It's time, once again, for Europe's largest motorcycle enduro race, the Enduropale du Touquet. Ahead of the weekend's race action here's a quick overview of sand racing through the ages.
It's time, once again, for Europe's largest motorcycle enduro race, the Enduropale du Touquet. Ahead of the weekend's race action here's a quick overview of sand racing through the ages…
A precursor of the Paris-Dakar Rally, Thierry Sabine set up the Enduro du Touqet in 1975 in order to bring enduro to France from the US. The race has now been held 30 times and it remains open to all – amateurs and professionals alike.
It may have moved from its original setting in the dunes of the Touqet-Paris-Plage in order to preserve those enormous mountains of sand, but the Enduropale (as it's been known since 2005) has grown into an Enduro extravaganza, attracting 1,200 competitors and 300,000 spectators. Sundays are all about the the main event, the motorbikes, while Saturday is reserved for quads and young bike riders.
Here are six other sandblasted races…
Mint 400
Depicted in Hunter S Thompson's classic novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Mint 400 – so named after the Mint Hotel in Las Vegas and initially started as a PR exercise for the hotel's annual deer hunt – was first raced in 1967.
The race grew from such beginnings to a genuine off-road classic that attracted participants from around the world of motor sports and the silver screen, as entries from the likes of James Garner and Steve McQueen testify.
The annual series ended in 1988 when the Mint Hotel was sold, but it was revived 20 years later and continues to this day.
Baja 1000
Also originating in the late 1960s, the Score Baja 1000 is an off-road classic held in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula every November. The race has categories encompassing a variety of classes – small and large bore motorcycles, stock VW, production vehicles, buggies, trucks, and custom fabricated race vehicles. But it's probably most famous for the boobytraps (deep holes, rocks, etc) placed along the course by spectators hoping to enjoy a little schadenfreude.
Rallye Dakar
Encouraged by the massive success of the Enduropale, Thierry Sabine set up the the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1979. It's now the most famous enduro race in the world and certainly one of the sandiest. Much of the race, whether it's in Africa or South America, goes through desert and this year's race from Mar del Plata, Argentina, to Lima, Peru, was no different. Dakar 2012 saw racers stuck in the sand with Chile's Atacama desert proving particulary troublesome. Said Marc Coma about this year's route: “Some parts of the stage today were really like Africa. The terrain was totally different to what we got in Chile. The type of dunes there are like mountains covered in a thin layer of sand. But what we got in Peru today was just softer and deeper – real dunes!”
Daytona Beach Race
Influential in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Racing (or NASCAR to you and me), the Daytona Beach Road Course found fame as the location for numerous land speed records. The racing of cars in and around Daytona Beach is now done in the enormous Dayonta International Speedway. But races did once take place on the long stretch of sand nearby. Not just drag racing either, as this footage from the 1952 Nascar Daytona Beach Race proves. It wasn't until 1959 that racing moved into the speedway for good.
Ronnie Renner Freeride Tour
Red Bull's FMX rider Ronnie Renner is doing his bit for sand racing. Every year he takes a group of fans and rising stars out to the best off-road (and usually sandy) spots in the Wild West on the Ronnie Renner Freeride Tour. See the results below…
Jersey
It's hardly world-famous for its sand racing but St Ouens in Jersey holds regular races and has been doing so since the 1950s. Just check out this wonderful vintage footage. Sand racing events are still held there once a fortnight from the end of May to September. Another UK beach favoured for travelling at breakneck speeds is Pendine Sands in Wales – venue for Malcolm Campbell and JG Parry-Thomas's World Land Speed Record attempts in the 1920s. It's also where, in 2010, Don Wales took the World Land Speed Record for a lawnmower...
For some vintage British sand racing from Jersey, check out this video from the 1950s.
Want more?
- Read Cyril Despres's blog at L'Enduropale
- Facts and figures on L'Enduropale
- More Hard Enduro on redbull.com
- Win Dakar prizes
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