Two days in the Saudi Arabian desert to attend the Dakar2023, a historic and one-of-a-kind race behind which there is an irrepressible passion on the part of the crews, team members as well as the organizers and all the insiders.
Dakar 2023: the organization behind this great event
The Dakar rally raid has a long history during which political and historical facts have determined its evolution. In fact, it was born in 1979 as Paris-Dakar and over the years the route underwent variations until 2008 when the organizers, due to conflicts and related permits, were forced to leave the African continent to move to South America, writing part of their history in Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The third chapter of the Dakar that moved to Saudi Arabia began in the 2020 edition. In fact, this 2023 edition is the fourth edition in these sandy dunes.
We had the opportunity to speak with some organizers of the event who explained to us that the first site inspections are made six months before the event and from here about three steps are taken to define all the details. And, once they arrive before the date, a handful of days before the stage, the organizers retrace the route and note (if there are any) corrections or route changes due to changes of a climatic nature. An example of this was what happened on day6 (of which we followed the briefing), when, after a few days of torrential rains, the race direction was forced to change part of the route and the location of the bivouac due to flooding.
Dakar 2023: the bivouac of Ha’il
For those who want to know as many details as possible about the Dakar, we recommend going to visit the bivouac. A sort of Service Park, where the teams are positioned to carry out mechanical interventions on the vehicles after the hundreds of kilometers traveled and where the crews meet, exchange opinions, go to the main tent to eat and where some of these sleep, which whether in a camper or tent. There is no obligation for pilots to sleep here; in fact, some opt for the more convenient solution such as a nearby hotel. Which is not possible for the mechanics since they have to work and prefer to make the most of the hours of sleep by closing their eyes in the tent alongside the racing cars.
We stayed at the Ha’il bivouac located not far from the Arab city’s airport. A fascinating place, where in the evening briefings are held with the pilots to award the winners of each category with a medal and give some indications on the route that the pilots have to face the following day.