Dakar2013: Starts Today - The Statistics |
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File under Dakar Race Statistics
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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One of the most grueling and tough rally enduro races in the world starts today, the famous, and often notorious, Dakar  . Although they haven't been going to Dakar for years now, the race keeps the name Dakar. Today the 35th edition of this race starts, with trucks, cars, quads and of course the motorcycles racing in South America (Peru, Argentina and Chile) for 14 days. Since its creating, the Dakar has been raced in 27 different countries.
The record man for the most number of victories remains the Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel , with 6 motorcycle victories and 4 car wins.
 Cyril Despres © Maragni M. KTM Images |
The youngest contestant is 19 years, the Dutchman Robert Van Pelt on a Honda motorcycle - 16 years after his father competed in the same race (the oldest is Francisco Claudio Regunaschi with 73 years, driving a car).
190 countries will be showing images in the race, including 70 TV stations. 400 journalists will be following the race day-to-day, and a total of 1800 journalists are accredited at different stages. Approximately 1 BILLION people will have seen images of the race.
ASO , the organizers, will be keeping a fleet of 40 cars, 11 helicopters, 12 airplanes, 55 trucks and 5 buses going just to make sure everyone is safe, and well fed. And the everyone consists of 745 contestants and mechanics and 1066 support staff. A total of 8,574 kilometers will need to be ridden during the 14 days.
During the 2 weeks, some 2,000 radio and TV messages will be broadcast in the three countries related to spectator safety.
During the 2012 race, the Dakar site received 4.3 million unique visitors, while 4.5 million spectators were present during the race alongside the roads and finish lines.
And why do countries really want to have the Dakar race? Money! According to a study done by the Argentinian government, the race brought in 294 million dollars to the local economies.
So stay tunes, hopefully we'll see many images of the race over the next few days.
Via: Dakar
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