Thierry Sabine

Sabine during the 1986 Paris-Alger-Dakar rally, on 4 January.

Thierry Sabine (13 June 1949, Neuilly-sur-Seine – 14 January 1986, Mali) was a French wrangler, motorcycle racer and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar.

In 1977 he got lost on the Tchigai Plateau, near the isolated mountain of Emi Fezzan during the Abidjan-Nice Race, and realized that the desert would be a good location for a rally where amateurs could test their ability. In December 1977 he established a race from Paris to Dakar and devoted the rest of his life to its organization.

Sabine was killed when his Ecureuil helicopter crashed into a dune at Mali during a sudden sandstorm at 07:30 p.m. on Tuesday 14 January 1986. Also killed onboard was the singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine, helicopter pilot François-Xavier Bagnoud, journalist Nathalie Odent and Jean-Paul Lefur who was a radiophonic engineer for RTL.^[1] Sabine's ashes were later scattered at the Lost Tree in Niger, which the rally thereafter described as the "Arbre Thierry Sabine".^[2]

He was featured in the movie A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later released in 1986.

Le Mans entries[]

Year	Class	No	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Engine	Tyre	Laps	Pos	Pos in Class
1975	GT	77	P. Dagoreau (private entrant)	Philippe Dagoreau Jean-Pierre Aeschlimann	Porsche 911 Carrera RS	Porsche 3.0L F6	M	285	17	3
1976	Gp.5 SP	53	ASA Cachia	Philippe Dagoreau Jean-Claude Andruet	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.0L F6	G	288	13	6
1977	Gr. 5	43	Louis Meznarie		Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.2L Flat-6	D	DNQ

References[]

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