This image is the cover for the book To Dakar and Back

To Dakar and Back

In this adventure motorsports memoir, the first Canadian motorcycle racer to complete the infamous Paris-Dakar Rally recounts his incredible journey.

The Paris-Dakar Rally is is without question the most arduous and notorious off-road motorsports event on the planet. Since its inception in 1979, it has attracted more than three thousand adventurers from all walks of life. The men and women who have taken up the “Dakar challenge” have at least one thing in common: a desire to measure themselves against the desolate sands of the Sahara.

In 2001, Canadian adventure racer Lawrence Hacking entered what would be the last rally on the iconic route from Paris to Dakar. In To Dakar and Back, Hacking, in collaboration with motorsport journalist Wil De Clercq, recounts the three weeks of blood, sweat, and tears that took him on that ten thousand kilometer journey in the heat of competition from the glitzy streets of the French capital through the hinterland of North Western Africa and the triumph of self-realization.

Lawrence Hacking

Lawrence Hacking is a professional motorcycle racer who became the first Canadian to finish the Paris-Dakar Rally. He lives in Georgetown, Ontario. Wil De Clercq is a freelance writer whose connection to the outlaw biker world dates back to the 1960s. He lives in St. Catherines, Ontario.

ECW Press