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Would you believe that a MINI won the Dakar rally this year? Perhaps a car brand that's as far from its roots in purposeful simplicity is a fitting metaphor for a rally named after a place in Africa that, for the first time this year, entered Peru. More »
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The drama over Robby Gordon and Le Inspectors at Dakar heated up yesterday after the ex-NASCAR driver attempted to get a TV crew to inspect his Hummer in order to prove he didn't cheat. He also made a request regarding their lips and his butt cheeks. More »
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American Ex-NASCAR driver Robby Gordon was killing it in the opening days of the grueling Dakar 2012 race in South America until a run-in with French favorite Stephane Peterhansel. Then the French-based governing body disqualified Gordon while letting Peterhansel get a pass despite nearly running over a motorcyclist. More »
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The 2012 Dakar kicked off to a dramatic start Sunday as Argentina's coastal dunes overtaxed several trucks and even a quad, resulting in multiple fires. The rally is now on its third of 14 stages, covering over 3,000 miles off road in Argentina, Chile and this year, for the first time, Peru. More »
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Jumping, sliding Dakar rally trucks don't need much to get our attention, but having the world's greatest remix of "The Final Countdown" merits this video our highest praises. More »
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To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its first patent, IBM has published a gallery of photos spanning a century which show its employees engaged in innovation. This incredibly cool bald man in sunglasses is part of the series. More »
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The Dakar Rally is among the most grueling events in all of motorsports, a 14-day sprint through the deserts and mountains of Argentina and Chile. It is a monumental challenge for any vehicle, and Alister McRae and Tim Coronel want to do it in an EV. More »
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Back in the early days of the Dakar, when it wasn't a South American branding exercise but a race to the capital of Senegal, a group of French people entered a custom-built Rolls–Royce Corniche powered by a 5.7-liter Chevy V8. More »
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We're not aware of the Alfa Romeo Brera ever having competed in Paris-Dakar, but if it did it would naturally be grayed out like those ash-covered cars parked downwind of Mount St. Helens. More »
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Some concept cars merely glisten in the pinpoint spotlights, others could handle serious business if only some auto exec would get drunk enough to let it loose. Volkswagen's Race Touareg 3 Qatar concept is the latter, minus the drunk exec. More »
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The BMW X3CC driven by Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret finished fourth overall in this year's Dakar Rally, but not for lack of some seriously professional-grade power sliding. (Photo Credit: Natacha Pisarenko, AP) More »
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A Ford Raptor driven by writer Sue Mead and team manager Darren Skilton won the open production class in this year's 5,600-mile Dakar rally, a first for an American team in the brutal off-road race. [Dakar Raptor Ford] More »
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The Dakar Rally is dangerous for both spectators and participants. Participants for what they're doing below and spectators for what they're doing above. Danger's fun to look at. More »
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NASCAR driver Robby Gordon built his own custom Hummer for the backbreaking Dakar rally. Yet when it got stuck on a boulder during the second day, Gordon turned to an unlikely tow vehicle — a local Fiat 147. UPDATED More »
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As far as we know, this is the only official, Diesel-equipped VW that can pull wheelies. Of course, it's the only one that can pull stoppies too, as evidenced by the gallery of Dakar practice action photos below. More »
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X-Raid's rally team worked up this Mini Countryman to fly over, as well as traverse, the blinding white dunes of Argentina's Fiambala, the vast Atacama Desert and the death-defying descent into Iquique in northern Chile. It's the 2011 Dakar, Mini-style. More »
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Anyone else tired of press conferences and soggy croissants? Here's a mega-gallery of action from the 2010 Silk Way Rally, the precursor to The Dakar that runs 3,000 miles across Russia from St. Petersberg to The Black Sea. Nostrovia! More »
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Motorsports is exciting because it's inherently unsafe and depending on the track, it can get even more... exciting. These are your picks for the world's ten most dangerous racetracks. More »
