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In the beginning, the sponsor was the Thierry Sabine Organization (TSO), named after Thierry Sabine, the rally's founder. After Thierry's death, Thierry's father Gilbert took over, and when he retired, he sold his rights to the ASO. Assistance Cars Like assistance trucks, these go from bivouac to bivouac to support the competition vehicles, and are used mainly to carry staff. Formerly, aircraft were used to ferry team personnel around and the mechanics were known as "air mechanics," but because airplanes have been deliberately cut back or eliminated altogether in recent years. Today mechanics and supervisors travel in trucks or assistance cars. Balise A balise is an emergency-use rescue signal (radio beacon) transmitter, which every participant is required to carry, and can also refer to a desert landmark (air route marker). This landmark can be oil drums placed every kilometer, for example, on a route established in the desert as a trading route, or stakes placed on the top of jutting sand dunes to indicate that it is safe to descend at that point. Bivouac Each bivouac attracts more than 1,000 people, including the competitors and others associated with the team, sponsors, medical staff, communications equipment operators, catering staff, TV and other media people, clean-up staff, and aircraft control and operating staff. The following morning, everyone gets back into their vehicles, airplanes, or helicopters and moves on to the next bivouac. Consequently, bivouacs are sited where airplanes can land. Cadeau In the rallies, this word ("gift" in French) has come to mean "give me something" in the West African countries like Mali, Senegal, and Niger. You frequently hear this word from the local children. If you give them a present like the above lunch box they will be very pleased, but unless you time it well, you might get rushed by an excited crowd. Camel Grass As the name suggests, camels feed off this grass, which sends its roots deep into the sandy soil. When the tires come onto camel grass, the vehicle does not sink into the sand; instead the vehicle is suddenly thrust up as if it has hit a ridge. In West African desert, particularly in Mauritania, there is much camel grass. Where there is camel grass, the going gets bumpy and the vehicles have to go slow. Camel grass stages are generally uncomfortable and difficult, with the passengers being tossed about. Camion balai The camion balai truck trails along at the end of the rally and collects those who have retired. Balai is French for "broom," so this is the sweeping truck. Entrants who meet this truck are advised to retire and are taken on to the next bivouac. Canteen This is a steel box one meter wide, 50 centimeters deep, and 40 centimeters high. This is the unit used by transporters who carry, for a fee, luggage such as spare parts. There is also a support system that entitles those on two wheels to free air transport for one canteen. CP This is a checkpoint. Checkpoints are used to check whether participants are staying on the set course. The checkpoints prevent shortcuts at such points as where the course drastically changes direction, or are set for safety reasons in countries' border zones. Each special stage contains an average of two to four checkpoints, and depending on the section, checkpoints are set in liaison stages as well. Failure to pass through a checkpoint can incur a major penalty. However, checkpoints are not only set where they are easy to find; an important consideration in their positioning is how efficiently participants can find and clear them. Road books sometimes list dummy checkpoints. CTIS This is an abbreviation for "central tire inflation system." This system allows the tires' air pressure to be constantly monitored from inside the vehicle, and pressures can be adjusted from inside as well. This system has been used in trucks for some time, but in recent years four-wheel drive kits have appeared and their use has spread among works teams. Using a sealed hub bearing circumference, the air is fed into (or let out of) the tire from the chassis side through the wheel. This system really comes into its own when the surface changes abruptly, for example from sand dunes to rocky terrain. However, from the next rally, its use will be prohibited except for trucks. Cup This is a compass bearing. With north as zero, the cup bearings indicate the 360 degrees around a clockface. For example, if east, the cup is 90, and if southwest, the cup is 225. Because the cup is one of the pieces of course information listed in the road book, rally vehicles need a goniometer. In the past, ships' compasses and digital compasses were used, but as these were often affected by the vehicle's magnetic field, today a GPS bearing display function is usually used. The reason the cups are listed in the road book is because there are no other clear landmarks in the desert terrain and sand dunes. The cup is a special indicator for cross-country rallies. Etape An etape is the stage set for one day. For example, the fifth day's stage is etape 5. The most popular pattern for an etape is bivouac to start of special stage via the liaison, drive or ride the special stage, then on to the next bivouac via a liaison again. One etape almost never contains more than one special stage. Also, a liaison can sometimes be longer than the special stage. Compared to the 80's, special stage distances have generally become shorter. Fesh-fesh This refers to very soft, powder-like sand. It is very easy to get stuck in fesh-fesh, and fine particles of sand dust can swirl up with great velocity. Once in fesh-fesh, you can only drive at low speed under a high load and this can cause water and oil temperatures to rise. Although not a sand dune, fesh-fesh are danger spots caused by many (competitors') vehicles driving repeatedly over the same unsealed sandy track. GPS point The global positioning system (GPS) communicates with a network of US-launched satellites to determine current location. That this system is used for car