The Dakar Rally (formerly known as “The Paris–Dakar”) is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Despite its name it is an off-road endurance race, called a rally-raid rather than a conventional rally – the terrain the competitors traverse is much tougher and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than the modified on-road vehicles used in rallies. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks and erg among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 kilometres (500–560 mi) per day.
The Amsterdam-Dakar Challenge is a non-competitive rally starting in Amsterdam, with the finish in Dakar, Senegal. Teams have to drive the 7000 kilometers from start to finish in a car. The car must be bought for less than €500. The main goal of the Amsterdam-Dakar Challenge is collecting money for charities, mostly in Gambia.
