Hubert Auriol, Dakar legend, left us four years ago

Hubert, where are you taking us with this amazing Land Rover?

Crossing Paris, we will pass in front of the Eiffel Tower, then we will arrive at the foot of the Trocadéro gardens, from where the first Paris-Dakar set off on December 26, 1978. It was forty years ago, I was part of the 182 competitors at the start, and I was far from suspecting that it would definitely influence my life.

And is this Land also linked to the Dakar?

Of course. It's a Land 110 from 1986, one of the first equipped with a V8 engine and a Range Rover rear axle. Previous Land Rovers had rustic in-line engines and were poorly efficient. I bought this one for quick assistance for my Ligier-Cagiva motorcycle team, which I had set up after leaving BMW. I have always kept this Land, it is in its original juice in terms of bodywork. As for the sticker from the first Dakar on the hood, it is not original, it was redone by Oasis and was given to me during the "Creuzkistan Classic", a rally history where I was invited.

Are you a car and motorcycle collector?

No, I don't have any of my old bikes or cars. On the other hand, I kept all my helmets and my overalls. They will be exhibited on the occasion of the publication of my autobiographical book, along with one of my victorious motorcycles, which BMW-France has kept in its collection.

Africa and you begin with your birth.

Indeed, I was born (June 7, 1952. Editor’s note) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My father was in charge of the Ethiopian railway network and my childhood was extraordinary surrounded by wild animals, zebras, lions, rhinos, which we went to see in the savannah in Land Rovers. Even back then, this car was part of my life! Then, shortly before my teenage years, we returned to France, and since then I have always lived in the Paris region.

Are you related to any other famous Auriols?

No not at all. My family comes from Paris, while that of Didier Auriol is from Millau, as for President Vincent Auriol, he was originally from Haute-Garonne and married a woman from Tarnaise.

Without the creation of the Dakar, what would you have done with your life?

I think I would have continued working in textiles. I was a sales agent for six years, after my studies in business school. But I was already in the competition world, because I was doing trials. And I often went to the circuits with my friend Jean-Pierre Paillochon, who raced with René Metge in the Colin-Montrouge team in the Gordini Cup. Metge and Cyril Neveu, whom I met in trials, had already participated in the Abidjan-Nice organized by Jean-Claude Bertrand. I dreamed of going to Africa again, around the world style. And then when Thierry Sabine launched his Dakar project, I said to myself: “That’s for me!” If I don’t do it this year, I’ll never leave.”

Were you aware of your abilities?

No certainty. When I told my employer that I wanted to take unpaid leave in January, he replied: “No way, you have already taken your leave”. So I didn't hesitate, I resigned. My father was furious, but the die was cast. I teamed up with Cyril Neveu to provide joint assistance for our Yamaha 500 XTs, before a third thief, Fenouil, joined us in the team for this first Dakar. It’s funny, because all three of us later became organizers of rally raids! In short, this Dakar went well, at one point in the motorcycle category, Cyril was first and I was second, even if I ultimately finished twelfth. Then everything happened very quickly. When I returned from Dakar, BMW hired me and I was immediately, in quotes, an official driver.

Your career as a motorcycle driver lasted until 1987, with two victories at the Dakar on a BMW, in 1981 and 1983. It ended with this famous fall in 1987, two days from the finish, while you were in head with your Cagiva and in a fight with Neveu. Is this what made you switch to four wheels?

I had always dreamed of being a racing driver, but it was way too expensive when I started. After my accident where I had both broken ankles, I thought a little and I said to myself that if I had managed to win on a motorcycle, there was no reason not to do the same thing in auto. I raced a little in 1987 on a Mercedes 190 from Snobeck in the French Tourism Championship, but in rally raid, I had everything to prove on four wheels. When I realized that no one would come for me, I decided to build my own vehicle. During the first Dakar, there were already a few buggies at the start, but they were on poorly performing VW bases. In 1981 and 1982, I competed in the Baja 1000 in California on a motorcycle, and closely observed the American buggies, which were already all tubular. I ordered a chassis, it wasn't easy to adapt it to our project, but the performance was there. This choice of a vehicle with very long suspension travel was not a mistake. Jean-Louis Schlesser subsequently followed in my footsteps with great success, and even the recent buggies Peugeot and Mini arise from the same idea. On the other hand, at the engine level, we were wrong: after hesitating for an engine Porsche, we chose an original VW turbocharged 1800 block, which developed 320 hp. But there was no serious technical support behind us, and we took this engine in the face. On its first Dakar, my beautiful Kouros buggy gave up at El-Oued, after 90 km of special. Another mistake, I went alone. I didn't doubt anything, I had practiced changing wheels, but in fact, navigation was getting more and more complicated at this time, and it was becoming too difficult to drive and navigate at the same time.

You still persevered a little with this buggy…

Yes, it lasted three years, but then I gave up because I was having trouble getting results and I was losing my sponsors. Fortunately, in the community, some were nice, like André Dessoude who did not hesitate to entrust me with a Nissan Terrano for the Tunisia rally and the 1990 Atlas. That's where I recruited the navigator Philippe Monnet as a teammate, a choice that would prove excellent. In 1991, Hugues De Chaunac called me to join the Lada-Poch team for which he had just built a Samara prototype. With Philippe, we won the Pharaons rally, but the beautiful Lada project stopped when the Poch company found itself bankrupt. Once again, I had to look for a steering wheel. At the time, there were two big teams that dominated rally raids: Mitsubishi and Citroën. I obtained an interview with the big bosses of Mitsubishi and Sonauto, but as the discussion dragged on, at the end of arguments, I boldly told them: “You have to give me the wheel of a Pajero, because in any case , it’s Philippe and I who will win.” And that's what we've done.

