It was a fevered (sometimes literally) race across the world’s most inhospitable wildernesses that rewarded those that stayed behind to help, an international event that pitted countries against one another but did more to break down borders than a lot of other sports. It was a cigarette-sponsored, 4x4 marketing extravaganza that helped scientists access to study remote parts of the world and raise awareness of threatened landscapes and cultures. However, despite the paradoxes contained within, the Camel Trophy was singular in its purpose: the pursuit of adventure.
“Neither a race nor a rally, Camel Trophy was first and foremost an adventurous expedition. It did include an element of competition where participating teams could test their 4x4 driving and mechanical skills, endurance, courage, stamina, perseverance and resilience against the worst that nature could offer.” – Iain Chapman
In 1980 the inaugural event consisted of only three two-man teams from Germany. Using hired Ford Jeep CJ6s; they embarked on a 12-day, 1,600km odyssey along the Transamazonica Highway, also known as the ‘Highway of Tears’ from Belem to Santarem. Only two of the Jeeps made it to the finish, the third was left burning in a petrol fire in the forest, the remaining (winchless) Jeeps crawled to the finish with their battered, bitten and exhausted passengers. The first Camel Trophy was small in comparison to subsequent events but it was no less ambitious and littered as it was throughout with isolation, dust, mud, rafts, gold, insects, disease, fire, breakdowns, bandits, and bribery – it set the bar for adventure at 11.
The Camel Trophy was an instant success. Land Rover started providing vehicles in 1981 and continued to do so until 1998 (there was an event in 2000, but that was in boats!), the two brands becoming synonymous with one another and the annual event went truly global. Each year more countries fielded teams and each year the numbers of hopeful amateurs boomed, by the mid-80s; hundreds of thousands, by 1989; millions. Each country devised its own selection process to whittle thousands of entrants down to just two fortunates. Strangely enough, despite Land Rover’s involvement, Britain didn’t field a team until 1986. Royal Navy and retired SAS specialists were engaged to create gruelling trials in muddy corners of the British Isles to test the resourcefulness, stamina, skills and mental resilience of would-be competitors.