1970s – Range Rover V8
Admittedly the Dakar only ran for one edition before the 1970s ended, but that was enough to spawn a global following that has now entered its sixth decade.
182 competitors, comprising 80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks entered that first rally, which was inspired by when founder Thierry Sabine got lost in the T énéré Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Race in 1977. The Rally cohort left Paris on 26th December 1978, travelling through Algeria, Niger, Mali and Upper Volta, before finishing in Dakar, on the coast of Senegal, on 14th January 1979.
Despite only winning one of the eight stages the Range Rover of Alain Génestier, Joseph Terbiaut and Jean Lemordant came first in the cars category, finishing fourth overall behind three motorcycles, and ahead of the Renault 4 of the Marreau brothers.
Early in the rally, it had looked like there could be a car-motorcycle Neveu lockout, when motorcycle class winner, Cyril Neveu's, brother Christophe, won two of the first three stages (also in a Range Rover). However, Christophe was among a quarter of competitors who got lost on stage three between Arlit and Agadez, relinquishing his lead.
With no big budget factory teams involved in those early years of Dakar, the vehicles were often old and only lightly modified in order to be able to survive thousands of kilometres off-road.
Alain Génestier’s Range Rover V8 was as unremarkable as it was successful. Funded by Joseph Terbiaut, No.162 was bought second hand in France and prepared by Génestier’s long-time copilot, Jean Lemordant, a Parisian mechanic and Mini Austin specialist. The preparation was simple, comprising the installation of three racing seats, adding a supplementary fuel tank and a front winch, which was reportedly never used. While the V8 received no engine or power modifications, the only chassis reinforcement was to the front steering dampers.
However, much of the car’s success was due to how well Génestier knew the African terrain, having spent more than 18 years on the Côte d’Ivoire, working with a local enterprise on electricity lines and driving thousands of kilometres across the continent each year.
An old Rangie tackling the Dakar is just cool. End of.