I've seen bits of two Dakar races in the old Portugal, It was really something special when I saw it for the fist time. We went to some remote places 2-3:00 AM, wile waiting for sunrise we made fires and barbecued the meat on them, bread, beer and wine
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Shortly after sunrise I see a fast Mitsubishi SUV coming down the hill loud like a rally car, my friend tels me "he's not racing, that's just number 0", we had seen it on a trailer at the gas station on our way there, from the outside was a SUV, inside was all tube frame.
Finally the fist competitive, bikes then the quads, side cars, jeeps, buggies, trucks, helicopters in between, dust and lot of camp fire smoking everywhere, it was a good time with some old friend.