The notorious Paris-Dakar Rally is ranked as one of the supreme tests of man and machine in motorsport competition. It lasts for 20 days starting at 00.01 hours on New Years Day and before the finish competitors must cover 10,000 kilometres (over 6,000 miles) of some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain. 572 competitors battled it out in the 7th Paris-Dakar in Trucks, cars, bikes and sidecars for three weeks, through sand, rocks and every conceivable hazard the Sahara Desert could throw up.