The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally", is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Security threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, and events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
Thierry Sabine, founder of the Dakar Rally, pictured in 1986.
1981 Dakar competitor Rolls-Royce Corniche.
Tracks through the Sahara desert in Mauritania.
Cars on display in 1993 in Paris.
Rally raid is a type of off-road motorsport event for automobiles and motorcycles. Along with shorter baja rallies, rally raid constitutes cross-country rallying. Both the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) co-organise a common World Rally-Raid Championship featuring the same events for both types of vehicle.
A Norwegian rally team trying to complete one of the more difficult stages of the Budapest-Bamako rally in 2014.
2017 Kalahari 1000km Desert Race
Bowler Wildcat rally-raid vehicle
Kamaz 4326 modified for Dakar Rally
