The sad news that the origanisers of the Dakar Rally have had to cancel it due to security fears wil no doubt have caused anguish amongst extreme off-roaders. And looking around at various magazines it's well and truly clobbered them as several I've seen have covers and several pages dedicated to the event which was cancelled after they published...DOH!.....
Anyway if you can't have the 2008 event then thanks to my mate Mariusz Kościński you can enjoy some old Polish Jelcz and Star Paris-Dakar rally contenders from days gone by..(indeed when the rally styarted in paris not Lisbon).
And click through here for more...and a few words from Biglorryblog's man in Poland
Anyway Marisuz writes: "Hello Brian.As I mentioned in my previous comment, Polish truck manufacturers were took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally a number of times along with DAF, Tatra and Kamaz. Here are some photos of those vehicles. They come from this Polish website(unfortunately it's only in Polish), regards Mariusz." Well no matter the pictures don't need translating! The first one looks a bit like a Pinzgauer to me...
If I can't have the 2008 these will do until the real thing comes along!
Yeah, it looks a bit like Pinzgauer indeed. But it's Star's 266 model, like the one from the scans on the last blog about Jelcz and Star trucks.
i well remember those truck I help to devellop them and i drove them in the race twice