Back to 82 - Dakar time

[skinnylew]

As I did one last year HERE and it's just started again I thought it would be appropriate to do another Dakar Rally thread.

For those unaware the modern day Dakar goes through Argentina, Chile and Peru due to the instability of certain African countries and the inability of organisers to ensure safety and lives of competitors

So lets hark back to the time when they set off from the French capital through the med to Algeria, through Mali before finishing in the Senegalese capital Dakar.



These nutters, the Marreau brothers who came close to winning in 1979 (5th) closer in 1980 (3rd) in a Renault 4 Sinpar 4x4 (1981 abandoned) finally take the win in 1982 in this beast:
Renault 20 turbo 4x4 prototype 1.6l (yes that is the exhaust on the roof!! a reverse snorkel if you will!)






With the Renault being pushed all the way by a Lada Niva and a Mercedes 280E


Amongst the other competitors was Mark Thatcher son of Lady Thatcher. His 504 estate broke down in the desert and was missing for 6 days

news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/12/newsid_2523000/2523841.stm
news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/15/newsid_2530000/2530725.stm

Full car list HERE

The top 40 finishers mainly consisted of the following:
Range Rovers 13
Mercedes 280/300 (G Wagens) 14
Toyota FJ/HJ/BJ (Land cruisers) 5
The two Renault 20 turbo 4x4
A VW Iltis

A Toyota Hilux

A Fiat Campagnola

A Vw Buggy
and a Toyota Carina was the only other car in the top 40!



I will continues this tomorrow as it's taken 2 hours to research this far!!

[dbizzle]

2 hours well spent, I'd say. Nice work!

[mym]

i love watching the dakar, but the more i watch it, and the more i read threads like this, the more i wish it was real cars adapted like range rovers, and G Wagens, rather than specially built silhouette racers.

[skoda_norman]

Thank you. Great read and I really appreciate the effort you've put into it.

[Mystery Machine]

Excellent post Tim. Well researched and I really look forward to more updates about this.

The 80's period of Dakar rallying were brilliant, a real contrast of low budget entries through to big money teams...but once out on those desert stages, it was a real gung-ho approach no matter what you were driving ;D

It's a shame that an ever greater imposition of health & safety legislation along with increasing instability in a number of the countries killed it off. In the old days, a roll cage, some spares and lots of water were the recipe for some great action. Those days are long gone which is a shame, but still no reason not to relish the amazing cars and drivers that used to literally bash their way through the African wilds.

[Mystery Machine]

The other thing that always made it for me (more than most of the cars themeselves) were the support trucks. That's where I'd love to have been...









As a slight sidenote, I'll have one of these custom made please if doing it today:

[bortaf]

They showed that last night on the Dakar show, the merc was driven by jacky ickx and ni on all the filming was done after the race in mali (that's why in most of the film segments they are not wearing helmets ) cos they TV crew couldn't keep up with the racers, at one point in 81 the 2 Marreau brothers were held up at gun point by soldiers and after chatting thier way out of the situation left with a chicken given to them by the soldiers for supper

[dan]

The exhaust on that Renault is brilliant and while searching for porsche 959 photos found some extraordinary photos here gigapica.geenstijl.nl/2011/01/dakar_2011.html

shocking safety record though en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dakar_Rally_fatal_accidents

[skinnylew]

I was flagging by the end didn't realise it was 2am I was so engrossed lol ;D

So nestled down in 91st place(finished but out of time) is this:
Subaru 1800




This was the first year that Subaru's had taken part, with 4 1800's enter (no's 199-202) and two Swingbacks 157 and 176.



The 1800 in 91st was the only one to finish.

Other unusual entries include this:
Dodge Power Wagon 50/60's

Abandoned in Algeria due to damage and engine problems
Renault 12 estate and 18 SINPAR
Citroen DS, GSA X3, and this Citroen AZAM


Also competing was the Celica Prototype:
Built on a Landcruiser HJ chassis with a 250bhp Chevrolet V8 burbling away up front putting the power through Turbovec alloys
It abandoned in Algeria with ignition and fuel tank issues before it was really given a chance to compete.










Was later burnt out in a rally accident in Spain I believe
Even at this stage you can see the bias towards offroaders and high ground clearance 4x4's rather than cars.

Most photos courtesy of www.dakardantan.com/forum/index.php
and
www.dakardantan.com/ and some other websites

[skinnylew]

Yeah i was aware it was mostly filmed afterwards and also overdubbed in places hence the tyre screech and squeal in places on sand hahahaha

[skinnylew]

Dakar claimed another life this week
news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/16378110.stm

It may have lost the harshness of Africa but make no mistake it's still the most brutal rally out there...