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The Dakar Rally is full of insane trucks and motorcycles crossing rough terrain and even crazier support trucks keeping them operational. More »
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It must be hard to be a retired Formula One driver. David Coulthard just visited the KAMAZ HQ in Moscow and was forced to hoon their Dakar race truck in the snow. Later, he also won a game of bingo. More »
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The 2010 Dakar Rally ended last Saturday, and despite virtually no U.S. cable coverage, we've got video of all fourteen stages from Argentina's lowlands to the brutal Atacama desert. In total, 98 minutes of rally awesomeness. Suck it, productivity. More »
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The 2010 Dakar (née Paris-Dakar) Rally is well under way. The race began on January 1st and is scheduled to end on the 16th, but a flood of amazing images have already hit the wire services. Gallery time? You betcha. More »
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The Dakar is on its eighth day of its second year in South America. It's simultaneously the most interesting race in the world, yet the hardest to cover. Luckily, we've got an amazing set of images straight from Argentina. More »
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The 2010 Dakar Rally will put bikes, quads, cars and trucks to the test through 5,600 miles of South American terrain and we've got the official route map. Fiambalá here we come! [Motorbiker.org via MahindraPlanet] More »
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Given never ending concerns over Chinese quality, completing the punishing cross-continental Dakar Rally could send the right message. Both Greatwall and Geely are planning to enter the race as a proof-of-competency in vehicles that at least look like Pajeros. [ChinaCarTimes] More »
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This year the Dakar Rally moved from its spiritual home in Africa to South America. That’s a good thing, as it resulted in more varied terrain, better racing and, most importantly, absolutely amazing photos. More »
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After the 2008 Dakar Rally was canceled in January due to security threats, everyone wondered if and when it would return. A few days ago, this years' race was confirmed to run from April 20 to 26 in sections of Central Europe. The 3000-kilometer race will start in Budapest, head east the Romanian city of Sovata, then head back to Hungary and finish in the town of Balatonfured. That is news on its own, but the bigger more interesting news is the 2009 Rally. More »
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If you were all bummed about Al Qaeda forcing the cancelation of the Dakar Rally, have no fear. Chile is here! The South American country has offered up their exceptionally long country for the marathon race. Chile is pointing out it has the required safety, infrastructure and geography to hold such an event (and earthquakes, which should add yet another fun twist to the event). Argentina and some Central European countries have also indicated they were interested in hosting the 30th anniversary race. Arica to Lebu anyone? Prague to Sofia? [AFP via Google] More »
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We were eagerly anticipating Saturday's start to the running of the 2008 Dakar Rally. Unfortunately, the fifteen day, 9,723 kilometer race has been canceled due to concerns of terrorist sabotage. Multiple sources are reporting that local tensions resulting from the December murders of four French tourists in Mauritania and threats from North African terror organizations have pushed the risks beyond reasonable. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=340513&view=rss&microfeed=true What would happen if you took the running gear from a Range Rover Sport, crossed it with the running gear from a Land Rover Defender? You'd get the off-road rallying version of a Land Rover Sport. It's a vehicle that reminds us of the Range Stormer of 2004 concept, only with less pretense and more actual gruntability. It's the product of Bowler Off-Road, an off-road racing manufacturer from Derbyshire, best known for its Wildcat off-road rally car, which won the privateer category in the past two Dakar Rallies. The two-seater shares 40 percent of its parts with the Range Rover Sport, but is is shorter and lower, and rides on a purpose-built spaceframe chassis. The body is but a shell of glass-reinforced polyurethane. Under the bonnet (that's hood), there's the familiar 4.2-liter V8, converted to run on E85 bio-ethanol, computer-remapped to achieve 510 horsepower, instead of the stock 385. It's a Dakar bargain at £120,000, and the company says a roadgoing version is on the way. Lock up your cactuses. [Car] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=308076&view=rss&microfeed=true We have but two things to say. Number one, our new goal in life is to hammer on a 959. And we mean it – literally hammer. Number two, this video could have been several hundred