What Happened to Camel Trophy?

Youtube can be a huge waste of time, consuming hours on fluff that is forgotten as soon as it is consumed. Every once in a while I watch something that is revelatory regarding a world I thought I knew. Somehow, in my decades of life, I missed the story of the Camel Trophy race of the 80a and 90a that petered out in the early 2000s.

The idea of driving well equipped Land Rovers across some of the most rugged road conditions possible as a team sport is appealing.  The most of the world that sits outside the few wealthy countries has limitless shitty roads. The video above details the history of an event that if it still existed might serve an ecological, environmental  and human awareness role as it focused world attention on transects across different regions. The inventiveness required to make this trip was made clear when one team rolled their Land Rover over on its side to replace a drivetrain part. Cigarettes not being what they once were, it would be interesting to see another sponsor take this up as a sort of extreme sport "Tour De France" that could be fun in addition to raising awareness regarding world regions and issues.