Considering it’s been over 40 years since the Capito family won the Paris–Dakar Rally, Volker Capito is pleasantly surprised whenever he scrolls online and comes across people recreating his team’s trucks.

Driving a Mercedes Unimog U 1300 L, his father Karl-Friedrich and brother Jost dominated the 1985 Dakar in the Truck class. Volker, who was the team’s manager, finished third as the navigator of an assistance Unimog with Karl-Wilhelm Strohmann driving.

The Capitos ran one more Dakar in 1986 but neither completed the race. Jost was later the racing director for Volkswagen, Porsche, Ford, McLaren, and Williams in WRC and F1.

Volker wrote on Monday:

In 1985, we won the Rallye Paris-Dakar.

More than four decades later, something remarkable is still happening: model designers around the world are building detailed replicas of our winning Unimog. And some of them reach out to me personally — asking about the smallest screws, the exact stance, the dust protection, wheels, fuel tank… — because they want it to be absolutely authentic.

Today I discovered a particularly outstanding model build — very different in design, bold in interpretation, yet incredibly respectful of the original spirit. You can feel that the builder wasn’t just copying a vehicle. He was inspired by a story.

To all the model builders who keep the legend alive — thank you. You make our success timeless.

The build he came across was posted in 2025 by Christian Fischer to a Gran Turismo 7 Facebook group. It isn’t a perfect replica since that Unimog model doesn’t exist in the game, while the livery also takes elements from the Capitos’ 1986 truck. Replica schemes in racing games are arguably the most popular way to connect the sport’s past to the present, with throwback liveries being popular choices in games like Forza and iRacing.

Similarly, Capito’s gratitude extends to artists who make crafts and illustrations of classic vehicles. In the Czech Republic alone, Štefan Benci and Spida Models are respectively considered the preeminent poster designer and modeler for Dakar trucks.

Featured image credit: Christian Fischer / Gran Turismo 7