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