About the Budapest-Bamako Rally
The once legendary Dakar Rally has left one spiritual heir in Africa. The Budapest-Bamako keeps the flame of trans-Saharan driving adventures alive. The experience and the spirit of adventure has not changed. Bump along the teeth rattling roads of Morocco. Tackle the golden dunes of Mauritania. Dash through the red clay roads of Mali under ancient baobab trees. Year after year, the Budapest-Bamako is a demanding epic adventure.  
 
The Budapest-Bamako (B2) or Great African Run is now the largest amateur rally in the world, the largest rally across the Sahara and the most important charity car race in Africa. The Budapest-Bamako is a low-budget version  of the Dakar Rally. It pomises a sense of adventure and the romance of Africa, and the B2 also raises money and supplies for local communities and charities in Mali.
 
The event is the brainchild of Hungarian Internet entrepreneur Andrew Szabo who wanted to give rally fans an option to the more expensive and stricter Dakar rally. He found no cheaper and more comfortable alternative to the Dakar so he created his own. 
 
A word from the founder of the event: 
"This will be our most difficult rally to date. In addition to the driving and navigational hardships, teams will have to encounter the side effects of political turmoil in Mauritania and Western Sahara. Terror threats in Mauritania have also led to the cancellation and eventual abandonment of the Dakar from the continent. In Western Sahara participants have to pay special attention to minefields around the track. "The Assa-Smara stage will be especially challenging. This leg of the rally was the scene of some heavy battles between the Polisario rebel movement and the Moroccan army. Anti-personnel landmines are a living legacy of this conflict."- said Mr Andrew G. Szabo the founder of the event.  "Crazy" said my husband, "Exciting" said I! 

The Travel Channel covers the Budapest to Bamako series and some of the European networks broadcast the event daily.               
 
Organizers of the world's largest amateur rally, the Budapest-Bamako announced the start date and the route of the 2011 run in Budapest. The Great African Run will start in Budapest on January 15, 2011. The total distance of next year´s race will be 8 540 kilometers. Competitors will have 16 days to complete the most grueling route to-date.  

So far 100 teams from 35 countries have entered this prestigious low-budget rally, which is now the largest trans-Saharan motor sport event. Teams have entered from as far as Hawaii and New Zealand. The rally is not a timed event. Cars, motorcycles and trucks must finish daily stages on time and they must complete navigational challenges along the way. For navigation and stage completion points are awarded."  [More...]