He's now back in The Hills and already thinking about battling the next one.

``We are going to Thailand to talk to Isuzu as they help with the spare parts and maintenance. We couldn't do it without them,'' Garland said just before he headed to Thailand.

``The next Dakar could be in Africa but we are not sure yet. We do know wherever it will be it will be painful.''

The 2010 Dakar was a 9000-kilometre race from Argentina to Chile and back again, crossing kilometre-high sand dunes, rivers and mudflats.

Garland certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to the Dakar Rally, the world's most dangerous rally he's done three.

``They are hell,'' he said.

So why do it?

``Why do people jump out of a perfectly good plane? It's all part of the experience. I guess we are all crazy,'' he said.

In his first Dakar, Garland's car broke down, he came 11th in the second one a big achievement and in the third, held in January, he bombed out due to car failure.

``It was hard. We [Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki) had to make a decision and we knew it wasn't a good one, but we had to pull out,'' he said.

``Where we were in Chile is the driest place on earth. Everything was going according to plan but our spare tyre had come loose and broke the radiator and head gasket.

``We had no water and we were in pretty severe conditions.

``We just couldn't go through the course. We were aiming for a top-10 finish, so we were extremely disappointed with the result.''

He said the terrain was like no other.

``It's extremely violent, the temperature, speed, terrain everything,'' he said.

``Some parts are quite scary. A lot of people die on this race.

``The remoteness is scary and beautiful and the race is physically grinding. No one on the Dakar doesn't have no injuries.''

But saying all that, Garland will be back at it again.

``You've only got one life so you may as well enjoy it.''