navigation is well known, and longitude and latitude can be displayed to within thousandths of minutes (or seconds). GPS has been used in the Dakar Rally since GPS was first commercialized in 1991, but with works teams creating their own mapping software, its use is restricted to equipment provided by the promoters. Current systems have a function to output the points to be cleared the next day when users input a four-digit code received the previous day. However, in the Dakar Rally the use of GPS is limited to a number of strategic points such as checkpoints, and the system can only offer an assistive role in route finding. Inmarsat Satellite telephones are the lifeline of the rally administration. Records of the passing of each checkpoint are sent on to rally headquarters, and the competition results are worked out through the Inmarsat telephones. Naturally, the media center is linked to the outside world through an ISDN Inmarsat network, and images and documents can be sent out. From the next rally, all two-wheel participants will be required to carry Inmarsat mobile phones for emergency use. Today's Dakar Rally could not exist without Inmarsat. Liaison A "liaison" stage is a movement stage between the special stages. The liaison stage allows movement from the bivouac to the starting point of a special stage, or from the special stage goal to the bivouac. The purpose of the liaison is movement and it is not a stage where participants compete on speed. But if the participants fail to cover the stage within the designated time, they face a penalty. Liaison stages are often on sealed roads, but even sealed roads can be pitted with potholes and drivers cannot afford to relax. In fact accidents are common on liaison stages after the competition is over. Because penalties are almost never imposed for reaching the bivouac early, some competitors speed to try to get home early. But for safety reasons, the organizers also set radar traps in villages or towns to prevent speeding. Offenders incur competition penalties. License As this is an international rally, competitors in the four-wheel class require at least an international FIA C class competition license. Those participating in the truck classes need a heavy duty license, and this applies to the navigator as well as the driver. Lunch pack The competitors (and all staff except for those who travel by air) are supplied with a lunch pack every day. Its contents include a small can of pork patties, dry bread, canned mixed vegetables, and apart from that, sweets. This food is naturally high in calories, and most people end up not eating it, or to put it more precisely, the competitors cannot find the time to eat. Marathon etapes At the bivouacs between two-day stages, there are restrictions on servicing work, and these two-day stages, known as "marathon stages," are driven with virtually no servicing. Because of these work restrictions, the assistance car or truck cannot visit the interim bivouac, but competitors are free to perform their own maintenance within the scope of the parts carried in their own vehicles. Also, the rally permits the entry of teammates in a support role, and parts can be supplied from trucks participating in the competition. As a result, factory teams tend to have an advantage. Maximum Time This is the maximum time allowed for a special stage. If a competitor goes over this, penalty time is added. And competitors who fail to reach the start 30 minutes before their own starting time in the morning are disqualified. As the maximum time is normally set in accordance with the length and degree of difficulty of a special stage, the maximum time can be a tool for gauging a stage's difficulty (by calculating the average speed for the maximum time set). Papa Charly "Papa Charly" is used to refer to rally headquarters when communicating by radio. Rally headquarters in Africa is a twin-engine, small jet transporter, which carries competition officials around the bivouacs each day. PARC PHERME An area used to fence off competition vehicles, the PARC PHERME is used in circuit races as well as rallies. Parc is French for (public) "park," an area enclosed for a special purpose, while ferme means "closed." The PARC PHERME is an area used to temporarily keep the vehicles while they are not permitted to be touched by crew or mechanics. In the Dakar Rally, the PARC PHERME is now rigidly maintained only for the period between when the vehicles pass their inspection and before they start their race. In the past, various ideas were tried out for marathon stages, and in the first half of the 1990's PARC PHERMEs were implemented at the interim bivouacs used in marathon stages, but have not been used in this context for nearly 10 years now. Penalties Penalties are mainly imposed by adding extra to competitors' times, or in severe cases, by disqualification. Penalties are imposed for various offenses such as going over time, speeding in liaison stages, and taking shortcuts that deviate substantially from the course. Production class This is a class of vehicle that has authorization recognizing it as a production vehicle in the four-wheel competition class. The scope of modification is highly restricted (generally equivalent to Group N) and the fitting of restricters is mandatory. Speeds are not as high as in the top super-production category, but to compete with the top vehicles, drivers need the skill to go fast in a production car that is close to a normal car without damaging it. This is a high-level world of furious competition among professional drivers in the same class. Road Book This is the route instruction book in which the day's course is outlined on a sectional map, accompanied by cautions. Basically, the next day's road book is handed out the day before. Four-wheel participants are given an A5-size book, while those on two wheels or travelling alone on four wheels are given a scroll-type book they can fit into a winding map-holder. The road book basically shows section distances and landmarks. As the navigator recognizes each designated point by