Stories from the Dakar Rally

Introduction

When I was young I was given a video of the Paris-Dakar rally and was amazed by the shots of motorbikes, jeeps, cars and trucks driving over giant sand dunes. I didn't know exactly know what the event was, but thought it was incredible that such vehicles could function, let alone drive at speed in the desert.

The story goes that, after being lost in the Sahara, Frenchman Thierry Sabine thought it would be a good location for a motorsport event and began organising a rally from the capital of France to the capital of Senegal through French speaking North Africa. Since the first race in 1978, the course of the rally has changed repeatedly and this year hit the news when terrorist threats caused the organisers to call it off for the first time in its proud history. The 2009 Rally is scheduled to take place in South America.

The organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), have produced a this DVD commemorating 30 years of the Dakar Rally with an official documentary which tracks the main events of the last 3 decades, including interviews with the likes of Ari Vatanen, Luc Alphand, Phillipe Jambert and archive footage of Sabine.

Video

An excellent transfer with superb footage of vehicles in the desert and the effort that goes into organising such a huge event, it's just a shame it is letterboxed and not anamorphic.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack switches between French and English as this is a French produced DVD with most of the dialogue subtitled but with English narration for this release. Occasionally the subtitles move a little too quickly as they have to compete with the captions telling you who is on screen and forced French subtitles when someone speaks in English, Spanish, etc. This is a pain, but nothing too serious.

Extra Features

There are a series of short features which play as one if you select the first, showing the early reconnaissance by Sabine, how the wreckage is recovered from the desert and some of the biggest crashes the event has ever seen; in all they run for about 30 minutes.

Conclusion

The desert is an inhospitable place and, with the sand and extreme temperature variations, not exactly a venue that lends itself to motor racing but this is what makes the Dakar Rally such a challenge and attraction to all kinds of drivers and racers.

This is a comprehensive and professionally made documentary about one of the World's great motorsport events and, with it made by ASO, the wealth of footage available makes it a must buy DVD for fans of the Rally. I don't class myself as a fan but I enjoyed it and found it informative and satisfying watch.