“More than 40 years later, the stars align!”

Bertus Altena has already lived many adventures by car, including driving from Paris to Dakar and off-road escapades with his children. But to take on the Dakar is a whole other challenge… one that has made the Dutch enthusiast dream since 1979, when he followed the first edition of the iconic rally-raid with the eyes of a young passionate. Four decades and a half later, “the stars align” for him to take on the challenges of the desert. That means he has the time, skills and knowledge to race the Dakar and he found himself a car deemed indestructible. It’s now up to him and his friend Anton Veenstra to bring it home.

“It’s the first time I do the real Dakar but in 2009, I did the Heroes Legend rally on the old route, starting from Paris and going to Senegal. In 1979, I was already following the first Dakar, reading about it and watching it on TV. It hooked me, I knew I wanted to do this, but I didn’t have the money or the ability for it. And now, more than 40 years later, the stars align!
I bought my car in 2018 but I wasn’t thinking of doing the Dakar. I was just traveling with it, going off-road. The license says it’s a Volkswagen Taro but it was made in the Toyota factories in Japan and it’s actually like a Toyota Hilux. It’s the car they tried to destroy in Top Gear and I’m sure it can take on the challenge of the Dakar but it only has 80 horsepower, which is not much for a rally car.
I met my navigator two years ago - I sold my house to him. He’s also passionate about cars and adventures so we quickly got on the same page. He doesn’t know what panick is so he’s always thinking about the right thing to do in every situation, even complicated ones.
We’ve done some navigation rallyes in Holland, Belgium and the north of France and we’ve practised off-road driving. These are the two skills we need for the Dakar. We’re both in a good physical condition. Mentally we also feel ready. So we can’t wait!”