 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(May 2011) |
Emile Leray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 September 1949 (age 75) France |
| Nationality | French |
| Known for | Building a motorcycle in the Moroccan Desert |
Emile Leray (born 11 September 1949) is a French electrician who is most noteworthy for transforming a car into a motorcycle whilst stranded in the Moroccan Desert.
Leray built a desert motorcycle out of the parts of a broken-down Citroën 2CV in 1993, while on a solo trip in Morocco. His car broke down in the middle of the Sahara when he accidentally hit a rock which damaged his car's chassis. He was stranded twenty miles from the nearest settlement, with only enough food and water to last ten days. [1] To survive, Leray created a motorcycle out of parts of his broken-down car twelve days later. He drove the vehicle to a village 20 miles away.
The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally", is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Security threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, and events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
Terrence Stephen McQueen was an American actor and racing driver. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the 1960s and 1970s. He was nicknamed the "King of Cool" and used the alias Harvey Mushman in motor races.
Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action-thriller film directed by John Woo, written by Graham Yost, and starring John Travolta, Christian Slater, and Samantha Mathis. The film's main themes include the theft of two American nuclear weapons, the attempts of U.S. military authorities to recover them, and the feud between Travolta and Slater's characters. The film was a commercial success despite mixed reviews.
Erwin George "Cannon Ball" Baker was an American motorcycle and automobile racer and organizer in the first half of the 20th century. Baker began his public career as a vaudeville performer, but turned to driving and racing after winning a dirt-track motorcycle race at Crawfordsville, Indiana, in about 1904.
The 1980 Miami riots were race riots that occurred in Miami, Florida, starting in earnest on May 18, 1980, following an all-White male jury acquitting four Dade County Public Safety Department officers in the death of Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance salesman and United States Marine Corps lance corporal. McDuffie was beaten to death by four police officers after a traffic stop. After the officers were tried and acquitted on charges including manslaughter and evidence tampering, a riot broke out in the Black neighborhoods of Overtown and Liberty City on the night of May 17. Riots continued until May 20, resulting in at least 18 deaths and an estimated $100 million in property damage.
The 19th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1931. Race winner Louis Schneider, who led the final 34 laps, was accompanied by riding mechanic Jigger Johnson.
William Hickman was an American professional stunt driver, stunt coordinator and actor in the U.S. film industry. His film career spanned from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, and included films such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups.
The motorcycle sport of racing includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and land speed record trials.
James Sherwin "Bud" Ekins was an American professional stuntman in the U.S. film industry. He is considered to be one of the film industry's most accomplished stuntmen with a body of work that includes classic films such as The Great Escape and Bullitt. Ekins, acting as stunt double for Steve McQueen while filming The Great Escape, was the rider who performed what is considered to be one of the most famous motorcycle stunts ever performed in a movie. He was recognized for his stunt work by being inducted into the Stuntmen's Hall of Fame.
Bear Camp Road is a rugged mountain road traversing the Klamath Mountains in Josephine and Curry counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Bear Camp Road is a combination of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Road 34-8-36 starting just south of Galice and United States Forest Service (FS) Road 23, which continues from the 12-mile (19 km) point on 34-8-36 to Agness. The road is named for a camp and viewpoint at the 4,600-foot (1,400 m) summit near the Josephine–Curry county line.
Greeves Motorcycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer founded by Bert Greeves which produced a range of road machines, and later competition mounts for observed trials, scrambles and road racing. The original company produced motorcycles from 1952, funded by a contract with the Ministry of Pensions for their Invacar, a three-wheeler for disabled drivers.
Eddie Hasha was an American motorcycle racer on board tracks early in the twentieth century. His death contributed to the demise of the board tracks. He was nicknamed the "Texas Cyclone" since he was from Waco, Texas, United States.
Eddie Hill is an American retired drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water. Hill had the first run in the four second range (4.990 seconds), which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing." His other nicknames include "The Thrill", "Holeshot Hill", and "Fast Eddie". In 1960, he set the NHRA record for the largest improvement in the elapsed time (e.t.) when he drove the quarter mile in 8.84 seconds to break the previous 9.40-second record.
Emilio Scotto is an Argentine adventurer, photojournalist, and writer. As of 2009 he holds the Guinness record for the world's longest motorcycle ride, spanning 10 years, 214 countries and a total distance of 457,000 miles (735,000 km). The ride was done on a 1980 Honda Gold Wing GL1100 motorcycle Scotto calls "Black Princess", which now sits in the Don's Riverside Car Museum in Laughlin, Nevada. Scotto recounted his travels in a 224-page book illustrated with his photographs, The Longest Ride: My Ten-Year 500,000 Mile Motorcycle Journey, published in 2007.
2005 Dakar Rally also known as the 2005 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 27th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2005 event was 5,565 miles (8,956 km) long, began in Barcelona on 31 December 2004 and passed through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Mali before ending at Dakar in Senegal on 16 January 2005. The course was shorter than in 2004 but was more challenging. A record number of competitors, 696 cars, motorbikes and trucks in total, entered the rally.
Operation Nicety was an operation in September 1942 during the Second World War by Force Z a battalion of the Sudan Defence Force. It was designed to support the raiding forces taking part in Operation Agreement, Operation Caravan and Operation Bigamy. The objective of the operation was the seizure of the Jalo oasis in the Libyan desert to support the withdrawal of the forces involved in the other operations. The operation was a failure: the Germans had discovered the plans for all four operations on the body of a dead officer taking part in Operation Agreement. Forewarned, the Italian garrison at Jalo had been warned and reinforced which easily repelled the attack on the night 15–16 September.
Toby Joseph Price OAM is an Australian off-road and enduro motorcycle racing world champion. He lives in Gold Coast, Queensland, and rode for the KTM Off-Road Racing Team until October 2015. He now represents the Red Bull Factory KTM Rally Team.
A Fire in the Sky is a made-for-television disaster movie that debuted on NBC on November 26, 1978. The movie is based on a story by Paul Gallico where the earth is threatened by a large comet, which impacts near Phoenix and causes massive destruction there. It is a Bill Driskill Production in association with Columbia Pictures Television.
Terry Hershner, nicknamed Electric Terry, is an electric vehicle and renewable energy advocate from Florida. He is known for his long-distance trips and record breaking on his electric motorcycle. He rides a modified production 2012 Zero Motorcycles S ZF9 electric motorcycle, outfitted with a Craig Vetter streamlined fairing. In 2013, he was the first person to cross the United States on an electric motorcycle. In 2014, he became the first ever electric motorcycle rider to go 1000 miles in 24 hours and earn an award from the Iron Butt Association, and was also the first electric motorcycle to win the Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge. Hershner is a board member of the Electric Auto Association, frequent public speaker and radio show guest, and transportation advisor to the international environmental student organization IDEAS for Us.
Ricky Megee is an Australian, most notable for having been stranded in the Outback and surviving for 71 days in 2006. Megee later gave contradictory statements as to how he came to be stranded crossing the Northern Territory and Western Australia. On one occasion he said that his car broke down, and on another that he had been carjacked by an armed gang. However, a doctor later confirmed that Megee's appearance was consistent with having lived in extreme conditions. Like most deserts, the Tanami can reach 40 °C (104 °F) during the day but still be very cold at night. Megee made his own primitive shelters and survived by drinking rainwater and eating small animals and available vegetation for nourishment. He was eventually discovered by a group of station hands near Katherine, Northern Territory, and taken to Darwin for medical assistance. Although some doubts were later raised as to the exact chain of events as Megee related them, the police did not find evidence that a criminal offence had occurred.