dakar rally 2011..

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_01.jpg[/img]
Inception
Because of political disturbances and security threats along the route of the famed Dakar Rally's traditional route in Africa, the race has been runing in South America since 2009. Started in 1979, the race originally began in Paris, France and finished in Dakar, Senegal, but in its South American guise, it begins in Buenos Aires, on the Plaza de la Republica and runs through Patagonia, the Andes Mountains, along the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Chile and back to Argentina through the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_02.jpg[/img]
Aventure Seekers
Famed as the longest, most brutal off-road race in the world, the Dakar Rally is open to amateur and professional entries. Fifteen stages are driven over a two-week period. In 2011, 430 participants from 51 countries are competing in four classes: motorcycles, quad riders, car teams and truck teams. The rally takes place over 5500 miles where competitors will battle desert sands, high altitude and precarious mountain passes. Only 40 percent of the entrants typically make it to the finish line.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_03.jpg[/img]
In For Service
The race is a test of the endurance capacity of the racers and their machines. Crews play a critical role in ensuring that the vehicles can maintain function, let alone speed. Here, mechanics work on a car after the end of stage 5 in Camp Iquique, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_04.jpg[/img]
Clean Up
The elements of the brutal setting come into play in unexpected ways. Here, assistant Marcos Feliciano, right, sprays air on fellow worker Hector Agostini after a day of work at the camp in Arica, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_05.jpg[/img]
Night Work
Mechanics work on the car of US Volkswagen driver Mark Miller at the camp after the second stage of the rally near San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_06.jpg[/img]
The Dakar Camp
Each day on the route, a community of more than 2,500 people moves from location to location. Organizers provide temporary accommodation, electrician, food and other amenities to participants and workers. This aerial shows the camp set up for participants during the eighth stage between Antofagasta and Copiapo, Chile

[graham]

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[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_07.jpg[/img]
At Camp
Camp residents wash their hands at a makeshift sinks after the fourth stage between Jujuy Argentina, and Calama, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_08.jpg[/img]
Rest and Relazation
Gilani Boughanemi, assistant to Brazilian driver Guiherme Spinelli, kicks around a soccer ball at the camp after the conclusion of the 9th stage in Copiapo, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_09.jpg[/img]
Spectators
Fans sit on a dune to watch the ninth stage of the rally in Copiapo, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_10.jpg[/img]
Celebrity Appearances
Some of the Chilean miners who were trapped for 69 days in a collapsed mine in 2010 greet people during their visit to the rally camp in Copiapo, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_11.jpgWet
Spectators watch from the Santa Rosa river as South Africa's Giniel De Villiers and his German co-driver Dirk Von Zitzewitz negotiate the course during stage 1 of the rally between Victoria and Cordoba, Argentina.

[Maximus]

[img]http://pictures.picasion.com/pic15/0a65229f4c6cee21de43daffd10417a8.gif[/img] nice thread nice thread

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_12.jpg[/img]
Shadow
Driver Juan Pedrero Garcia rides his motorcycle during the sixth stage of the rally between Iquique and Arica, Chile.

[cinderella man]

[img]http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2011/dakar_rally/dakar_rally_13.jpg[/img]
Sand Storm
Wenmin Su of China holds onto his Jincheng motorcycle as he tries to recover from the sand in the seventh stage of the rally between Arica and Antofagasta, Chile