Since I can remember I was always a big fan of offroad racing. More than speed like F1, Le Mans or NASCAR, what always kept me really interested were the great offroad adventures like the legendary Camel Trophy, the Rainforest Challenge in Malaysia or more recently the Dakar (or Dakar series).

The thing I like about offroad versus speed, is that you must have a more tactical approach to driving and it seems like you are in a more uncontrolled environment than you are on the race track. The race track always reminds me of the surgery room where most of the things are all tidy and clean, while the offroad brings the unknown into the equation.

If you are too young to remember the Camel Trophy, just have a look at the video below and you will get a sense of what is was about:

Regarding the Dakar I followed at the terrain all the events that recently started out of Lisbon and although the Race Toureg’s or BMW X Raid are certainly great vehicles, the most impressive ones are the trucks.

If you have seen the Kamaz (or any of the other trucks) passing by 10 meters from you on a sandy forest like the ones near Lisbon (Comporta), you surely know how impressive that is. I can only imagine the huge skill needed to keep those 10 ton beast within 4 meter wide track. When it passes you can feel the strong sound of the engine shaking the ground and boy, those trucks are fast.

In this 2011 edition of the Dakar Series in South America, the trucks were almost as fast as the leading cars on some stages and that is quite a feat, considering all things.

I do hope some day I will save enough money to make it at the Africa Race which emulates the old Paris/Dakar course for both professional and amateur teams.