minutes longer. All hail the 959. Make the jump to hear some nice engine noise. – Jonny Lieberman More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=261885&view=rss&microfeed=true Dakar rally trucks never cease to amaze us. Neither do vehicles from the former Soviet Bloc. In that spirit, we present to you footage that involuntarily made us giggle. Seeing a beefcake brick drift a dirt-road corner like that indicates the driver's testes must sport an atomic number somewhere in the transuranic range. That said, given the rigors of Dakar, we're not entirely sure their half-life is exactly within the realm of accurate prediction. Oh, and avoid the soundtrack of this vid. Pick a song of your choice with a high BPM quotient, mute the clip and enjoy. We recommend Black Flag's Nervous Breakdown. Or something by Boyzone. Anything but this. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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Last month, St phane Peterhansel, Cyril Despres and Hans Stacey cemented their status as legends with victory in arguably the scariest, most hardcore event in the world, and yet their wins on an event simply known as The Dakar barely registered a blip on the news. When a ChampCar driver next complains about a bump in mid-corner, he might want to consider being shot at by Algerian rebels intent on theft and kidnap, lions waiting in the pit lane or even cresting a hill to find the shifting road surface has left a 40-foot drop on the other side. These men are heroes. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=236104&view=rss&microfeed=true We're rue to post this clip as the weirdo editing almost makes it a snuff film, but the mind-boggling majestic-ness of the 2,400hp twin-engined DAF over-taking a Peugeot 205 in open-desert trumps all niggling concerns. Seriously, imagine you are an eleven-year-old Bedouin girl tending to the camels when suddenly one of these massive motherfuckers jumps the dune, belching black smoke. I mean... totally fricking amazing. Watch with respect. Apologies in advance for the crap 80s soundtrack. [Thanks to pollux111 for the tip] – Jonny Lieberman More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=226577&view=rss&microfeed=true Watching this clip, replete with melodramatic Ibanez-woodla-ballad guitar, one might get the impression that it's amateur hour out at the Imperial Dunes in eastern SoCal. But it's not. These riders are some of the best in the world, and they were out in the African desert a year ago during stage eight of the Dakar Rally. If this doesn't illustrate how tough the conditions can be out there, nothing will. And again, we apologize for the six-string wankery. We had no control over that aspect of the clip. – Davey G. Johnson More »
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We dig minicars. We also dig Italian cars. And we dig the Dakar Rally very much. Fiat, knowing this, has decided to enter two 4x4 Pandas in the Dakar Rally. They turned the diminutive hatch into a panel van, filled it full of goodies helpful for survival in the desert, and left the 105-horse 1.3L turbodiesel alone. We're interested to see how it fares. The understressed motor should be reliable in the desert, but raw speed won't exactly be the car's forte. An interesting entry in a race chock full of interesting entries. – Davey G. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=225825&view=rss&microfeed=true With the flag due to drop on the Dakar Rally on the 6th, we thought we'd whet your appetite for what is surely one of the most badass automotive events ever invented. Below the jump is a musically-soundtracked video that's all trucks. And yes, Loverman, rest easy, as DAF is represented. More »
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We've heard of ethanol (made with corn!) switchgrass-derived stuff, sugar cane-derived stuff and even biodiesels like fry oil. But this is a first for us. It seems a Japanese research team plans to enter a race car in the Dakar rally that runs on cooking oil used to fry tempura. The turbo-engine Land Cruiser 100, sponsored by Toyota, will be the first car completely powered by biodiesel to enter the event. To top it all off, driving the car will be former Formula-One racer Ukyo Katayama. And yeah, we realize tempura cooking oil is the same as using any other kind of cooking oil — but to us, it just sounds much more funny when it's the stuff used to make tasty fried sushi snacks. Mmm...it is getting close to lunch, isn't it? More »
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Seeing as it's already Day 4 of the Dakar Rally and we've been lax in posting about the goings on over on the Portugal-Senegal run, we thought we'd toss out a link to Hog Wild Racing's blog. Scott Whitney and Duane McDowell are a couple of Southern California sidecar racers who have put together something that's a bit more than a KTM or a Beemer with a sidehack strapped to it. Their machine, which has won at Pikes Peak, is powered by a water-cooled Harley motor out of V-Rod. Which sounds Andy Dick-nuts, but it apparently works. [Thanks to Denis for the tip.] More »
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