With a constant concern to enhance the safety of competitors and local populations, regulations for the 2006 edition have been modified. Over and beyond this priority aim, certain measures will provide an extra edge to the competition and will, in particular, make it possible for all crews to put their navigational skills and intuitions into practice. Setting up such an infrastructure will reduce inequalities between professional and amateur drivers or riders. The measures outlined below are subject to new regulations being drawn up by FIA and IMF who are currently arbitrating. Nevertheless, ASO. reserves the right to adopt specific measures if the provisons made by FIA / IMF do not correspond to the particular Dakar environment and do not ensure balance between professional and amateur performances.




The maximum speed during the race is now fixed at 150 kph for trucks and motorbikes.

Already applied to trucks in 2005, this measure firstly limits risks of accidents due to high speeds which are potentially the most dangerous along firm driving stretches. For motorbikes, the interest of this limitation is that it can smooth out discrepancies between 450 ccs and higher capacities. Generally speaking, it will set up a new competitive environment between makes and give fresh impetus to the race between professionals and amateurs.

For the car race, A.S.O is currently working on the project which would fix a speed limit on the road or on certain portions of the stages where a high speed would be too dangerous and risky.

As you know, the Dakar is not a speed race. As a rally raid, the main qualities required are the ability to stay the course for man and machine alike, navigation skills and crossing techniques.

Speed checks in villages, limited to 50 kph. In 2005, 1,051 checks were caried out. Monitoring methods in 2006 will be identical. GPS will record each excess of the speed limit by means of a visual signal, with race marshals being informed of each excess when the competitor reaches the bivouac. These rules will also apply to press and organization vehicles.




IriTrack satellite monitoring is a new system which enables you to benefit from enhanced safety and is a real communication tool. It enables real-time monitoring of positions and tracking of competitors, thereby making it easier to follow the race.

The system responds to most situations which require vehicles or participants to be monitored in all parts of the world, including those not covered by telephone networks as in the desert. Clearing any doubt by voice phone questioning, alert following a violent shock, automatic transmission of alarms to the PC, satellite telephone, etc… a host of options making the system an indispensable tool for the Dakar.

IriTrack will be mandatory for all competitors in the race (included in the vehicle lump sum) and will replace satellite telephone (except for assistance).

IRITRACK and your safety

IriTrack enables you to transmit qualified information to the race PC in real time. If you come up against a problem, you can be pinpointed by the organization whom you can speak with remotely.

Fields of application are as follows:

• Triggering or requesting emergency help in case of a serious incident (you or another competitor).
• Signal a distress situation which might prevent you from continuing / or compromise your health.

With two possible modes:

• Transmission of an alarm and/or telephone contact with the race PC
• Automatic: if a brutal shock or a prolonged halt of the vehicle is detected, the system transmits an alarm message to the race PC indicating the competitor’s GPS position. With the telephone function, the race PC may contact him without any action on his part (automatic receiver pick-up and inbuilt microphone) to establish dialogue.

Your enhanced communication tool

The new system offers you the possibility of sharing your adventure with your close ones, friends and sponsors day by day. The “live race” features two modes.

• On the official race website under the IriTrack section, they can follow your progression in real time (updated every 30 minutes) and even relive your race while comparing it to those of other competitors.
  
  
• MEDIA + OPTION: In the near future, you will be offered a Media + option. This will include transmission of SMS messages, e-mail via Internet indicating your times at CPs, departure and arrival CHs, specials and bivouac. It will also be possible to extend the IriTrack application to your own personal site.

Tested on different 2004 World Cup events and used successfully on the 2005 Dakar, Sentinel is a safety horn whose function is to facilitate overtaking between cars, bikes and trucks.Sentinel is linked to the horn of the vehicle that wants to overtake. When the horn is sounded, Sentinel transmits the information digitally to the target vehicle up to 150 metres in open terrain. The driver or rider of the target vehicle receives a sound warning (110dB buzzer) and is visually informed (powerful 50-diode flashing light). He then replies to the vehicle following, whose race number has been digitally transmitted, by briefly sounding his own horn. The former then receives an OK-to-pass signal (sound and light).

Sentinel is also fitted with a powerful alarm function with a range of up to 500 metres in open terrain which issues a warning if an accident has occurred or a vehicle has come to a halt but is out of sight. A sound and light sequence is triggered in all vehicles arriving on the scene, or approaching a vehicle that is stuck in the sand behind a dune.



The distress signal systems are mandatory for all vehicles in the race (cars, bikes and trucks).
Assistance vehicles and press vehicles will have to be equipped with satellite phones and the Iritrack system.



Radio messages
As of the beginning of the month of January, Radio France International and the local radios will broadcast messages telling the local population when the rally will cross their paths.
These messages, decided with the local authorities will remind the security measures to be respected when the competitors show up.

Prevention for the population
Four 4x4 vehicles will be using the race and assistance course three days prior to the race to keep the local people well aware of the rally passage. These vehicles and their members will explain the security measures to be respected, especially concerning the children by handing out information and cartoons as well as audio messages with speakerphones.

Marking out the itinerary
On the race and assistance itinerary, the local authorities will use logistical and human measures to reinforce the security on the side of the road on the day the rally comes through.