Sidecars have been competing in the Dakar since the second year of this great race, 1980. In that year, two sidecars entered, but neither finished. The popularity of sidecars grew significantly through the 80's. In 1985 there were 13 sidecars that started, but only 1 finished. I think the monster difficulty of finishing the race on a sidecar, combined with the huge expense of competing in the race, have discouraged many sidecar teams from taking on the challenge in recent years. For Dakar 2006, I've been told there will be 3 sidecars. Below are some photos of the old Dakar sidecars.
I see some strong similarities and some big differences between these bikes and our Dakar sidecar. All of these have typical motocross style front wheels/tires
(our front/rear/side are wide auto wheel/tire). Many are based on EML MX sidecar frames, as is ours. Some carry a spare wheel, some don't (we don't). In any case, it's interesting seeing some of the Dakar sidecars from many years ago.
Dakar 1980:
Dakar 1984:
Dakar 1985:
above photos from Dakar d' Antan site
Our bike, for comparison:
Dakar Sidecars of the Past
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