The 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, but due to security threats in Mauritania, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, 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.
Long Way Round (LWR) is a British television series and book documenting the 19,000-mile (31,000 km) journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska, and continued by road to New York. The series aired on Sky One from 18 October 2004 – 1 February 2005 and was repeated on BBC Two in 2008. The series was added to Apple TV+ on 18 September 2020, along with sequels Long Way Down (2007) and Long Way Up (2020).
John Deacon was a Motorcycle enduro racer. He had won several Paris Dakar Rally stages. He died as a result of head injuries sustained when his BMW bike flipped, 77 miles from the town of Palmyra in Syria during the seventh stage of the Masters Rally between France and Jordan. He was lying third in the event at the time.
Charley Boorman is a British TV presenter, travel writer and actor. A motorbike enthusiast, Boorman has made three long-distance motorcycle rides with his friend Ewan McGregor, documented in Long Way Round (2004), Long Way Down (2007), and Long Way Up (2020).
The BMW GS series of one purpose off-road/on-road BMW motorcycles have been produced from 1980, when the R80G/S was launched, to the present day. The GS refers to either Gelände/Straße or Gelände Sport. GS motorcycles can be distinguished from other BMW models by their longer travel suspension, an upright riding position, and larger front wheels – typically 19 to 21 inch. In May 2009, the 500,000th GS was produced, an R1200GS model.
Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is a time-card enduro, whereby a number of stages are raced in a time trial against the clock.
Claudio von Planta is a Swiss cameraman, director and filmmaker, based in London.
Long-distance riding is the activity of riding motorcycles over long distances, both competitively and as a pastime. A goal of long-distance riding is to explore one's endurance while riding a motorcycle, sometimes across several countries.
Motorcycle touring is a format of tourism that involves a motorcycle. It has been a subject of note since at least 1915.
Long Way Down is a television series and book documenting a motorcycle journey undertaken in 2007 by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, from John o' Groats in Scotland through eighteen countries in Europe and Africa to Cape Town in South Africa. It is a follow-up to the Long Way Round of 2004, when the pair rode east from London to New York via Eurasia and North America.
Russ Malkin is a British TV producer, director and founder of Big Earth Productions. He has created documentaries and formats for many broadcasters globally including BBC, ITV, Sky, National Geographic, Amazon and Discovery. Often working with high-profile personalities, Malkin has filmed across all seven continents in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. He is best known for the adventure travel documentaries Long Way Round, Long Way Down and Long Way Up with actors and keen motorcyclists Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. His recent work includes "Prince Harry in Africa", "David Beckham: For the Love of the Game" and three-part National Geographic documentary “Fiennes: Return to the Nile”.
Simon Pavey is a motorcycle enduro and off road racer, currently based in Wales.
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and charity.
The 2006 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2006 Paris-Dakar Rally, was the 28th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2006 event ran from 31 December 2005 to 15 January 2006. It started from Lisbon, Portugal, and passed through Spain, Morocco, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, before finishing in Senegal. The format included speed restrictions on motorcycles and trucks and reduced use of global positioning systems. Competitors included double world rally champion, Carlos Sainz.
The BMW F650 is a family of motorcycles developed by BMW Motorrad beginning in 1993. Models included the F650St Strada and from 1994, the F650 which, due to some subtle differences, was considered to be a more dual/multi purpose motorcycle with some off-road capability. The 1993 - 2000 F650 was the first single-cylinder motorcycle from BMW since the 1960–1966 R27, and the first chain driven motorcycles from BMW.
The following outline is provided as an overview of motorcycles and motorcycling:
Long Way Up is a British television series which debuted 18 September 2020, documenting a motorcycle journey undertaken in 2019 by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, from Ushuaia in Argentina through South and Central America to Los Angeles in the United States. It is a follow-up to 2004's Long Way Round where the pair rode from London to New York and then again in 2007 Long Way Down, when they rode south from John o' Groats in Scotland through eighteen countries in Europe and Africa to Cape Town in South Africa.
Cyril Despres is a French rally racer and resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally five times, in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013, riding a KTM motorcycle. He also won the Red Bull Romaniacs, one of the toughest hard enduro events on the planet, three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2007 and the Erzberg Rodeo in 2002 and 2003. In the 2018 season he is one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total.
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.
Scot Harden is a professional off-road motorcycle racer. He has held managerial and executive positions at Husqvarna, KTM, BMW, and Zero Motorcycles.
