Contrary to public belief, cross-country rallies did not begin with the Paris-Dakar organised in 1978 by the charismatic Thierry Sabine. No, the first ever rally raid began in 1976, from a visionary today forgotten: Jean Claude Bertrand.
Born from the legendary Bandama rally where in one year no paticipants were able to cross the finish line, the rally, Cote d'Ivoire-Cote d'Azur or, Abidjan-Nice, or also named "Cote-Cote" begins on 25 December 1976. The race is 8,600 kms long and 38 motorbikes start the adventure that must last until the 11th of January. The first special, Abidjan-Niamey is 1,725 kms long and must be completed in a maximum time of 31 hours. But this is not the longest stage. Tamanrasset to Fez is 2,700 kms long. All of which without practically any assistance.
Navigation is done with a manual compass!
The dreams for Jean-Claude Bertrand was to create a 10,000 to 15,000 kms race where most of it was through compass navigation, this was The Adventure.
Thierry Sabine participated in one of these races, got lost, and began to understand and appreciate Africa. In 1978 the Paris-Dakar was created.
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