Hubert Auriol

The man and the race that made the G/S

We lost ‘The African’ in January, a big man who won the Paris Dakar twice on a bike and once in a car, before helping to run it for years.

Paris-Dakar ace Hubert Auriol has died of heart disease at the age of 68. The Frenchman, often referred to as ‘The African’ died in January. He was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and over a long career not only helped to raise the profile of the rally, but in doing so, cemented the reputation of the BMW GS model. Auriol, already an accomplished enduro and motocross racer, competed in the first Paris-Dakar rally in 1979, a 5900 mile race on mainly dirt roads and once into the Sahara sand dunes. That inaugural race was won by Cyril Neveu on a Yamaha XT500, while Auriol didn’t manage to finish. But the seed was sown and in 1980, Auriol teamed up with BMW France on their newly developed R80G/S, albeit heavily modified for the race. Back then, BMW Motorrad was tiny compared to what it has become and the ParisDakar was not only a proven test of reliability, but quickly becoming a huge PR boost throughout the world for manufacturers – perfect for pushing their new road/offroad bike. Auriol didn’t finish, but his French team-mate, Morellet came fifth, showing the bike had what it takes. 1981 was to prove this, and saw the team-mates on BMWs again. But this time Hubert Auriol was the winner, with Morellet coming in fourth and BMW had a near-perfect rally, with even a privateer, Bernard Neimer on a much more standard BMW R80G/S coming in seventh. 1982 is a year Auriol and BMW would want to forget, with evolutionary changes and bad luck causing mechanicals, but Hubert would storm to victory again in 1983 with the enlarged 980cc G/S. The Paris-Dakar is well known for taking all it can from a rider, but Hubert kept coming back. ‘The African’ had the might of BMW behind him again in 1984, with a new team-mate, Gaston Rahier, and ‘Penthouse’ sponsorship. Rahier beat Auriol to give BMW first and second. After this, Auriol joined Cagiva and in 1987 Hubert almost delivered for the Italians, leading every stage except on the lastbut-one he crashed heavily and broke both his ankles. Despite this, the big Frenchman carried on in horrendous pain to come second to Neveu and at the finish provided a famous piece of Paris-Dakar TV footage. This rock-hard, heroic rider who’d just ridden with terrible injuries, emotionally and physically drained, could be seen crying, still seated on his bike that he couldn’t get off, knowing he’d just been pipped to victory. Auriol moved to cars following that accident and won for Mitsubishi in 1992, making him the first to win the rally on both two-wheels and four. From 1995 Hubert changed role from competitor to director of the rally, but bikes stayed close to him. He created the Malle Moto class, where riders have no external help and even have to fix their bikes themselves. BMW took a risk with the parts-bin R80G/S in 1980. But Hubert Auriol and his teammates helped to show the world it was a superb, reliable machine. And more than 40 years later, the GS is still the best-selling large capacity bike in the UK. The Paris-Dakar (now The Dakar) has continued to evolve over the years, with much help from Hubert Auriol. I’m sure BMW is grateful of the success ‘The African’ helped them achieve with the GS, and we are truly grateful to this desert rally hero for those enduring images of him pounding the Saharan sand dunes on his trusty BMW G/S. I’m sure you’ll all join us in extending our sympathies to his family in this sad year.