Dakar Rally searches for green amid sand

The images of cars, motorbikes and trucks careering through the sands of the Saudi desert are wonderfully dramatic but the shadow of climate change is lengthening across the Dakar Rally.

For 42 years this convoy of gas-guzzling vehicles has billowed exhaust fumes across the sands of Africa, South America and now Saudi Arabia, incurring the wrath of the environmentalists.

In response, the rally is taking its first baby steps towards a more climate friendly race.

For Anne Lassman-Trappier, mobility manager of the France nature environment association (FNE), the Dakar is "way off beam".

"It still interests some people but it's no longer in step with history," she says. The penny appears to have dropped with the rally organisers who are displaying their desire to go green.

"When you have a motor sport, you know very well that you are not in tune with the times," admits David Castera, the new boss of the Dakar.

"We have 350 vehicles that drive every day which obviously says something but we are working on it," he said.

- Electric SUV -
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"You have to accept that things change and live with the times."
- Silence is golden -
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"In motorsport, there is a bit of a fantasy around noise. But after driving a week in the desert in a car that makes no noise, I can tell you that it is much better."
"We are realistic. But we have to start by doing it in 2021. We are going to be the guinea pig, I am aware of that and I am ready to do it. It makes the project more exciting."