昨天在讀達卡 official press 時，發現來自瑞典的 Bertil Marcusson(n°170, Honda XR650)在去年底跟家人度過聖誕節後，隔日灑淚拋下妻小子女，在北國的靄靄白雪中，直接奔向法國，趕赴31日的車檢日。天啊，兩千公里多公里的賽前熱身 – 這簡直是史詩般的烈舉。不過真正要擔心的可能是，達卡結束後他要怎麼回到溫暖的家裡。官方新聞…
“One that was definitely happy to go through scrutineering had to be Swede Bertil Marcusson (Honda – n°6). His rally started on the 26th of december when he took off from his town Visby on his 450cc(編註：應為 650cc) Honda for a 2000km ride all the way to Auvergne and his very first Dakar. ‘I had to take the ferry to go from the island where I live to mainland Sweden, then down Germany and France. The police even stopped me on the way, but the officer was a nice guy, especially when I told him I was going to the Paris-Dakar'".
若我是執法人員，我也會為他網開一面。
一般而言，個人車主參加達卡必須考慮到幾項費用支出，這包含了車體改裝、報名、檢驗、送審、後援、文件、運輸、關稅、地陪、檢疫、儲備金、料配件、整備士在後備車的座位(算人頭)費用… 等。林林總總加起來，八萬塊美金應該跑不掉。
今年有不少車友對於 Dakar 官方過於著重在職業選手的 media coverage 有所抱怨，因此主辦單位順應眾生改弦易轍，特別在個人參賽車主方面增加了不少報導。當然，也因為有 internet，我們才能在地球的另外一端，共同和這些個人車主一起度過堅苦卓絕的一萬公里。
延伸：Landsarkivet i Visby(reginal archive in Visby)
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T.H. Schee 