The Camel Trophy was a vehicle-oriented competition that was held annually between 1980 and 2000, and it was best known for its use of Land Rover vehicles over challenging terrain. The event took its name from its main sponsor, the Camel cigarette brand. The first event was originally intended as a one-off publicity stunt for Camel tobacco. This came about after six Germans had the idea of driving the notoriously tough Transamazonica Highway in Brazil; 1600 km of dusty, rutted, broken dirt road with several treacherous river crossings through the Amazon.