Alastair Caldwell - 2005: World Cup Rally

2005: World Cup Rally

2005. Alastair and his co-pilot not only win the World Cup Rally in a 15 year old, two wheel drive Peugeot, but were the quickest overall. The 2005 World Cup Rally became one of Alastair's greatest triumphs.

Only those who have crossed these actual deserts themselves will really appreciate the scale of their achievement. To complete this entire route without becoming stuck would not have been considered possible in such a car.
Report from Dakar - http://www.siteset.co.uk/dakar/extra328.html

I did three World Cup rallies in my little Peugeot. I won two of them and was leading the second when I had an annoying little accident with a fellow competitor who I thought was letting me by but wasn’t: he was stopping to have a look at a giant hole in the road. The first rally was London to Athens, which I won. The second was London to Tunisia and I finished second or third. The third rally in 2005 was London to Dakar.

My victory in the 2005 World Cup Rally was one of my greatest achievements because I didn't just win: I beat the shit out of them. And the cars I was up against weren't like mine, they were 4x4s and classic cars. Every morning my competitors would wake up and see me in my little Peugeot sitting at the front of the line. They always thought: 'Oh well, he's going to get stuck today,' but I never did.

It was great for the rally organiser too because a few of my competitors in the same class would complain that the rally was unfair because their cars couldn't cope with the deserts. The organiser would smile and point at my car at the front of the line and say: 'Well that guy is doing pretty well and his car's smaller than yours!'