Tenere Tragics

TÉNÉRÉ TRAGICS TRAIL MAIL:

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Okay guys, what's the real story with the name Ténéré? Where does it come from and why did Yamaha choose it?

-- Dale, Ténéré Tragic Wannabee

Is this a trick question, Dale? Every Ténéré Tragic worth his salt knows the answer to this one! Yamaha borrowed the Ténéré name from a remote desert region in the south-central Sahara. The original Paris-Dakar Rally travelled through this area which was notorious for forcing many a DNF due to navigational and fuel issues. Of course you needed the large fuel tanks that featured on early model Ténérés in order to even contemplate tackling this area. If you want to know even more about this region, here's what Wikipedia has to say: Ténéré (Berber: Tiniri, literally: desert, wilderness) is a desert region in the south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from north-eastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over 154,440 square miles (400,000 km²). Its boundaries are said to be the Aïr Mountains in the west, the Hoggar Mountains in the north, the Djado Plateau in the northeast, the Tibesti Mountains in the east, and the basin of Lake Chad in the south. Okay, Dale, now you know!

-- Clubby, Ténéré Tragic #1