The Explorers' Club, № CCCLXXIII

The Dakar, Part II: 2008, the year terrorist threats cancelled the event & cast into doubt its ongoing viability, & the South American resurrection of the Dakar Rally, 2009-present.







This Week in Motorsport
The 2014 Dakar Rally has been underway for a week & runs through the end of this week. Already, over fifty per cent of the competitors in the "car," "bike," & quad categories have been forced out of a rally; attrition has been less severe in the truck category, with "only" around thirty per cent of the competitors falling by the wayside. This is my second Dakar, thanks to the N.B.C. Sports Network's (N.B.C.S.N., formerly Versus) coverage, which consists of a nightly half-hour wrap-up of the previous day's happenings. As Saturday was the sorely needed rest day, tonight's show consisted of a look back at the week that was, the rally up to that point. The dunes & the Andes await in the week to come.

To this point in the 2014 Dakar, one competitor has died, the cause of which is still under investigation, which leads me to believe he did not die in a crash, but possibly of natural causes. Two journos perished in a traffic collision. May the Lord have mercy on the souls of His departed children, & be a comfort to the families in their grief.