"Thierry Sabine Thierry Sabine (13 June 1949, Neuilly-sur-Seine – 14 January 1986, Mali) was a French wrangler, motorcycle racer and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar. In 1977 he got lost in the Tenere Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Race and realised that the desert would be a good location for a regular rally where amateurs could test their ability. In December 1977 he organised a race from Paris to Dakar and devoted the rest of his life to its organization. Sabine was killed when his Ecureuil helicopter crashed into a dune at Mali during a sudden sand-storm at 07:30"
"followed in 1974 by the London-Sahara-Munich World Cup Rally, and in 1977 by the Singapore Airlines London-Sydney Rally. In 1979, a young Frenchman, Thierry Sabine, founded an institution when he organised the first ""rallye-raid"" from Paris to Dakar, in Senegal, the event now called the Dakar Rally. From amateur beginnings it quickly became a massive commercial circus catering for cars, motorcycles and trucks, and spawned other similar events. Since 2008, it has been held in South America. The main change over that period has been in the cars, and in the professionalisation and commercialisation of the sport. Manufacturers had entered"
"than that used in conventional rallying, and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than modified on-road vehicles. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks, and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to per day. The race originated in December 1977, a year after Thierry Sabine got lost in the Ténéré desert whilst competing in the Abidjan-Nice rally and decided that the desert would be a good location for a regular rally. 182 vehicles took the start of the inaugural rally in Paris, with"
"Sabine"". A plaque next to the tree is dedicated to his memory, reading ""For those who go a challenge – for those who stay a dream"". Lost Tree The Lost Tree (), also known as the Arbre Thierry Sabine, is a remote tree in the Ténéré region of the Sahara desert in northeast Niger. The tree is an acacia, lying on a small mound on a promontory. Despite its small size, due to its remoteness, the tree is an important landmark. Thierry Sabine, founder of the Dakar Rally (run in Africa from 1979–2007), died in a helicopter crash in the"
"the full distance. This, coupled with the economic climate of the 1970s the heat went out of intercontinental rallying after a second London–Sydney Marathon in 1977. The concept though was revived in 1979 for the original Paris-Dakar Rally. The success of the ""Dakar"" would eventually see intercontinental rallying recognised as its own discipline; the Rally Raid. The introduction of the special stage brought rallying effectively into the modern era. It placed a premium on fast driving, and enabled healthy programmes of smaller events to spring up in Britain, France, Scandinavia, Belgium and elsewhere. Since then, the nature of the events"
"1986, Daniel Balavoine was chosen to lead a fund-raising effort aimed at building water wells in Africa. In order to supervise it, he was invited by Thierry Sabine, founder and director of the Paris-Dakar Rally Raid. On January 14, 1986, Balavoine, Sabine, François-Xavier Bagnoud (HSH Albert II, Prince of Monaco's cousin), a female reporter and her cameraman got aboard Sabine's Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopter to attend a football match. At 7:00 p.m., the helicopter encountered a desert storm and landed. But some time later, the chopper took off again, and after a few minutes disintegrated, killing the five passengers on"
"Lost Tree The Lost Tree (), also known as the Arbre Thierry Sabine, is a remote tree in the Ténéré region of the Sahara desert in northeast Niger. The tree is an acacia, lying on a small mound on a promontory. Despite its small size, due to its remoteness, the tree is an important landmark. Thierry Sabine, founder of the Dakar Rally (run in Africa from 1979–2007), died in a helicopter crash in the vicinity of the tree. His ashes were spread around the Lost Tree, which thereafter was described on maps printed for the rally as the ""Arbre Thierry"
"Dakar Rally 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 from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, but due to security threats in Mauritania, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, races since 2009 have been held in South America. The race is open to amateur and professional entries, amateurs typically making up about eighty percent of the participants. The race is an off-road endurance event. The terrain that the competitors traverse is much tougher"
"motor sports events, and in 1976, organised the first racing team from Clermont-Ferrand with Patrick Depailler, former Formula 1 driver. He dealt with public relations for stunt driver Alain Prieur from 1978 to 1984, and was manager of Formula 1 driver Patrick Tambay, for the 1981/1982 season at Ferrari. He took part in the organisation of the Paris-Dakar for TSO (Thierry Sabine Organisation) from 1982 to 1992. He helped organise the prologue of Paris Dakar from Clermont in 1991 and 2004. In 1994, he founded the PHA society. Since 1994, he has been the promoter-organiser of the French motorcycle Grand"
"was won by the privateer Citroen DS of Australian drivers Jim Reddiex, Ken Tubman and Andre Welinski. While no rally was organised for 1978, the 1974 events journey through the Sahara planted the seed that would become the Dakar Rally in 1980. The two events were: World Cup Rally The World Cup Rally was the name of two intercontinental motor rally competitions. The event drew inspiration from the successful London-Sydney Marathon rallies, which had been held most recently in 1968. Organised by Wylton Dickson, the World Cup Rallies were named for and celebrated the FIFA World Cup Association Football tournaments."
