Race To Dakar is a documentary series following actor and keen motorcyclist Charley Boorman's entry into the 2006 Lisbon-Dakar Rally. One of Boorman's lifelong dreams had been to enter the Dakar Rally, the most dangerous race on earth. Over 10,000km from Portugal, through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Senegal across treacherous terrain in extreme temperatures the Dakar Rally is just about as hard as it gets.
Boorman felt he had to do the rally and proposed the idea to Russ Malkin, one of the producers of Long Way Round, who liked the idea. Malkin was concerned that Boorman might not finish the rally should he enter alone, so Boorman approached Simon Pavey to see if he was interested in making the documentary and also training him. A third rider, Matt Hall, was chosen to film their participation and, if necessary, allow his bike to be used for parts if anything happened to Boorman's or Pavey's. They entered the rally riding BMW F650RR rally bikes.
During the Rally, Charley broke bones in both hands when he fell and tried to push his bike up and off his body. He rode on to the end of the stage and had to withdraw. Matt and Simon rode on, but Matt got stuck in the desert for two days and was eventually picked up by the camion balais sweeper truck.
Simon was able to finish the event, and the team were met at Dakar by their spouses and partners, as well as Ewan McGregor who flew out to congratulate them.
