​Are You Tough Enough for the Dakar Rally?

"How would I describe the Dakar? It's bloody long. It's physically and mentally draining in a way I've never experienced before, and I wouldn't recommend it to most people. But I think it's incredible and I count myself very lucky to be doing it."

That comment from British entrant Chris Cork sums up the mindset of a typical Dakar Rally competitor. Some call them foolhardy, while others would categorise them as having a death wish. But for anyone with an adventurous streak, it's impossible not to see the appeal.

So what exactly is this phenomenon of motorsport that has seen 352 motorcycle, quad bike, car and truck crews skipping their New Year's Eve parties (and in some cases, their Christmas dinners too) and heading to South America for a fortnight of physical and psychological punishment? And how tough would you have to be to join them?

Starting on Saturday (January 2) in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, the Dakar is 9,583km of the most inhospitable conditions on planet earth. By the rally's conclusion in Rosario a week on Sunday (January 17), competitors will have braved impossibly steep mountains and 100ft-high sand dunes in the Atacama as they head to Bolivia and back.

If you're still not put off, congratulations – you may have what it takes to compete on the Dakar and join a rollcall of superstars who have tried (and generally failed) to conquer this gargantuan event, including Colin McRae, Jacky Ickx, and Ari Vatanen.

But simply wanting to is nowhere near enough. Ask yourself, is your body ready? Perhaps more importantly, is your mind?

Cork, 44, whose direct analysis of the challenge at hand kicked off this piece, takes up the story.

"I'm a pretty decent enduro rider; a regular top-20 finisher on five- and six-day rally raids," says the plucky KTM-riding amateur. "But Dakar is another level. Another three or four levels, actually. I spent three years getting physically and mentally in shape for it.

"That's running, cycling, gym sessions, getting out there on the motorbike in the dunes in Abu Dhabi, and it's not sufficient. I don't think anything can prepare you for what you encounter on the event. It's hot, it's tiring, but you have to keep going if you possibly can.

"Mentally, the first big step for most non-professionals is putting the financial package together to get there. For an amateur biker like me, you're talking £50,000. We sold our house to pay for that. For some people, that's a huge mental hurdle. For me, it was just what needed to be done to achieve what I wanted to achieve.

"Physically, your knees and elbows take a pounding for six or seven hours a day in 40-degree heat. Then you get about four hours sleep in my case and do it all again, without giving your body sufficient time to recover. That's the process for two weeks."

Britain's leading competitor in the car section, Harry Hunt, will be finding all of this out right now.

Hunt, 27, is making his Dakar debut after a career in stage rallying that has included a pair of two-wheel-drive titles in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge and title success in the same division of the Production World Rally Championship (for machines more akin to their road-going models than World Rally Cars).

The differences between the two could not be more marked: Hunt has a 320bhp Mini All4 Racing at his disposal, and forms part of the crack X-Raid team that has won the past four Dakars.

"It's been a very steep learning curve," says Hunt. "That's because there's so much you don't even think about. We did our first rally raid last May in the UAE and managed to finish third, which was an amazing result.

"But I'd never experienced temperatures like it outside (45 degrees C) or inside the car (52). And that's a five-day rally, not one that lasts two weeks.

"Your physical condition is so important and the mental side perhaps even more so, as concentration is key. The two go hand-in-hand though. In that kind of heat, your body uses 75% of its energy for cooling, so you can help it by being strong physically, staying hydrated and just really focusing."

The significance of that last point is not lost on Hunt, who says he's always possessed a natural aptitude for endurance events. To bolster this, his Dakar training has included a rigorous programme of exercise in a heat chamber.

Some of the headline figures generated are surprising, making you realise just how close to the edge Dakar contenders on four wheels and two must push themselves. Hunt's core body temperature reaches 37.8 degrees at its constant peak; anything above 38 (or below 36) is rated as dangerous. He will sweat 65 litres of fluid over the course of the event (should he make the finish) and to this extent he and co-driver Andy Schulz each have three litres of electrolyte-rich drinks housed in carbon containers available to them in-car daily.

"It's crucial to stay hydrated. If you feel like you need a drink, it's too late," he says. "Andy puts notes in the roadbook to make sure we keep drinking every 50km or so. He's won the Dakar twice, so his experience with little moves like that can make a huge difference.

"It's especially important if we get into trouble with a crash or a mechanical problem. We carry spare parts on-board and I've had to learn how to make the kind of repairs that get you to the end of the stage. That, of course, means you're outside the vehicle in fireproof overalls and it can get pretty unbearable."

In such unchartered territory, crashing is a constant threat, as is getting lost. If Hunt's method of dealing with damage seems logical and planned, it's less so for bikers like Cork, who are far more likely to sustain an injury if they are involved in an accident.

Cork badly hurt his hands and ribs when he crashed on the fourth stage last year, ending his participation in the event.

"I was lucky," he says. "You might ride in pairs so there's someone there if disaster strikes. When I crashed it was phoned in very quickly and every machine carries a tracker so the organisers were able to locate us and take me back to base in the medical helicopter.

"You have to be able to fix your bike if something goes wrong. If you don't you're going home – or possibly not if you're too badly injured to do so. If they can't find you by nightfall, you're on your own in possibly freezing desert temperatures. That's got to be pretty tough."

The risks are constant. 69 people have lost their lives on the Dakar since it began in 1979, including event creator Thierry Sabine, whose helicopter crashed into a dune when it was suddenly engulfed by a sandstorm in the Sahara in 1986.

Just as tragic was the case of Citroen team member Laurent Gueguen. He drove his service truck over a hidden landmine in 1996 while escaping a conflict between the Moroccan army and a regional terrorist group he'd accidentally strayed into.

The political fall-out around incidents such as the latter eventually forced the rally to dump its traditional Paris to Dakar route and move to South America for 2009, but the risks of the original test have been well and truly maintained. Four bikers have died in the past four years – including Poland's Michal Hernik in 2015 (the aftermath of which Cork believes he witnessed).

"Thankfully, the tracking technology is so good, you're likely to be found within a few hours unless you crash particularly badly," Cork says.

"One biker last year crashed with heatstroke and became so dehydrated that he didn't have the energy to repair his bike. He texted his family to tell them he loved them and then literally laid down to die. He woke up in a hospital bed the next day, having been found. He was lucky."

There have already been injuries at this year's event, too, after a rookie competitor lost control during the rally's prologue stage and veered into a group of spectators. 11 people were reported to be injured, with one in a serious condition as of Monday (January 4).

Despite all of this, both Cork and Hunt – not to mention the 350 others – are driven by the challenge in the same way an elite climber dreams of conquering Everest.

"The adrenaline takes over," explains Hunt, who is purely aiming to finish, rather than fight against favourites Nasser Al-Attiyah, Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz for victory.

"It's amazing what you can block from your thoughts or push your body to when that happens. I'm pretty good at that. I think I'm going to need it."

Hard as nails doesn't even come close with these guys, does it?

@mrjamieoleary