"1979 Paris–Dakar Rally 1979 Dakar Rally, also known as the 1979 Paris–Dakar Rally was the first running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally began on 26 December 1978 from Paris, France and finished on 14 January 1979 in Dakar, Senegal, interrupted by a transfer across the Mediterranean. Cyril Neveu won the motorcycle category on a Yamaha, while the car category was won by Alain Génestier in a Range Rover. 182 competitors (80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks ) contested the inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally, departing the Place du Trocadéro on Boxing Day 1978 to embark upon a 10,000 kilometre"
"– Paris-Kaboul-Paris in 1970, Paris-Persepolis-Paris in 1972, and Raid Afrique in 1973. Enthusiasts carried on the tradition with ""2CV Cross"" – a group of 2CV's racing around a dirt track – a sport that continues today. The Citroën Competitions division was impacted negatively by the firm's 1974 bankruptcy. Competitive rallying was also changing – away from standard production cars to specially developed low volume models. In response to the entry of the competitive short wheel base Group B 4 wheel drive Audi Quattro into rallying, Citroën developed the heavily modified Group B Citroën BX 4TC in 1986. The team returned"
"on to develop new engines for the bikes TY350-XT600-TY239-MX175-200cc. He was also the founder of the first riding school for all terrain bikers at Paris and participated as one of the official team members of Yamaha for the inaugural Paris-Dakar. He won many individual stages of this rally but was not successful in winning the rally itself. He took part in the Enduro races held at Touquet, again with Team Yamaha and finished second among 1000 starters. An avid practitioner of Free-Flight and later, paragliding, he was also interested and practises Microlight flying in France since 1977. Hunter and deep"
"74 surviving the trip to the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Cyril Neveu holds the distinction of being the event's first winner, riding a Yamaha motorcycle. The event rapidly grew in popularity, with 216 vehicles taking the start in 1980 and 291 in 1981. Neveu won the event for a second time in 1980, Hubert Auriol taking honours in 1981 for BMW. By this stage, the rally had already begun to attract the participation of famous names from elsewhere in motorsport, such as Henri Pescarolo and Jacky Ickx. Now boasting 382 competitors, more than double the amount that took the start"
"the rally, Thierry Sabine, was killed when his Ecureuil helicopter (""Squirrel-copter"") crashed at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday 14 January 1986, into a dune at Mali during a sudden sand-storm. Also killed onboard was the singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine, helicopter pilot François-Xavier Bagnoud, journalist Nathalie Odent, and Jean-Paul Lefur who was a radiophonic engineer for RTL. Six people were killed during the 1988 race, three participants and three local residents. In one incident, Baye Sibi, a 10-year-old Malian girl, was killed by a racer while she crossed a road. A film crew's vehicle killed a mother and daughter in Mauritania on the"
"1981, the ""Tour de France"" was revived by the Automobile-Club de Nice as a different kind of rally, based primarily on a series of races at circuits and hillclimbs around the country. It was successful for a while and continued until 1986. It spawned similar events in a few other countries, but none survive. Rallying became very popular in Sweden and Finland in the 1950s, thanks in part to the invention there of the ""specialsträcka"" (Swedish) or ""erikoiskoe"" (Finnish), or special stage: shorter sections of route, usually on minor or private roads—predominantly gravel in these countries—away from habitation and traffic,"
"in 1976 and directed Van Impe to success in the 1976 Tour de France. Van Impe left at the end of 1976 and Hinault was designated captain for stage races. Even though Hinault won the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in 1977 in front of Bernard Thévenet and Lucien Van Impe, he did not start the Tour de France. After Renault auto group purchased Gitane, Renault became the main sponsor of the team making the Renault–Elf–Gitane team. Gitane–Campagnolo Gitane–Campagnolo was a French professional cycling team that existed from 1969 to 1977. Its main sponsor was the French bicycle manufacturer Gitane. The"
"France statement described the race as ""colonialism that needs to be eradicated"". The environmental impact of the race has been another area of criticism. This criticism of the race is notably the topic of the song """"500 connards sur la ligne de départ"""" (""500 Arseholes at the Starting Line""), on the 1991 album ""Marchand de cailloux"" by French singer Renaud. In 2014, the Dakar rally was criticized for damage done to archaeological sites in Chile. Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply ""The Dakar""; formerly known as the ""Paris–Dakar Rally"") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport"