However, it wasn't easy, because there was already a hell of a team at Mitsubishi for this famous Paris-Cape Town!

Indeed, there was Kenjiro Shinozuka, Bruno Saby, Erwin Weber and Jean-Pierre Fontenay, all already experienced on Pajeros. But we won the first special in Libya. This was not at all planned, and it caused a bit of coughing in the stable. But then we stayed on course… all the way to Cape Town. A tasty victory, but end of the Mitsubishi experience nonetheless, because only the four other drivers had a year-round contract. So, off to Citroën, where Jean Todt, who was still supervising the decisions of Guy Fréquelin, newly appointed team manager, received me. I still remember, even before I sat in his office, Jean was already sneering: “Mr. Auriol, when I was managing Peugeot, one day you accused us of being cheats! » But that didn't stop him from hiring me for Paris-Beijing, the other big event of 1992. With Gilles Picard, my new teammate, we stayed two and a half years at Citroën, but life didn't change. was not always easy. Because there was a certain collusion between Fréquelin and Pierre Lartigue, and I did not really appreciate certain instructions. And then one fine day, Jean-Claude Killy, then president of ASO, the company which organized the Tour de France and the Dakar and which already belonged to the Amaury group, came to see me in my restaurant.

Was it an attempt at reconversion?

I have always loved cooking. It was an experience of six years, at the head of the restaurant Le Pont de Suresnes, in which I was associated with Guy Savoy. So Killy comes to see me and offers to take care of the Dakar. As I felt little supported at Citroën, I accepted his proposal. It was a new role, on the other side of the barrier, which I had never thought about during my 17 successive Dakars as a competitor. As for the restaurant, it was no longer possible for me to take care of it, and I put it into management, before the premises were finally demolished as part of a real estate program.

Your arrival at the head of the Dakar came at a very troubled time for this event.

The Dakar was collapsing, competitors were fleeing en masse. With my team, we had to raise the bar, by implementing many innovations which remained: decreasing entry rates following the registration date, creation of “motorcycle trunks”, elimination of private catering by organizing a much better quality catering. It must be said that it was not always very inviting to go and eat at the Dakar canteen. We changed a few service providers, worked on the organization of the bivouacs so that they were much nicer. It all took three years, but it paid off.

In terms of technical regulations, you made a significant decision, which took Citroën away from the Dakar…

We realized that the factory prototypes had become much too fast. We were no longer able to follow them by helicopter, and the gaps with the private ones became real chasms every day. So we banned turbo petrol engines. It was a difficult decision to make because it was Citroën which was the first victim. For six months, there was not a single Citroën advertisement in the newspaper L'Équipe... But Killy supported me until the end. We also limited the travel for the 4x4s. This technical regulation lasted until last year (where the suspension travel of 4x4s was increased a little, editor's note), which proves that we weren't too wrong. At ASO, they trusted me, because the Dakar had started to make money again. The assessment I draw from my time at the head of the Dakar is therefore positive.

Why did you leave your position in 2004?

There were new leaders in place at ASO, and I felt less and less comfortable there. I had also gone over all the problems a bit. We had experienced extraordinary moments but also other very tiring ones, such as the airlift organized in January 2000 between Niamey and Libya. The rise of terrorism, long before the 2008 edition which had to be canceled for this reason, I had already caught it head on in 2000.

What do you think of the transfer of the event to South America?

It was becoming more and more complicated to go to Africa, and we had almost reached a dead end. So I wasn't shocked. However, the notion of adventure is no longer the same on the South American continent. It remains an extremely selective race on the track, but the sides are much easier. In Africa, assistance was a real adventure, you were never sure of finding all your trucks at the bivouac in the evening. In South America, it's a different story, and support issues have become negligible. Another inevitable development of the last two decades is navigation. When I started, we only had “aviation” maps at 1/millionth, and the road book was very succinct. Afterwards, with the appearance of GPS, we had to impose the use of the single box provided by the organization. Now, everything is hyper-controlled, we know where each car is, even if it is a meter apart!

Around 2010, did you work for Chinese organizers?

They were the ones who came to get me. A promoter who had a lot of money asked me to be the race director of the China Grand Rally. I discovered another mentality, another approach to problems. The main difficulty with the Chinese is the language barrier. The Chinese agree with you in a meeting, then on the ground you find out they did something else. In short, we laid the foundations for a major rally-raid, before the investor withdrew. It's a shame, because the terrain is fabulous. All the Chinese parts of the recent editions of the Silk Way took place in the same deserts as us. China remains a more interesting country for rally raids than Russia. The Silk Way only exists because it is a state organization, financed by Putin for prestige purposes...

What are you doing right now ?

First, I'm slowly recovering from a major back operation. They put an “Eiffel Tower” on me (laughs) to consolidate my spine. Then my next big deadline is the launch of my autobiography (the book is called “TDSPP”, which means “Straight On Main Track”, one of the favorite directions from the first Dakar road books. This 320-page volume is published and distributed by Éditions LVE, bedandhistoricmotors.com). It will be published at the end of January.

Are you still following the Dakar?

Of course, I don't miss a single television broadcast. I regret a little that apart Toyota, the only manufacturer to target the 4×4 market, it has become a race for preparers and sponsors. The tobacco war has been replaced by that of energy drinks. And car budgets are in full inflation. It is only on motorcycles that costs remain more or less affordable, thanks to the “customer competition” machines available to everyone.

Do you have any favorites?

Stéphane Peterhansel and Nani Roma joined me in the very select club of motorcycle and car winners of the Dakar. So I have a little more affection for them. What Peterhansel does, facing the sacred monsters of rallying, Loeb et Sainz, always impresses me, as well as his motivation which never weakens.