In essence the same as the Dakar challenge. Entrants from all over the world but essentially leaving from your front door going via France, Spain, Morocco,Western Sahara with the final destination of Mauritania . A distance of about 3300 miles in a very unsuitable non ULEZ compliant old shopping car. What could possibly go wrong?
Yearly participants age from a minimum of 17 to 87+ with little to no mechanical knowledge take part in this adventure of a life time in their trusty rusty old banger.
The Nouakchott challenge has been designed for those on tighter time schedule. Running with and along side the Dakar challenge. It takes 17 to 18 days from your door to Nouakchott airport. It still has an end user charity and formalities taken care of so you can exit the country quickly. But no finish line or knees up finale or indeed sunny holiday break at the end but hey its better to get on and do it. You can snooze back at your workplace safe in the knowledge you did something completely bonkers. The Nouakchott challenge takes in nice smooth roads, Broken roads, Non existent roads, dust tracks, corrugated dust (you’ll know it once on it) Mountain tops and passes, Gorges and the grande finale of 2 days of desert sand and 1 day of Beach sand and plenty of other stuff in between. All to be taken at a safe and sensible speed of course. This is not a rally or a race. It is a bunch of like minded people all driving in the same direction , all looking out for each other making sure we all make it to the end or the shorter end in this case. With or without car. This is why it’s called a challenge!
The 17/18 day Nouakchott Challenge, departs for the West African desert in Mauritania in January every year. Taking the midnight ferry Friday 10th January 2025, Friday 16th 2026, Friday 15th 2027 or if really tight the Saturday at the latest (= 17days). You will have some ground to catch up so make sure you are ready to depart as early and safely as possible. Minimum age 17+. Open to all nationalities. Left hand drive cars helpful but not essential. Maximum 3 persons per car. Leaving at least 1 spare seat for potential new passenger should another team have car issues. You will technically have no support or backup and mechanical knowledge is supplied via each other. However the advantage of going with a group is that help may be at hand if your car dies. Our Roadbook will give you details of where to go and what visas and paperwork you will need. For the Mauritanian desert section we meet up with the delightful Dahid your guide and host. He makes sure you don’t get lost in the desert but cannot guarantee you don’t get stuck.
He also takes care of formalities and puts on an awesome BBQ for your 3 days in the sand. Made up of two days in the desert and one driving down a long empty beach, ducking in and out of the sea. (Dahid, Formalities and BBQ extra charge) You can of course save this charge and drive the road way straight to the airport but that’s not as much fun. For many the desert is the highlight of the journey. Our closed Facebook group has over 20 years of experience from previous challengers with postings, updates and requirements for the challenge ahead. All is posted prior to leaving. Its a place for up coming challengers to talk amongst themselves and plan routes. Our WhatsApp group keeps us all connected whilst on the road.
The meet up points makes sure that you will meet guides for the desert section and fixers to get through the tricky borders. Not forgetting the rest days starting with shit shirts and hats night in Tarifa Spain where we all wander around the car park looking at each others cars to remind us of what we’ve forgotten and then back to the bar to laugh about it. Communication and camaraderie is key to a fun run. Hope to have you on board for the next one. Please check the costs page for latest registration fees. The Nouakchott challenge is limited to 5 cars as the paperwork is slightly more difficult but hey the clue is in the title… A challenge.
That said you will be travelling with the Dakar challenge so will be with a large group of maximum 20 cars. Making a 25 car run.
Be part of it. Have a lot of fun and make a bit of difference.
The original Banger Rally Challenge, that has spawned so many others. In December 2002, the first group of hopeful souls left the UK in a motley collection of vehicles, optimistically believing that Julian Nowill knew what he was doing, and had substance and experience behind his words. Despite later finding out to the contrary, this first event was a great success and most of the 42 Teams even made it to Banjul.
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