Dakar Rally

What: The biggest and most dan­ger­ous ral­ly in the world, the Dakar Ral­ly is an unfor­get­table and chal­leng­ing off road-endurance event, as pro­fes­sion­als and ama­teurs com­plete a 4,660-mile (7,500-kilometer) 10 ‑15 day loop across 12 stages of the vast, diverse, bar­ren across the unchart­ed ter­ri­to­ry of the Sau­di Ara­bi­an Desert.

Begin­ning in Jed­dah, the ral­ly requires the use of spe­cialised off-road vehi­cles as well as months of prepa­ra­tion, a hefty bud­get, and a rec­om­men­da­tion of entry in a num­ber of pre-Dakar ral­lies to pre­pare, with a series of sup­port teams still required to fix-up entrants vehi­cles as they go as com­peti­tors cross miles of sand dunes, mud, hills and boul­ders that slow­ly eats away at their vehi­cles.

Recent ral­lies have had a renewed empha­sis on safe­ty, in an effort to cut down on the aver­age of one com­peti­tor los­ing their life each year, as the loca­tion has moved from Africa to South Amer­i­ca and then to Sau­di Ara­bia and has a med­ical team on stand­by, as some 80% of Ama­teurs and 20% of pro­fes­sion­als under­take the world’s most test­ing and chal­leng­ing ral­ly and trav­el expe­ri­ence.

When: The Dakar Ral­ly now takes place between the 1^st of Jan­u­ary and ends offi­cial­ly on the 15^th, with entries required at least 7 months for bikes and 3 months before hand for Cars, Suvs and Trucks.

Where: The Dakar ral­ly now takes place in Sau­di Ara­bia, hav­ing pre­vi­ous­ly tak­en place in France to Sene­gal and in South Amer­i­ca. The course now oper­ates on a loop basis, begin­ning and fin­ish­ing in Jed­dah, with par­tic­i­pants expect­ed to cross the Sau­di Ara­bi­an desert over 12 stages and giv­en their exact camp sport and stage end­ings the night before each stage.

Dura­tion: The ral­ly offi­cial­ly lasts for 14 days, begin­ning on New years day and end­ing on the 15^th of Jan­u­ary. How­ev­er prepa­ra­tion, entry, equip­ment prepa­ra­tion and finances means that at least a year is required to pre­pare for the ral­ly.

Tick­ets:  The ral­ly is expen­sive with some esti­mates putting the cost of par­tic­i­pat­ing in the ral­ly at €80,000 depend­ing on the cho­sen vehi­cle, break­downs, and addi­tion­al expens­es. Oth­er ral­ly par­tic­i­pants have come in at around €60,000 all in when com­pet­ing on a bike, with the ral­ly entry fees cost­ing € 14,800 alone and entry requir­ing med­ical cer­tifi­cates, break­down assis­tance, spare parts and start and fin­ish­ing accom­mo­da­tion.

How­ev­er, once the funds are at hand, there are no entry require­ments for par­tic­i­pants com­pet­ing in Suvs and Cars, with only bikes and Quads being sub­ject to selec­tion, to begin the process of entry and com­pet­ing in the Dakar Ral­ly, tick­ets and entry is avail­able at (https://www.dakar.com/). 

Need to Know: The Dakar ral­ly is dan­ger­ous and safe­ty is not guar­an­teed with com­peti­tors get­ting lost and even los­ing their life across the stage of the event, as such seri­ous prepa­ra­tion and a hefty bud­get is rec­om­mend­ed before enter­ing as well as good dri­ving skills and an apti­tude and expe­ri­ence of the desert and dri­ving in intense con­di­tions.

It’s also rec­om­mend­ed to be mind­ful and aware of Sau­di Ara­bi­an cus­toms and rules, includ­ing those on alco­hol, female dri­vers and social con­duct when both com­pet­ing and stay­ing in the host coun­try.

More Infor­ma­tion: For more infor­ma­tion (and its rec­om­mend­ed before enter­ing) as well as FAQs, the route and con­sid­er­a­tions vis­it the offi­cial Dakar ral­ly at (https://www.dakar.com/).