Returning home to Varese in Northern Italy, Team Lucky Explorer is able to sound the klaxons of victory as they are welcomed home following a 5 day Swank Rally Raid in Italy. All dressed in iconic Dakarian liveries, the four-strong team won the team event - and one member was riding the stunning Cagiva Elefant 900!
‘Swank Rally Sardegna’ was initially organised by rally champ Renato Zocchi with Adventure Riding Italy as the first Rally Raid event outside of Africa, and returned in collaboration with Deus Ex Machina for 2020, and again now 2021.
Open to all rally motorcycles, the Swank Rally welcomes 150 riders across 5 days of friendly competition for an annual all-Italian 750 mile Italian rally fest. Most notably, vintage rally machines (pre-1999) are invited along to compete in the Competitive R1 category - and Team Lucky Explorer won the spoils in this team category, with one of the herd turning heads with the original Cagiva Elefant 900 prototype by Edi Orioli!
Seen on Moto.it, Team Lucky Explorer from Varese consisted of four riders: Filippo Bassoli (on the Cagiva Elefant 900), Alberto De Bernardi (Cagiva N90 125), Ottavio Missoni (Honda XL600), and Riccardo Schiavotto (Husqvarna WR250). Timur Sardarov was due to be the fifth member on a Cagiva Elefant 900, but was taken ill before the event as per Varese News.
What's the Swank Rally all about? And the Cagiva Elefant 900?
The key to the Swank event is that it’s a competitive event also open to amateurs as the ‘Swank Experience’ without the competition aspect - where GPS is allowed alongside roadbook guidance along the same route.
All bikes need to be road registered, and there are prizes for those who stand out (for any reason) across the five days, navigation trophies, and the team trophy for the first time.
This original Elefant 900 model won the Paris-Dakar Rally back in 1990 with Edi Orioli on board, and birthing the Lucky Explorer trim Elefant 900 for 1991 & 1992.
Great to see the Elefant as part of a successful herd, proving that the Dakar bikes of those days still have a huge deal of edge on their modern counterparts to this day - and whilst looking stunning.
Perhaps MV Agusta would consider a revival of the formula… now that would be nice!
For those of you thinking of planning a rally next year, get your name in early and it'll cost €890 - but there are package deals and options to consider on the official Adventure Riding site.
My mind is whirring is thoughts about how we can get a Visordown team together and attend 2022. Now that would be interesting.
