've not thought this through.

I agree with the cost of shipping being a negative aspect for the Privateers, but S.America seems like a good option.., until the situation calms down.

It must be pretty bad if the organizers are not expecting to return until 2011 or 2012.

[MM2200]

hirsty27 said:

A sad day for Motorsport!, more like a sad reflection on life in general. How long have we,-(humans) been around now?, and we still can't get along with each other. Now that's tragic!

If we all got along with one another, motor racing - not to mention every other sport - would be awfully boring.

[ScoobieWRX]

hirsty27 said:

ScoobieWRX said:

Why don't they just run it in UAE, Jordan or Saudi for now?? South America seems like an effing long way to go bearing in mind the cost of this event in any case. IMHO it's the small privateers that will suffer in the end by not being able to attend due to the huge cost involved in shipping themselves and their kit to South America and back!!

FFS, bring it back to Africa!!

They can't run it in UAE, Jordan or Saudi Arabia because of the same reasons why it was called off in Africa. All of those countries are actually closer to these extremist hotbeds than Africa is,-(Is'nt Saudi Arabia on the boarder with Iraq!..), you've not thought this through.

I agree with the cost of shipping being a negative aspect for the Privateers, but S.America seems like a good option.., until the situation calms down.

It must be pretty bad if the organizers are not expecting to return until 2011 or 2012.

The reason i mentioned those countries is because they are the most stable in the middle east and in fact pretty safe for westeners and other nationals alike. When did you last hear of terrorist activity, war, civil unrest and such like in Jordan, UAE or Saudi........Not in the last umpteen years that i can remember, and highly unlikely to be experiencing anything in the near future either(i have thought this through)

I think one of the reasons is that these particular countries are highly respected in the middle east by neighbouring nations and regardless of their current situation or strife/unrest/war, they clearly know not to st in their very especially respected neighbours back gardens.

I don't think there would be any problems staging the rally in any of those countries unless they specifically objected. Don't we have the F1 racing in the UAE?? Have we had any probs thus far....nope!!

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Friday 28th March 18:26

[J_S_G]

ScoobieWRX said:

I don't think there would be any problems staging the rally in any of those countries unless they specifically objected. Don't we have the F1 racing in the UAE?? Have we had any probs thus far....nope!!

The first problem is that it's not the "countries" objecting, so to speak. It's armed militias with gravitas in the area.
The second problem is that if you dig deeper, it's not just the physical threat of terrorism, etc. it's the whole political situation around it. If a country's authorities can't guarantee safe passage and pretty much leave it up to the race to fend for themselves, then it's very easy for the Rally to spite the country and say "sod ya" and go somewhere else where there are fewer threats. Also, doing that puts pressure on for the next time around for more active support from the local governments, whilst still making them look like the good guys.

Mauritania's a tricky country for the Dakar to pass through - On the one hand it's one of the poorest nations on the planet and needs all the money from stuff like this it can get, but on the other it's one of the most extreme Islamic states there is (it's a dry country for instance - in the "no alcohol" sense), and the beer-swilling, western-decadence Dakar does tend to upset a few minorities out there. And it's very easy to take a few people out in the desert if you want to.

For what it's worth, I was out there at the time rallying to Mali - and we had absolutely no problems whatsoever. The locals were at pains to apologise for the threats against the Dakar, and only really hated the French. Which we sympathised with greatly...

[Desert Dog]

There are already 2 international offroad events running here - The Hail Baja in Saudi Arabia and the UAE Desert Challenge in the Emirates. I know where I feel much safer - and it's not in Africa!