The five coolest Dakar cars from the last five decades

1970s – Range Rover V8

Admittedly the Dakar only ran for one edition before the 1970s ended, but that was enough to spawn a global following that has now entered its sixth decade.

182 competitors, comprising 80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks entered that first rally, which was inspired by when founder Thierry Sabine got lost in the T énéré Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Race in 1977. The Rally cohort left Paris on 26^th December 1978, travelling through Algeria, Niger, Mali and Upper Volta, before finishing in Dakar, on the coast of Senegal, on 14^th January 1979.

Despite only winning one of the eight stages the Range Rover of Alain Génestier, Joseph Terbiaut and Jean Lemordant came first in the cars category, finishing fourth overall behind three motorcycles, and ahead of the Renault 4 of the Marreau brothers.

Early in the rally, it had looked like there could be a car-motorcycle Neveu lockout, when motorcycle class winner, Cyril Neveu's, brother Christophe, won two of the first three stages (also in a Range Rover). However, Christophe was among a quarter of competitors who got lost on stage three between Arlit and Agadez, relinquishing his lead.

With no big budget factory teams involved in those early years of Dakar, the vehicles were often old and only lightly modified in order to be able to survive thousands of kilometres off-road.

Alain Génestier’s Range Rover V8 was as unremarkable as it was successful. Funded by Joseph Terbiaut, No.162 was bought second hand in France and prepared by Génestier’s long-time copilot, Jean Lemordant, a Parisian mechanic and Mini Austin specialist. The preparation was simple, comprising the installation of three racing seats, adding a supplementary fuel tank and a front winch, which was reportedly never used. While the V8 received no engine or power modifications, the only chassis reinforcement was to the front steering dampers.

However, much of the car’s success was due to how well Génestier knew the African terrain, having spent more than 18 years on the Côte d’Ivoire, working with a local enterprise on electricity lines and driving thousands of kilometres across the continent each year.

An old Rangie tackling the Dakar is just cool. End of.

1980s – Porsche 953

By the early 1980s, the Dakar had caught the eye of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers. Recognising the marketing potential of winning the world’s biggest rally raid, even those who didn’t have a four-wheel-drive production car wanted in. Porsche, for example, was at the time dominating the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 911 Carrera RS and the Porsche 935 Turbo, but there was little factory team presence in rallying during the 1960s and ‘70s. There was, however, significant success among Porsche privateers on the European and World rally stages, including Jean-Pierre Nicolas winning the 1978 Monte Carlo Rally in a 911 SC, and Jean-Luc Thérier winning the 1980 Tour de Corse.

But the Dakar Rally was calling and Porsche had to go. For 1984 the German manufacturer built a handful of heavily modified 911s, featuring a developmental, manually controlled four-wheel-drive system that would later feature on the 959. The 953 was powered by a six-cylinder, 300bhp engine, featured durable, heightened suspension and weighed just 1,247kg.

Three of these 911 4x4s entered the 1984 edition, with Le Mans legend and reigning Dakar winner Jacky Ickx the main driver, bringing with him the iconic Rothmans sponsorship. 1981 Dakar-winner René Metge helmed the second 953, while the third was a ‘fast assistance vehicle’, driven by Roland Kussmaul to a 26^th place finish.

While Ickx set more fastest stage times than anyone else, his race was doomed from the start when an electrical short caused by a wheel jack breaking free started a fire. The resulting delay sent him to the back of the pack. Despite fighting back to third place, on the penultimate stage, his 953 broke a driveshaft, sending him back to sixth.

However René Metge and co-driver Dominique Lemoyne kept the Porsche side up, eventually battling their way to first place and taking Porsche’s debut Dakar win, in the manufacturer’s first year competing.
Despite its remarkable success, the 953 was replaced in 1985 by the rally weapon 959, which Metge and Lemoyne once again drove to victory in 1986.

1990s – Citroën ZX

By the 1990s, the Dakar had seen significant change and come to terms with the huge factory teams for which it is known today.

Citroën’s 2.0-litre ZX burst on to the rally scene in 1990, taking its first win at the Baja – Aragon event before the manufacturer set its eyes on a bigger target, the Dakar. Despite two of the three Citroëns entries catching fire due to placing of the shock absorber too close to the turbo, the remaining ZX took the win in the hands of Finn Ari Vatanen and his Swede co-driver Bruno Berglund. This marked Ari Vartanen’s fourth and final Dakar title.

A win at the Paris-Moscow-Beijing rally followed the next year, before Pierre Lartigue and Michel Périn scored three consecutive Dakar wins at the helm of the ZX, in 1994, 1995 and 1996. Citroën withdrew due to a rule change in 1997, bringing their winning streak to an end.

Not only was it a brilliant car, but the ZX looked the part too, especially in the 1991 bright yellow Camel Trophy livery, which actually looked like a camel thanks to the spare tyre ‘hump’ on top. Making 330bhp and with a top speed of 127mph, however, it was certainly the fastest camel Africa has ever seen.

2000s – Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution

The noughties’ top Dakar car is a no-brainer. While the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution was in fact a contender for the 1990s, matching the ZX for Rally wins, it really came into its own in the 2000s, winning every event from 2001 until 2007. Unfortunately, its winning streak was brought to an end by the cancelled 2008 event, and Mitsubishi never regained its Dakar chokehold.

2001 was notable for two reasons. Firstly, it was the final time that the rally followed the Paris-Dakar route, and secondly for Mitsubishi's Jutta Kleinschmidt becoming the first woman to win the rally, when Formula 1 and sports car driver Jean-Louis Schlesser received an hour penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The 2002 route ran from Arras via Madrid to Dakar and was won by long-time Dakar participant Hiroshi Masuoka, who also took the following year’s rally, which crossed from Marseille to Sharm El Sheikh.

Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret took the 2004, 2005 and 2007 editions, beaten only in 2006 by Mitsubishi teammates Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard.

2010s – Peugeot 3008 DKR

While the Mini All4 Racing is technically the most successful Dakar car of the teens, with four wins to its name, Peugeot’s succession of beastly 2008 and 3008 DKRs have to take our ‘coolest crown’.
Based on the manufacturer’s SUV of the same name, the DKR derivatives are behemoths, with 3.0-litre, twin-turbo, diesel V6 powertrains making around 340bhp and with huge exposed suspension arms and dramatic bodywork.

After success throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Peugeot returned to the Dakar in 2015 with the all-new, two-wheel-drive 2008 DKR. In its second year, Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret took the win in the primarily Argentinian route.

In 2017, armed with the new 3008 DKR, Peugeot dominated the 9,000km run through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina and locked out the podium with a landmark one-two-three finish, with the veteran French duo once upon the top step.

Following substantial updates for the 2018 edition, which covered 8,793km through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, the Peugeot 3008 DKR Maxi made its triumphant debut, this time in the hands of Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz. Of that year’s 13 stages, seven were won by the four 3008 DKR Maxis that Peugeot had entered.

Sadly, Peugeot withdrew from the Dakar after the 2018 edition, although privateer Peugeots continue to perform in the revered rally raid.