OK, I stand corrected. I should have finished reading 'Daughter of the Desert' before making references to Gertrude Bell, who was in fact the second (not first) European woman to visit Hail. In 1913 she was effectively imprisoned there whilst the Rashid clan indulged in their favourite pastime, viz. plotting against and murdering each other. Small wonder that she favoured the Sauds as a more suitable tribe to rule the nascent Kingdom.
The question is, how do they feel about women now? The Saudi Motorsport Federation have to make a simple but unpalatable decision: allow Sheila to compete as my co-driver, or have the event excluded from the FIA calendar. The ball is in their court, and we await developments.
Meanwhile, I took the race car out for what us rallyists call a 'shakedown' - basically an excuse to go out for a blat in the desert. I was accompanied by Nick Edwards, who has left his job as a rally driving instructor at Silverstone to take up work at the Dubai Autodrome, and hopefully to advance his rally driving career. We drove a couple of stages of the 1000 Dunes Rally, then the first two stages of the recent Dubai International Rally, to give him an idea about the terrain of local events, then back home across country near Al Maha Resort. We were fortunate to meet some Emiratis who were training their falcons for another 'big race' - the Abu Dhabi Falcon 400m! Our passing alarmed some gazelle, which bounded off across the dunes - it's always good to see wildlife. As regards the car, there are a couple of minor issues to sort out, but the it's pretty much ready for the Hail Baja.
Having worked out how much it would cost to fly there and send the race car by truck, I decided it made more sense to spend a bit extra and buy a decent trailer from Ifor Williams in the UK. It will be in a container which arrives in Dubai on 10th January - inshallah. Then we'll use Sheila's Supercharged Prado to tow the Patrol on its trailer the 1800km to Hail over two days. As an added adventure, we hope to make a side-trip after the rally to Madain Saleh, 400km west of Hail, to visit the spectacular Nabataean tombs.
For now, nothing much to do but wait and see. Once I have news from Hail, you'll be the first to know!
These are the voyages of the starship 'Newtrix'. Its multi-year mission: to compete in any rally within striking distance of Dubai, and to acquire shiny trophies. To boldly go wherever this quest may take us, as long as we can be home in time for tea.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
In the footsteps of Gertrude Bell
Since the Challenge, the race car has resided at Carwise, where Rick has been rebuilding the damaged right wing. After a lot of welding and reinforcement, the battery is now supported from the chassis rail on a resilient mount, so that the cantilever load on the inner wing is removed. This should prevent any recurrence of bodywork failure in this area. The mudflaps have been replaced with lighter, more flexible material which should be less susceptible to damage, and an improved mounting for the Maxtrax has been installed. Finally, the spare wheel mounts have been modified to allow easier access for the wider 285 section tyres.
We had expected to compete in the final round of the local UAE 4x4 rally series in Ras Al Khaimah in November, but the event was postponed at the last minute. A subsequent meeting at ATC (apex motorsport body and FIA delegate) with EMSF (local rally organiser) revealed that EMSF was in financial difficulties. Mohd Bin Sulayem now has the unenviable task in the present economic climate of asking the Dubai government for extra cash to fund the organisation. A more cost-effective format for rallies was proposed by John Spiller, which met with general approval, and the drivers lobbied for a calendar of 6 local events instead of the current 3. Adding to this the UAEDC and the Saudi Hail Baja, we would potentially have one event per month through the winter season, providing far greater exposure for the sponsors on whom the sport largely depends. The future of saloon car rallies, however, is in the balance – poor attendance has made them unviable, and none of the saloon car drivers attended the meeting. So far nothing further has been announced and the entire local rally scene remains in limbo.
The 3rd edition of the Hail Baja has now been announced, and will run from 26th-29th January 2009. Last year the event became part of the FIA International Cross Country Baja Championship, but we were informed that no women would be allowed to compete – in contravention of stated FIA policy. Since we weren’t ready anyway, the issue was moot, but this year we have decided to enter and see what happens. Good news was provided indirectly by Derek Ledger, the FIA regional representative for the Middle East, who advised that a female co-driver would be accepted as long as they didn’t drive on the public roads. So hopefully, we’ll be competing in this event, which comprises a short prologue and two legs of 200 and 265km – rather like a mini-UAEDC. Many potential competitors will be otherwise engaged on the Dakar, and other local entrants have decided they can’t spare the time and/or the cash to do it. Our friends Team Saluki (Mark Powell) and Spirit of the Desert (Fadi Melki) are planning to compete, and we’ll maybe share transport costs.
Hail is a provincial centre some 700km north of Riyadh, and almost 1800km from Dubai. Mainly agricultural, the Baja is clearly a major event there and last year’s were given a very warm welcome, with huge crowds turning out to support the rally. A female co-driver will definitely be a first, in this deeply conservative heartland of a traditional Islamic kingdom.
So who was Gertrude Bell? She was a Victorian lady, brought up to a life of privilege as the daughter of a steel magnate. Intelligent and rebellious, she spent much of her life exploring the then Ottoman Empire, the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, and became deeply involved in the complex politics of the region, along with her contemporary, T.E. Lawrence. She was almost certainly the first western woman to visit the location of our next rally – Hail.
We had expected to compete in the final round of the local UAE 4x4 rally series in Ras Al Khaimah in November, but the event was postponed at the last minute. A subsequent meeting at ATC (apex motorsport body and FIA delegate) with EMSF (local rally organiser) revealed that EMSF was in financial difficulties. Mohd Bin Sulayem now has the unenviable task in the present economic climate of asking the Dubai government for extra cash to fund the organisation. A more cost-effective format for rallies was proposed by John Spiller, which met with general approval, and the drivers lobbied for a calendar of 6 local events instead of the current 3. Adding to this the UAEDC and the Saudi Hail Baja, we would potentially have one event per month through the winter season, providing far greater exposure for the sponsors on whom the sport largely depends. The future of saloon car rallies, however, is in the balance – poor attendance has made them unviable, and none of the saloon car drivers attended the meeting. So far nothing further has been announced and the entire local rally scene remains in limbo.
The 3rd edition of the Hail Baja has now been announced, and will run from 26th-29th January 2009. Last year the event became part of the FIA International Cross Country Baja Championship, but we were informed that no women would be allowed to compete – in contravention of stated FIA policy. Since we weren’t ready anyway, the issue was moot, but this year we have decided to enter and see what happens. Good news was provided indirectly by Derek Ledger, the FIA regional representative for the Middle East, who advised that a female co-driver would be accepted as long as they didn’t drive on the public roads. So hopefully, we’ll be competing in this event, which comprises a short prologue and two legs of 200 and 265km – rather like a mini-UAEDC. Many potential competitors will be otherwise engaged on the Dakar, and other local entrants have decided they can’t spare the time and/or the cash to do it. Our friends Team Saluki (Mark Powell) and Spirit of the Desert (Fadi Melki) are planning to compete, and we’ll maybe share transport costs.
Hail is a provincial centre some 700km north of Riyadh, and almost 1800km from Dubai. Mainly agricultural, the Baja is clearly a major event there and last year’s were given a very warm welcome, with huge crowds turning out to support the rally. A female co-driver will definitely be a first, in this deeply conservative heartland of a traditional Islamic kingdom.
So who was Gertrude Bell? She was a Victorian lady, brought up to a life of privilege as the daughter of a steel magnate. Intelligent and rebellious, she spent much of her life exploring the then Ottoman Empire, the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, and became deeply involved in the complex politics of the region, along with her contemporary, T.E. Lawrence. She was almost certainly the first western woman to visit the location of our next rally – Hail.
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