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2023 Dakar Rally Introduces Digital Roadbooks to Prevent Navigation Copycats

The 2023 Dakar Rally is set to commence, and the organizers have drawn up a plan to stop a common practice that was both dangerous and unfair. As some of you may be aware, the Dakar Rally also involves navigating in the desert, not just driving or riding fast, but if all competitors use the same waypoint, some have figured out that they can just attempt to follow those ahead of them to be on the correct path.
2022 Dakar Rally competitors 13 photos
Photo: Dakar Rally
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The practice led to various vehicles traveling in a strange formation in the desert, and none of them attempted to pass the leading one, since it was also unclear for some competitors what was ahead of them. Navigation plays a key role in the world's finest rally-raid, which is the Dakar Rally.

For example, if you were to have a vehicle in front of you at a relative distance, you could observe its movement and understand if it is going through bumpy terrain, or having a smooth ride.

The problem with this practice is that it is essentially cheating on the navigation part of the rally, while also endangering other competitors. For example, motorcycle riders were exceptionally at risk, as they were riding at high speed through the desert, and they risked being hit or even sandwiched between other vehicles, including trucks or large SUVs, not to mention quads.

The latter are described to make a disturbing quantity of dust/sand in their trail, so simply being behind one, even without an attempt to follow them, is just not practical on a motorcycle, according to Dakar Legend Mani Gyenes.

Each competitor is monitored over GPS for the entirety of the race, and if they suddenly stop for more than two minutes, they get a call from race HQ to ensure that they are alive. Failing to answer in time leads to the presumption that an accident has taken place, and several others nearby are then alerted to warn of a potential racer in distress.

If a competitor decides to call it quits, they must press a button, which leads to a call to race organizers, as well as sending out their coordinates at the time of the call, and then they get picked up with a helicopter.

Doing so will mean getting a DNF, so competitors with technical difficulties beyond repair, injuries, or health issues end up doing this, but it can be done.

Now, the solution to the copycat problem was to have different waypoints for competitors in the race, and each competitor would get a randomly allocated road book.

Without knowing which is which, a competitor will either get Road Book A or B at the start of a day, and the one who starts in front of them or behind them will also get a randomized road book.

In a funny analogy, the organizers of the race have explained that they were inspired by the elementary school teacher's practice of having two different assignments to neighboring students to be sure that nobody is tempted to copy their peers.

The organizers of the Dakar have also decided to offer a time bonus (compensation) for those opening a stage. Previously, starting a stage first was considered a disadvantage because the first competitor on the road usually lost time with navigation. Now, those who are “explorers” will be rewarded for their navigation skills.

Another massive change made by the Dakar organizers is the elimination of paper road books. All the official road books are on “tablets” of an unspecified manufacturer, and these are offered to competitors as they reach the bivouac.

This edition of the Dakar Rally will have 14 stages plus a prologue, which will account for 15 days of competition, and 70% of the special stages are new to the event. So, even if you have magically memorized the route of last year's event, it will not help you, because most of the stages are new.

In total, competitors will have special stages with lengths of up to 450 kilometers (ca. 279 miles), with minimal liaison sectors between them, and the finish lines closer to the bivouacs, where competitors sleep overnight.

The 2023 Dakar Rally will have almost 5,000 kilometers (about 3,106 miles) of special stages, which is the longest-distance competition since 2014.

In comparison, a regular rally-raid or even a rally is a walk in the park when the Dakar is placed next to them, in terms of distance and difficulty.

It involves spending more than two weeks in the desert, sleeping in a tent, and waking up in the morning to navigate and race in the desert at high speed. It is a fascinating competition, and simply finishing the event is an accomplishment.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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