are you sometimes stuck in the rush hour and the banging of the steering wheel, while you are dreaming you away from sneglende slow motorvejskøer, smooth asphalt and fartbegrænsninger? Everyone who has tried a time markræs know how liberating it is to provide los, and let the car milling through lots of mud and the dung – far away from vejbanernes straight forward world.
Below we have found five examples of some of the world’s wildest off-road race where both cars and drivers is tested to the extreme in some of the planet’s harshest and most impassable terrains.
See all the wild pictures and videos below.
50 degrees, and fine red desert sand, who put themselves in everywhere in people and machinery.
the Dakar rally has it all. Rallyets first edition was in 1979, and anyone who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, can remember the television images from the Dakar rally, which originally went from the palace of Versailles in Paris and all the way down through the north african desert to Dakar in Senegal.
the Dakar is still one of the wildest and probably the most famous off-road race in the world. In 1986, the series asked 486 vehicles for the start, but only 100 of them reached the finish line in Dakar. 1986 was also rallyets most deadly year ever. Two drivers lost their lives, including japaneren Yasuo Kaneko, who was plowed down by a civilian motorist, who is believed to have been under the influence of alcohol. the
two weeks later occurred another violent tragedy when a helicopter crashed and took all five occupants with him in death, including race founder Thierry Sabine.
Watch the video from last year’s Spirit of Amarok in south Africa.
In 1996 it went wrong again in Morocco, as the French lastbilschauffør Laurent Gueguen drove over a land mine, which exploded and killed him on the spot.
In 2008, seven mauritanian soldiers killed during the preparations for the race. It led to the cancellation of the entire course. Because of concerns for the safety of its participants moved to the year after the race to south America, where it is still held today, though in an abbreviated version.
2019 series took place over ten days in Peru.
See highlights from the DAKAR 2019
– To run the first 100 miles of Baja was a slaughterhouse. Everywhere there were cars upside down and cars were stuck everywhere. Of course we stopped not and helped them. So when we even got stuck in a silthul, we expected not that anyone would stop and help us. They did not either. I think we chose one of the least gentleman-like races to start with. Baja is motor sport’s asshole.
How said the driver, Michael ’Skiny’ Power to Jalopnik.com after his first Baja 1000. He participates in races all over the world, and writes about his experiences on the site ’The Gentleman’s Guide to Racing’.
the Baja 1000 takes place in the desert on the mexican peninsula of Baja California, and extends from 650 to over 1000 miles. There are classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles, atvs and buggier. the
It is a wild race, and it is mandatory that riders write their blood type on the side of the helmet, and not least, there is a crazy tradition, the crowd teases drivers and sabotaging the race by digging deep mud holes and create traps that drivers fall into and stuck in along the way.
In 2013, the dead motorcyclist Kurt Caselli, as he drove the wrong. Subsequently, it was rumoured, that his accident was due to a trap made by the spectators. It is also quite acceptable that drivers obtain each other out of the way, to move their cars into each other.
the Race is also known for its well-known participants, and through the years, Hollywood legends such as Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and other stars with speed in the blood run over, which absolutely requires her husband.
As we approached the last 50 miles of the race, we shut both down completely. All I could hear from Alex, every time we hit a bump, which was about four times a second, was ‘oof, ugh, oof.’ (…) At last he said, ”we need to stop, I’m about to shit in his pants. But we were in a race, so it we could not. The clutch made a strange noise, and we froze and sweated at the same time. I threw up, and swallowed my own vomit every other minute. Alex had to turn the volume down for his intercom, because my bræklyde was so high. When I hopped out of the car, I was filmed while I threw up 10 times. The course was harder than what I thought was possible, told Michael Skiny Power to Jalopnik.com after its debut in the Baja 1000.
One of the big challenges in the BAJA 1000 is to avoid the big holes, which the crowd digs.
It is crazy strenuous to run offroad in the middle of the desert. But it can be child’s play compared to running in the middle of the rainforest. Rainforest Challenge started in Malaysia’s rainforest, but has now spread to several other countries, for example India, China, Australia and Vietnam.
the Race is, for obvious reasons, only open to four-wheel drives, in the rainforest you will come surely to get stuck. The race is set to last 10 days, but often extend over 12-14 days, because the stage offers so many hardships in the rainforest mud.
Participants must pull their cars free when they are running fast, and they must bring everything they need to survive in the rainforest in the small two weeks. Fuel, tents, water and food and all other equipment.
the Cars have to be able to climb the deep mud holes, rivers, and increases of up to 70 degrees. One of the hardest stages is called ’The Twilight Zone’ and is only 12 kilometers, but still had the best team in the 2012 edition use 36 hours to get through the stage. Three hours per kilometer!
See here, where the wild challenges the participants encounter in the Rainforest Challenge.
’The Hammers’ is the collective term for a series of off-road trail in Johnson Valley in southern California. The race has existed since 2007, and was allegedly planned by the two friends Jeff Knoll and Dave Cole during a single drinking spree.
Jack Hammer, Sledge Hammer and Claw Hammer is among the names on the demanding track, which puts high demands on the vehicles. Over the race’s 165 mil features ’The Hammers’ on the lines with both open ørkenterræn, hilly klippeterræn and deep sand.
therefore, You must use a so-called ’Ultra 4’-car, as both can accelerate on the long stretches, but at the same time have a mount that is strong enough to be able to climb the very hilly klippeterræn. Many drivers use, therefore, of the custom-built vehicles to the ’King of the Hammers’, which is considered one of the world’s most difficult off-road races.
See here why.
In the so-called Erzberg Rodeo, it’s not about cars, but on motocross machinery. The race, organised by Red Bull, is considered the world’s toughest endagsløb, and takes its start in the bottom of an old iron mine in Styria in Austria. the
Over four days trying 1500 drivers each year to qualify, but only 500 end up with to put at the start of the event’s main attraction on the last day – the so-called ’Hare Scramble’, which extends over 35 kilometres of steep terrain in the area surrounding the mine. Several places do the drivers simply give up, to run, and may instead carry their bikes up the steep and often muddy slopes in the mountain and forests. the
the Number of drivers who completes and reaches to the top of the Erzberg, are therefore also always ludicrously low. As a rule, completes the under 30 drivers. The Hare Scramble is a veritable inferno of dust, mud and noise! the
It is a few of the drivers that implement the Erzberg Rodeo.
this Article is sponsored by VW in connection with the Spirit of Amarok, where you yourself can participate in an Off Road Race.
Apply now for participation in the international Off-Road adventure
Show what you can offroad, and get ready for the great adventure:
Your teammate and you are going to experience the limits of man and machine behind the wheel of the Amarok. Fight through the sand, over rocks, through mud and water.
If you qualify in the Danish version of Spirit of Amarok 2019, you’re going to represent Denmark at the international final in south Africa as a team, where you have a unique opportunity to prove your skills.
Apply now looking forward to the 08.05.2019 for participation in the unique offroadeventyr.
