In 1986, Tatra made its debut at the Paris–Dakar Rally with Karel Loprais, Zdeněk Kahánek, and Michel Hardy behind the wheel of 815 trucks.

In 2026, the manufacturer will celebrate 40 years since that race at its Kopřivnice Technology Days on May 30–31. While the event usually already has the company’s rally trucks on display, the anniversary means the company intends to set up a “Dakar Zone” specifically for them.

The trucks will be sourced from the Tatra Museum and private owners, both old and modern. Buggyra, Loprais Team, and Fesh Fesh currently field Tatras in either the Dakar Rally or Dakar Classic while Tomáš Tomeček does so in the Africa Eco Race; like their manufacturer, all of these teams are Czech.

Tatra has won the Dakar Rally’s Truck class six times, all with Loprais. Although Tatra’s factory program ended in 2000, Loprais continued the effort under his own team and won the 2001 race before his nephew Aleš took over. Aleš races an IVECO for Team de Rooy these days, though Loprais Team proudly remains a Tatra outfit in the Classic. Buggyra and Fesh Fesh build their own prototype Tatras for the Rally, while the latter is fielding retro 815s in the Classic starting 2027.

The 40th anniversary continues a similar celebration for Czech rally raiders that took place in 1985, when LIAZ became the country’s first Dakar entries in 1985.

Kristijan Fiket, Tatra’s CEO, said last June that “Dakar is our calling card in the world” and had ‘surprises’ planned for 2026.

Kopřivnice Technology Days will also pay tribute to the historic Tatra 815 line that discontinued production last year.

Featured image credit: Tatra Trucks