There are many examples of inappropriate vehicles entering motor sport events but is anything as mad as attempting the Paris-Dakar Rally on a quartet of Vespas?

The 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally On a Vespa!

The human spirit is indomitable, so we are told. It has to be otherwise we would not have achieved half of what we have and which has shaped the world around us.

In the arena of motorsports, there are many stories of unlikely achievements or, rather, attempts, from Briggs Cunningham's virtually standard Cadillac Series 61 Coupes entered in the 1950 Le Mans 24-Hour race, to Roger Ward entering a USAC Midget dirt track car in the 1959 U.S. Formula One Grand Prix against the might of Cooper, Lotus and Ferrari, Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham.

But, I think the best story of inappropriate race entries has to come from the 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally.

The first event was held in 1978 and, at the beginning, the Paris-Dakar was a long way from the professional event it is today, with specialist vehicles, multi-million dollar budgets, electronic safety warning systems and end-to-end TV coverage. That, however, does not mean that it wasn't insanely long and arduous, often traversing largely uncharted landscapes, covering 10,000km from Paris to Dakar in Senegal.

182 vehicles took the start of the inaugural rally in Paris with 216 vehicles taking the start in 1980 and 291 in 1981. The Paris Dakar legend was born.

The event used to attract odd entries, such as a Rolls Royce in 1981! but the biscuit for audacious optimism had to be in the 1980 event.

Frenchman Jean-Francois Piot decided that a race that pitted man against the desert of North Africa sounded wonderful and decided to put together a team of four riders, riding....wait for it.... Vespas!

Nowadays this sounds mad but at the beginning, the venture was in keeping with the free-for-all nature of the event, occupied by privateers with a thirst for adventure.

And the best thing of all? After spending 23 days in the saddle, two of the Vespas, ridden by M. Simonot and B. Tcherniawsky, made it Dakar and crossed the finish line! Standard vespa PX200s, seven countries and 10,000km of the most unforgiving terrain imaginable.

That, to me, is heroism! Or madness... You decide!

Images courtesy www.dakardantan.com