The History of Motor Sport by David Hassan

Author:David Hassan [Hassan, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415851213
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 17270039
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2011-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

The Great Race Across the Sahara: A History of the Paris to Dakar Rally and Its Impact on the Development of Corporate Social Responsibility Within Motor Sport

David Hassan and Philip O’Kane

University of Ulster, UK

This article provides a history of the Paris to Dakar Rally and its significance in terms of world motor sport. The criticisms of the race are examined together with the organising body’s reaction to these within, among other considerations, the context of the fledgling emergence of corporate social responsibility within world motor sport. In developing this theme the essay also considers the future for the rally in light of a range of issues ranging from sustainability to global terrorism, which in a variety of different ways threaten the ongoing existence of one of motor sport’s most iconic events.

Introduction: The History of the Rally and Its Significance as a Global Motor Sport Event

The Paris to Dakar rally is one of the most dangerous and challenging motor races in the world. The event is an off-road endurance event that has been held annually since 1978 from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal, and takes place across the Sahara Desert over extreme off-road conditions. As a spectacle and a driving experience it has captured the imagination of the motor sport fraternity for three decades and more. Exotic-sounding destinations such as Timbuktu add to the aura and mystique of the race. It has been described as the most dangerous race in the world and for many drivers merely completing it is considered an achievement. Around 80% of the rally’s participants are amateurs driving in one of three classes, car, motorcycle and truck, with the remaining entrants being professional racing drivers. Both the amateurs and the professional entrants require a great deal of financial backing and high levels of physical fitness in order to complete this most extreme of endurance races. It is the challenge and allure of the Dakar rally that attracts many competitors as for most the race is the adventure of a lifetime and one of the most anticipated motor sport events of the year. The fact that so few drivers finish it each year lends weight to the argument that it is the world’s toughest and most dangerous motor race. The event takes place over a two-week period with stages of up to 900 km a day not uncommon and a total race distance of over 10,000 km. The race travels over some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet and passes through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal and has on occasions also included Libya, Tunisia, South Africa, Angola and Egypt. Former World Rally Champion and four times Dakar rally winner Ari Vatanen is on record as saying ‘it is impossible to overestimate the difficulty of this event’.1

The race was the brainchild of French racing driver Thierry Sabine, who in 1977 had become lost in the Libyan Sahara Desert while competing in the Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to Nice, France, rally.2 This unfortunate event led to the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.