a landmark, he resets the rally computer or the twin trip's section trip. The points are simply a means to confirm the route, but many show where the route changes and caution competitors about danger spots. Following the road book, the navigator might tell the driver that a Y junction is coming up, for example, 500 meters ahead, or that there is a big hole, say, 200 meters ahead, and if necessary, counts down the remaining distance. Landmarks might be roadside oil drums or at times GPS points, but such instructions as to veer between two mountains looming up ahead are not unusual. For this reason, route finding after sundown becomes substantially more difficult. Service World Rally championships (WRC) and other speed rallies have a parc-ferme system that applies from the time the day's goal is reached, to the start on the next day. But with the Dakar Rally, competitors are basically free to perform maintenance on their vehicles until their start the next morning. On the other hand, because there is generally just one special stage a day, there are no service points on the liaison stages between the special stages, except for in the European section. Compared to events like the WRC's, plenty of service time is available. SS This stands for "special stage," in other words, competition stages. The basis of rally competition is to try to pass through these stages in the shortest possible time. In Europe, the gallery special stages are generally short, with some just several kilometers in length, but as the race enters Africa, the stages gradually lengthen. The longest special stage in history was more than 800 kilometers in length. In contrast to speed rallies where the course is known to drivers in advance and they are even allowed to try it out, in the Dakar Rally the course is completely secret. The navigator learns about (or discovers) the course through the information in the road book handed out the day before. Because of this, a misreading of the course by a navigator or taking a shortcut can have a big effect on competition results. Navigators need to be able to read the route and know what to do in times of trouble. Compared to a World Championship rally (WRC) where the navigator's main task is reading the pace notes in the vehicle, in the special stages of the Dakar Rally navigators play a comparatively more important role. Stuck board When a tire sinks into the sand, the crew digs it out and places the stuck board under the tire to extricate the vehicle. The materials used for the board include carbon kevlar and aluminum. This board is used only in medium to severe situations. Super-production class This is the top category in the four-wheel class. With homologation not required and a pipe-frame structure permitted, this class has a similar degree of freedom as the former prototype class. However, in addition to restricters, minimum weights in accordance with engine displacement are stipulated. Along with suspension stroke regulations, efforts are made to balance the capabilities of four-wheel-drive and two-wheel-drive vehicles (buggies). Tango This refers to the medical teams that move around the course in four-wheel drive vehicles. Because each vehicle number starts with a "T" (T1, T2 and so forth), the teams are known as "tango." Perhaps because the doctors themselves often take the wheel, every year there are major crashes and rolls TDSPP This is an abbreviation of the French tout droit sur piste principal, and means "follow the road straight ahead." These letters come up in the road book from time to time, and can sometimes mean "continue straight ahead for more than 100 kilometers," which indicates the scale of the Dakar Rally. Similarly, "AG" stands for "au gauche" or "go left." Today, road books are offered in English as well as French, but as these terms show, some popular abbreviations are based on French Time card A5-size sheets known as "time cards" are the basis for recording results. Each morning, competitors begin at the individual start times listed on their time cards, which are stamped at each checkpoint passed. At the special stage goal, the time the vehicle passed the control line is recorded on the card, and the aggregation of these determines the competition result. Although very much an analog approach, this method leaves no room for doubt about the result. Even when the vehicle is moved from the vehicle inspection area to the parc-ferme (closed area) prior to the start for administrative reasons, the time card is used. Truck class Vehicles with a gross weight of 3.5 tons or more, whatever their shape, are classed as trucks. However, trucks are divided into the T4 class that participates in competition and the T5 class assistance truck that goes from bivouac to bivouac to support the competition vehicles. The competition trucks, like the production class, must be certified and the scope for modification is very close to that of the production class. Homologation is not necessary for assistance trucks, but they are all-wheel drive and the same safety equipment - including roll bars - as used in competition vehicles is required. T4 class vehicles can undertake service activities even during special stages, and for the two- and four-wheel-drive works teams, the important strategic and tactical points are how efficiently they can divide their own trucks into the T4 and T5 classes, what the trucks carry, and how they are loaded. !!! This is another abbreviation that appears in the road book. "!" is a caution indicating care is needed, and the more such cautions used, the higher the level of danger. These often indicate a gap that will cause the vehicle to jump or a dangerous object on the road. The triple caution "!!!" indicates a spot where the highest level of care is needed, and drivers must definitely reduce their speed at such points. But if in fact the vehicle deviates from the line it is travelling, the danger may be averted, or a sharp difference in road level may suddenly appear where no caution was mentioned. ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------