The Paris-Dakar Rally (apparently just called the Dakar Rally even though it’s being held in South America “for security reasons”) is going on right now. The Big Picture blog has some great images, although there seemed to be even more death and mayhem than I would expect.
But look at this!
Sadly, there were no pictures of Ford Focus rally cars.
Did a little googling… it appears there several French citizens were killed by terrorists in Mauritania in 2008, and there were direct threats made against the rally that year. The ’08 race ended up being canceled at the last minute, and the following year, they ran it for the first time in Latin America. I guess they kept the “Dakar Rally” name because it was an established brand, and the same people organizing it.
Thanks, I’ll have to look that up! “Dust to Glory” is pretty good, too, but that’s Baja, not Dakar-in-South-America. (Still confused about that.)
Oops, the series was actually filmed for Sky2, which a different British TV network, not BBC. Just so we’re crediting the proper people. 🙂
Hey, I want a hover car!
Seriously, if you’re interested in the Dakar Rally, there was a pretty cool TV series done for BBC a few years ago called Race to Dakar, starring Charley Boorman. He’s an actor and the son of director John Boorman; he’s also a motorcycle enthusiast who’s done a couple of travel series with Ewan McGregor in which the two of them cross the world on motorbikes. It’s available on DVD…