In 1985, Jiří Moskal led the first Czech team at the Paris–Dakar Rally when he and French teammate Alain Galland drove a pair of LIAZ 100 trucks. While Galland retired, Moskal successfully reached the finish in 13th.

Four decades later, Moskal’s LIAZ came back to life alongside eight of its compatriots. Last Saturday, the Military Technical Museum Lešany hosted an event to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of Moskal’s effort and other Czech trucks to compete at Dakar. As part of the festivities, the nine trucks drove around the museum’s display arena used to demonstrate military vehicles like tanks. Five were Tatras while the other four were built by Liberecké Automobilové Závody, both Czech manufacturers.

LIAZ

The #627 LIAZ 100.55 D that Moskal drove is currently owned by Tomáš Pour. It and Galland’s #626 trucks were stripped for parts in the years following the 1985 Dakar, but the #627 was subsequently recovered in 1992 and restored to working condition. Capable of 320 horsepower and 1290 Nm of torque, the truck comes equipped with a ten-speed Praga 10P80 gearbox and a liquid-cooled six-cylinder inline LIAZ engine with a top speed of 127 km/h.

While the 100 was out of commission, Moskal switched to a LIAZ 111.154 D for later starts; numbered 617, it finished runner-up in Truck at the 1988 Dakar. The 111 uses a similar engine but has 420 horsepower and can run at 155 km/h on a nine-speed Praga 90140 gearbox. Ondřej Liška currently owns it.

The other two LIAZ trucks are linked with two-time reigning Dakar Truck winner Martin Macík Jr. and the family-run MM Technology. Although the team currently races with IVECO, the Macíks were long a LIAZ partner: Macík’s father made his Dakar debut in 2003 with a 1991 LIAZ and finished 12th. Even after the manufacturer’s demise later in 2003, the team continued to use its name with purpose-built LIAZ prototype trucks before partnering with IVECO in 2019.

Macík Sr. also had a #606 LIAZ 111.154 D that served as a service truck in the 2003 Dakar Rally, which David Skalický brought to Lešany. It was the final unit produced at the LIAZ factory in Mnichovo Hradiště before the marque’s closure. Although the same model as Liška’s truck, the #606 has more horsepower (530) and a larger gearbox (14-speed Praga 14PS150) but a slower top speed of 140 km/h due to assistance vehicle regulations.

“Frank” was the newest LIAZ in Lešany as it was built in 2016 and remains active today. A LIAZ EVO 4, Frank serves as Macík Jr.’s backup truck that he uses in smaller rallies; he won the 2024 Baja Aragón with Frank. Although Frank usually sported an orange-and-black livery, it was painted black-and-white for Lešany to emulate Macík’s Dakar-winning “Benny” IVECO. Frank uses a Cursor 13 engine from FPT that makes 1,100 horsepower and 5000 Nm of torque.

Macík himself was not present for the celebration since he and the team were in Africa for testing.

Tatra

All five Tatras at the event are from the legendary and recently discontinued Tatra 815 line.

The 815 Puma was the final rally truck produced by Tatra, and ultimately the most successful. Officially dubbed T 815-2 R55-16, it won the Dakar Rally thrice in 1998, 1999, and 2001 and finished second in 2000 with Karel Loprais behind the wheel. With its successes in Tatra’s swan song, the Puma proudly sits on display at the National Technical Museum in Prague. The museum loaned the Puma to Loprais Team, run by his nephew Aleš, to restore it to driving condition for Lešany. The Puma operates on a DEUTZ BF 8 M 1015 C water-cooled four-stroke V8 engine, producing 598 horsepower and 2,550 Nm of torque. Loprais Team built a replica for January’s Dakar Classic, which went on to win the H2T class with Igor Pazdera.

Another 815 associated with Loprais at Lešany was the Tatra 815 HAS, which holds the record for highest Dakar overall finish by a truck when Loprais placed sixth in 1994; he also won the 1995 race with it. “HAS” is short for “Hasičák” (“Firefighter”) since the Tatra 815-290R75 was designed to be for fire and rescue. Thus, it is bigger than other 815s with a longer wheelbase (4,290 millimeters) and a four-door cabin that allows the engine to be closer to the center. It uses an air-cooled, 12-cylinder Tatra T3-930-70 TM engine capable of 550 hp, with greater torque at 1,936 Nm. Loprais Team fielded a HAS at the Dakar Classic, where Jiří Husek placed second behind the Puma.

One 815 built in 1989 came from the Muzeum Tatra 111 in Dobříč. Loprais, coming off his first Dakar win in 1988, raced it at the 1991 and 1992 races with a best finish of third at the latter. Zdeněk Kahánek and Miran Velkoborský respectively took over the truck for 1994 and 1996, though both retired due to accidents in rivers.

Kahánek, who passed away last year, was a longtime Tatra employee who led the company’s Dakar debut in 1986. The 815 fielded in that race, dubbed “Ostrý-II”, is a 6×6 truck capable of 417 horsepower and 1,501 Nm of torque. The truck did not finish the race after taking too long assisting other competitors who were stuck in mud. The truck was restored in 2016 and resides at the Tatra Truck Museum in Kopřivnice when not in use like for Lešany.

Tomáš Tomeček brought his Tatra 815 Balai. Also a six-wheeler constructed in 1986, it is mainly used to recover retirements at the Africa Eco Race. Tomeček also used it to haul around M-Sport’s Ford Raptor when it was testing in Morocco in 2024.

Featured image credit: Přemysl Neumann