Thierry Sabine

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.

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

In 1977 he got lost on the Tchigai Plateau, near the isolated mountain of Emi Fezzan during the Abidjan-Nice Race and realised 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 Jean Bélin Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Porsche 3.2L Flat-6 D DNQ

References
  1. Motorsport Memorial
  2. Lawrence Hacking and Wil Clercq, To Dakar and Back: 21 Days Across North Africa by Motorcycle, p.7
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