Out of the fire, into the desert: David Brock’s Dakar Rally dream

When Murmungee’s David Brock achieved a dream by attending the Dakar Rally in 2023, it never occurred to him that it would be possible to compete. The grueling 14-day off-road extravaganza is widely regarded as the toughest motor race in the world. It sees around 600 competitors navigate thousands of kilometres of Saudi Arabian dunes, rocks, gravel, and mountains using a roadbook and GPS systems in an extreme test of endurance, navigation skills, and mechanical knowledge. But as Brock followed and introduced himself to some of the event’s motorbike competitors, he began considering the feasibility of the immense challenge. “The guys in the middle of the field were guys of a similar age and they were doing it as a bucket list type of thing,” he said. “I got chatting to some of those guys and it got me thinking on whether it would be an achievable thing for me to do.” It was that moment nearly three years ago that would kickstart years of personal drive and determination to bring Brock to the start line at Yanbu for the 2026 Dakar Rally, starting 3 January. The 55-year-old nephew of the late, great Peter Brock, David had only just begun competing on motorbikes after his visit to Dakar, but they have had a place in his heart for a long time. A lover of bikes since he was 15 years old, he has gone on many trail biking trips with friends exploring the Australian outdoors. But he said he felt he was in need of a greater challenge, so after retiring from 30 years as a firefighter in the North East, he chose the greatest challenge of them all. “I didn’t really know what that thing was that I needed, but turns out when I went to visit Dakar, that was it,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of work to get here and a lot of preparation, so hopefully that will set me in good stead for the rally ahead.” To test his interest in the sport, Brock took a course on rally roadbooks in Europe, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and competed in his first rally in Greece in 2024. Roadbooks come with their own language and signals displayed on a map that are hard enough to read sitting at a coffee table, let alone flying 100km/h through Saudi Arabian dunes. He then dedicated almost all of his energy over the past 18 months to health, fitness, and miles of training on the motorbike. “Fitness is probably the most important thing—that’s strength and having the resilience to be able to push your body really hard over a long period of time,” Brock said. “It is a real commitment and I’m very lucky I’ve got the opportunity and the time to be able to focus on all of those things together.” Throughout the Dakar Rally, stages range from 151km to 451km with a rest day after the first week of the event. To best emulate the varying, intense conditions that will be thrown at him in Dakar, he has ridden many of the hills and rocks close to home, along with the white sands and flat roads of western Victoria. Brock has also competed in multi-day rallies in Morocco, Spain, Portugal, UAE, Greece and Australia. In preparation for the upcoming rally, Brock visited the 2025 Dakar Rally to support his friend from Albury, Andrew Houlihan, an experienced Dakar campaigner who has helped guide Brock throughout his journey. Brock said he found the most challenging aspect of the event wasn’t the rally itself; it was everything that came with it. The event travels in bivouacs - a moving city to accommodate the needs of its daring competitors. Riders move with the Bivouacs as they travel across the country, starting in the freezing cold morning and ending in the hot desert sun. Before the stages begin, riders must head out and follow directions to a liaison at the beginning of the track, which is often hundreds of kilometres away. “They are often on freeways, dead straight roads and it’s often freezing cold,” Brock said. “We’d follow the bikes when we went to watch and you could just see how hard those conditions were for them. "When you get to the start of the special stage, they’d be taking all of these layers off, but they’ll be frozen. "Cold is never much fun, but it’s never fun on a motorbike when you’re not moving.” Following a huge lead-up, Brock impressed in one of the World Rally 2 Championship qualifiers in Abu Dhabi, finishing second in the veterans class to earn his ticket to Dakar. In a couple of weeks, Brock and his supportive wife, Cynthia, will meet up with their team, Joyride Race Service. The team will assist with maintaining and supplying his racing gear and his KTM 450 rally bike. Brock will be just one of two Aussies competing on bikes; the other is the rally’s reigning champion, Daniel Sanders. But for the 55-year-old Murmungee retiree, making it to the finish line will make him a champion in his own right. “I really want to finish. I don’t have a position in mind—obviously, you always want to do the best you can, and I’ll aim to do that,” he said.

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