"first Paris-Dakar Rally in 1979 and 1981, and being two of the first vehicles (along with a Land Rover Series IIA) to traverse both American continents north-to-south through the Darién Gap from 1971 to 1972. The Range Rover Classic was a popular platform for conversion vehicles built by independent coachbuilders. Some examples of common modifications include ambulances, 6x4s, convertibles, police vehicles, limos, and open top hunting cars. Though some coachbuilders utilised Range Rovers simply for the chassis and drivetrain while grafting new fabricated bodies on top, most of them retained the familiar Range Rover styling elements, while upgrading the engine,"
"World Rally Championship with the four-wheel-drive turbo-charged versions of the Peugeot 205, and more recently the Peugeot 206. In 1981, Jean Todt, former co-driver for Hannu Mikkola, Timo Mäkinen, and Guy Fréquelin, among others, was asked by Jean Boillot, the head of Automobiles Peugeot, to create a competition department for PSA Peugeot Citroën. The resulting Peugeot Talbot Sport, established at Bois de Boulogne near Paris, debuted its Group B 205 Turbo 16 at the 1984 Tour de Corse in May, and took its first world rally win that same year at the 1000 Lakes Rally in August, in the hands"
"Amaury Sport Organisation The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group, EPA (Éditions Philippe Amaury). It organises sporting events including the Tour de France, Vuelta a España and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally. In 2008 it organised the Central Europe Rally, a rally raid endurance race in Romania and Hungary. The Tour de France was instituted by the newspaper ""L'Auto"" in 1903. The paper was closed after the 1939-45 War because of its links with the occupying Germans and a new paper, L'Équipe, took over. ""L'Équipe"" (now part of EPA) organised the"
"She subsequently won this title a further 3 times. Between 1993 and 1996 she was married to Nicolas Hulot a TV presenter and writer. In 1995 she retired from climbing. In 2000, she made her motorsport debut in the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles and in 2002 competed in her first Paris-Dakar rally. She later married her copilot/mechanic Thierry Delli-Zotti. Isabelle Patissier Isabelle Patissier (born March 1, 1967) is a French world champion rock climber and more recently a rally driver. Patissier started climbing at age 5 or 6 with her parents. At 14 she practised mountaineering in Chamonix and also"
"A highly evolved A110 won the first World Rally Championship, representing Alpine-Renault. In 1976, the Alpine's competition department and the Gordini factory at Viry-Chatillon were merged into Renault Sport. The focus shifted to Formula One, although Renault achieved several victories including the 1981 Monte Carlo Rally with the Renault 5 Turbo before retirement from the world rally in late 1994. Renault cars also participate of cross-country races, most prominently the Dakar Rally. The Marreau brothers won the 1982 edition driving a Renault 20 Turbo 4x4 prototype. Later, Renault provided a Renault Megane platform and sponsored the Schlesser-Renault Elf buggies that"
"being a keen amateur competitor in rallying and hillclimb events. On weekends that he was unable to compete he would sometimes lend his rally cars to family friend and future Monte Carlo Rally-winning professional rally driver Jean Ragnotti, who would commonly return them ""destroyed"". Starting his career with a passion for rallying rather than racing, he took up karting at the age of 16, and then graduated to cars in 1983 by entering the French Renault 5 Turbo championship, where he raced for two seasons. He won the 1987 French Formula 3 title before moving up to International Formula 3000"
"The most famous example is the Dakar Rally, previously travelling from Western Europe (often Paris) to Dakar in Senegal, via the Sahara desert, taking almost two weeks. Since 2009 the Dakar Rally has been held in South America traveling through Peru, Argentina and Chile. A FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship also exists encompassing many events across the world, typically in desert nations. These events often run alongside ""car"" rallies (under the FIA). Track racing is a form of motorcycle racing where teams or individuals race opponents around an oval track. There are differing variants, with each variant racing on a"
