Dakar Rally

Dakar Rally: Thrilling car race from Paris to Senegal across the desert

Charley Boorman, actor and star of The Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor who competed in the rally in 2006:

"I think the rally is vital experience and incredibly important as it is one of the ultimate races in the world. I think it is also the toughest race in the world. It takes 15 days of you driving 800 km a day which is pretty hard. It is not just the fact that it is a physical race because there is a lot of mental strain as well. Before you ever start you have got to get your team together as well as sponsorship. We live in such a nanny state these days, so to go off and push your boundaries to the limit is really healthy. By pushing pushing yourself almost to breaking point you see what you can achieve in life if you want something enough. It?s not just a race it is a test against yourself. At the time it?s not much fun. But what you get out afterwards is so much more. Even though I didn't finish [he had to retire after becoming injured] there was still a huge amount of achievement involved."