When Was The Camel Trophy Launched?

The Camel Trophy was launched in 1980. The first event was a 1,000 kilometre navigation of Brazil's Transamazonica Highway, one of the world's longest roads.

Just three teams from West Germany took part, with their 12 days of traversing the mud and jungle of the Amazonian rainforest setting the scene for what was to become one of the world's best known off-road events. Although now synonymous with Land Rover, the first ever Camel Trophy was won by Klaus Karthna-Dircks and Uwe Machel, driving a Jeep CJ6.

It was the second Camel Trophy in 1981 that saw Land Rover become involved in the event, with five German teams driving 1600 kilometres in Range Rovers through the Sumatran jungle.

The Camel Trophy did eventually become a truly international event in 1982 with teams from Holland, Italy, the United States and West Germany all taking part. Range Rovers were again the vehicles of choice by the organisers for the eight teams tackling a 1600 kilometre course on Papua New Guinea.