Paris–Dakar Rally alumnus Philippe Rey and his company 4C run the Pionniers Classic and Merzouga 1000 Classic, vintage rally raids that use a special stage format. For 2027, he plans to debut a series called the Classic Desert Tour.

Held in Morocco, Merzouga and Pionniers will naturally be part of the schedule. Rey hopes to add races in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

To protect older cars, most classic rallies follow a regularity format which emphasizes precise driving and minimizing penalty points. They are a contrast to special stage rallies, where a racer tries to set the quickest time in a Selective Section such as the Dakar Rally. The Dakar Classic is the most prominent example of a regularity raid, and is part of the Classic Series Trophy alongside the new Rallye du Maroc Classic.

Rey doesn’t have anything against regularity. He actually considers it an excellent gateway for those new to classic rallies and for honing one’s driving skills.

However, he prefers seeing these old-school vehicles competing to be the fastest like they did in their primes. This led to him creating the 4C (Cross-Country Chrono Classic) regulations, which combine the maintenance and preservation rules seen in historic rallies with the competition policies of a modern SS rally. Cars are divided into categories by their production date: Pionnier for those built between 1978 and 1989, Classic for 1990s; Open Youngtimer for 2000s; and Desert One for 2010s up until 2020.

“The important thing is to preserve the heritage of rally raid without freezing it in nostalgia,” Rey explained. “These cars were built to race. They need to be able to keep writing their story on the tracks, against the clock, and in line with the competitive spirit of an adventure rally raid.

“Ultimately, the Classic Desert Tour is based around a simple idea: turning rally raid heritage into a full-fledged sports discipline focused on the future.”

While Rey has plenty of experience organizing races, an entire championship is another story. He has to figure out how to create a coherent rulebook that allows several generations to compete against each other fairly while also showing off the appeal of speed rallies to collectors and owners. For this, he stresses that “the future lies in structuring the discipline, developing a coherent sporting program, and offering various events that share the same philosophy and appropriate regulations.”

If those can be achieved, the Classic Desert Tour should be able to fulfill its primary function of letting these beasts roar like they were bred to.

“Their stories shouldn’t end in museums, private collections, or gatherings,” he continued. “They can continue to live through competition on the tracks and in the desert, driven by both the pilots who experienced that era and a new generation who wants to discover it in a different way.

“The challenge is in transforming this interest into a genuine, sustainable, and international sports movement. We are just getting started, but I’m convinced there is a place for classic speed rally raids, provided we give it a clear identity and its core elements are respected: the stopwatch, adventure, performance, and freedom to race across wide open space.”

The 2027 Merzouga 1000 Classic will be the inaugural race of the Classic Desert Tour, scheduled for April 17–23. After taking 2026 off due to logistical concerns related to the Dakar Classic, the Pionniers Classic will be on September 24 – October 2.

Featured image credit: Off Road Assistance