I've spent the past couple of days in the deserts of Abu Dhabi - not far from the border with the 'women drivers will eradicate virgins' kingdom of Saudi Arabia - checking out the X-raid MINI team whilst they test their 2014 Dakar contender.

They'll be finding sand in every crevice for weeks.

When Robby Gordon rolled his Hummer on Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally, he not only took this fantastic picture, he got onboard video of the roll. Oh yes.

The Dakar has made its way into Chile, proving itself to be as grueling and even as deadly as you'd imagine.

We have more unfortunate news to report from the 2013 Dakar Rally as a French motorcycle competitor was killed earlier this morning in Chile after he crashed into a police car.

As we've said here before, the Dakar Rally is one of the most dangerous motorsports events on Earth. This became especially evident yesterday evening after a rally support vehicle was involved in a crash with two taxis, leaving two people dead and seven others injured.

The 2013 Dakar Rally plowed on yesterday, trudging through almost 180 miles of sand dunes. Unsurprisingly, it looked absolutely amazing.

Robby Gordon rolled today in the Dakar Rally. He's fine and his car's fine, but at 4 hours behind the leaders, Robby's got next to no chance of overall victory.

You probably already know that the Dakar Rally, the apocalyptic desert race down South America, is one of the greatest pieces of sports competition in the world. If you didn't know, this gif should explain things pretty nicely.

Don't give your change to that homeless man! Take back the five bucks you gave to that orphanage! There's a team trying to enter a Smart car into the grueling Dakar Rally and they need your money.