Rally Legend: The 1986 HPN BMW Paris Dakar

Right now, the 2011 Dakar Rally racers are somewhere near Córdoba in Argentina. These days the motorcycle class is dominated by KTM, but in the 80s it was BMW all the way. The bike you’re looking at here is one of BMW’s three entries from 1986, built by race preparation specialist HPN-Motorradtechnik; it was designed to survive 15,000km of brutal conditions over three weeks. The pilot was the diminutive Gaston Rahier, and after two consecutive wins in previous years, BMW’s hopes were high. HPN based their racer on the R80G/S, but fitted a 1043cc boxer motor rated at 75hp @...