"decided to withdraw all its bikes from the race, but the race director, the former Belgian driver Jacky Ickx, decided to continue the race. Saints won 15 stages in his rally raid participations, the complete results are in the ""Dakar Historic Book"". Richard Sainct Richard Sainct (14 April 1970 – 29 September 2004) was a French rally raid motorcycle rider, best known for his three victories on The Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003. His other notable achievements include winning the Tunisia Rally twice in 1998 and 1999; the Moroccan Rally in 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002; and the"
"with three each. The race was created in 1947 by newspaper ""Le Dauphiné libéré"" to promote its circulation. After World War II, as cycling recovered from a universal five- or six-year hiatus, the Grenoble-based newspaper decided to create and organize a cycling stage race covering the Dauphiné region. The race was named after the newspaper and set in June, prior to the Tour de France. Polish rider Edouard Klabinski won the inaugural edition. Because of its mountainous route and date on the calendar, the race served as preparation for the Tour de France by French cyclists. French cycling icons Jean"
"the 1974 Press-on-Regardless Rally in the United States driving a Renault 17 Gordini, and the 1980 Tour de Corse behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 SC. Jean-Luc Thérier Jean-Luc Thérier (born Hodeng-au-Bosc, 7 October 1945) is a French former rally driver. He was the highest scoring driver in the inaugural World Rally Championship in 1973 and the only one to win three events. However, until 1977 the championship was only formally contested by manufacturers, not individuals, so only Thérier's Alpine-Renault team were formally awarded the title. He most frequently competed in an Alpine Renault A110, winning the Rallye Sanremo"
"1970s. Jean-Pierre Nicolas managed to win the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally with a private 911 SC, and Porsche's second, and so far last, WRC win came at the 1980 Tour de Corse in the hands of Jean-Luc Thérier. In the European Rally Championship, the 911 was driven to five titles, and as late as 1984, Henri Toivonen took his Prodrive-built and Rothmans-sponsored 911 SC RS to second place behind Carlo Capone and the Lancia Rally 037. In 1984 and 1986, the Porsche factory team won the Paris Dakar Rally, also using the 911 derived Porsche 959 Group B supercar. Despite"
"highlight of the 1985 season was Marc Madiot’s win in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix. After the 1985 season, the Renault auto group retired from sponsoring in the peloton and the French supermarket Système U became the main sponsor of Guimard’s team. The team continued to ride on Gitane bicycle frames, who were co-sponsors for the team. Renault (cycling team) Renault () was a French professional cycling team that existed from 1978 to 1985. The team cycled on and promoted Gitane racing bikes. The team was created in 1978 after the Renault auto group purchased the Gitane bicycle manufacturer and became"
"his Rolls-Royce Alpine Eagle. Then in 1911 came the first Monte Carlo Rally (later known colloquially as ""the Monte""), organised by a group of wealthy locals who formed the ""Sport Automobile Vélocipédique Monégasque"" and bankrolled by the ""Société des Bains de Mer"" (the ""sea bathing company""), the operators of the famous casino who were keen to attract wealthy sporting motorists. The competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A second event was held in 1912. Two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time. The Peking-Paris of 1907 was not officially"
"the organizer of such well-known events as Dakar Rally and Tour de France. The involvement of ASO encouraged famous drivers and professional teams as well as racing amateurs and private teams all over the world to join the rally. In first three years after its foundation Silk Way Rally was a part of Dakar Series. In 2014 Organizers postponed the rally to 2015[1][2] and on March 7, 2015 once again announced the cancellation of that year’s edition[3][4]. In 2016, after two-year break Silk Way Rally took a fresh start: China joined the organization process and hosted the most part of"
"race victories (also a record). During the early years of his career, he competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1993 and 1996, but did not finish. In 2007, he participated in the Dakar Rally. In 2009 (following the 2008 cancellation) he also participated in the Dakar Rally in South America, but he withdrew during the 5th stage. He represented France in the 2007 Race of Champions, alongside Sébastien Bourdais. He participated in the Rallye de France–Alsace in a Citroën Xsara WRC, a round of the 2010 World Rally Championship. () (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races"