Desert Raiders Is The Perfect Paris-Dakar Rally Documentary To Watch This Weekend

Back when the Paris-Dakar began in Paris and ended in Africa, it was every bit the wild dash across continents that’s tough to imagine today. From the legion of competitors themselves to the support crews, media coverage, and local authorities, the Dakar must be quite the spectacle—especially, as this film shows, if Group B cars were fighting for victory.

It’s a smorgasbord of formidable machines, including the Porsche 959, rally versions of the 911, Audi Sport quattros, Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens, and a smart-looking Nikon-liveried Mitsubishi Pajero. Motorcycles and their riders look utterly insane, as always, navigating the same rough terrain as their car and truck counterparts.

Finding great footage of the race in period is often difficult, but I think you’ll enjoy the 30 minutes of classic action seen in Desert Raiders. (And no, I don’t know how the buggy team managed to get as far as they did!)