Monday, November 9, 2009

Almost back racing

Work has proceeded on The Beast at Carwise over the summer. The accident damage is fixed, the new engine is in, the ally radiator is back in, the oil pipework is now 5/8” diameter and as a consequence the oil temperature (which we can now measure!) is consistently 10-15 deg lower than the water temperature, which is comforting.

We’ve done a few shakedown runs, the most eventful of which was a run down towards Hameem along Desert Challenge Day 1 route. Fortunately Alan Passmore was with us, because we suddenly experienced severe overheating in the dune section. Investigation showed the brackets which support the a/c compressor (which was retained only as an adjustment pulley) had bent, allowing the serpentine belt to fall off. Unable to fix it, we came back to Dubai with Alan, returning next day to fit the repaired brackets. But the drama continued – despite re-tensioning the belt, it was slipping, and the rad was boiling. Eventually, after replacing the belt, I was able to drive it back to Dubai. As a result, the a/c compressor has now been replaced with a spring-loaded Corvette pulley, which maintains the belt in correct tension, and in better contact with the water pump pulley.

Further shakedowns have led to the discovery of wear in the front diff, caused by partial engagement of the ARB locker, due in turn to a sticky solenoid valve. Fortunately the wear is only on the thrust washers, replacements of which are awaited from ARB.

The latest improvement has been the installation of some really good adjustable roof vents, from Autopro Motorsports in the USA. Two forward facing vents and one rearward one now provide excellent airflow through the cockpit, making a huge difference to our comfort level!

The bad news is that the auto section of the November 13th ‘Desert X’ has been cancelled due to ‘lack of entries’ – the day after the entry forms were sent out! We are not amused. Hopefully the remaining legs of ‘Desert X’ will go ahead as planned.

We also have dates now for the international rallies, which we plan to contest again. The total schedule looks like this:

11th December 2009 Desert X
8th - 9th January 2010 Desert X Double Header
12th - 13th February 2010 Desert X Double Header
16th - 18th February 2010 Hail Baja (Saudi Arabia)
27th March - 1st April 2010 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
16th April 2010 Desert X

Sunday, July 5, 2009

The Dust Has Settled











Well, the dust has well and truly settled on the Desert Challenge and I’ve only just got round to updating the blog.

Chicherit and Thorner in the X3 finally won by a huge margin, but Glen Reid and Paul Richards in the Saluki gave them a good run for their money on the last day, and were leading through PC2 before losing time with a stuck. The three T2 Patrols of local drivers Al Heli, Al Heraiz and Al Shawi were 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Dave Mabbs took 5th in the FJ. Despite missing Day 2, Team Saluki took a creditable 10th place.

News from the NewTrix garage is not good. The engine had broken two con-rods and needs a complete replacement short block, which has been sourced from the original supplier, Turnkey Engines in California. Talking with them, it’s clear that the oil pipework from the pump, through the external filter and cooler, was much too small in diameter and routed too close to the exhaust. So despite the water temperature remaining OK, the oil was getting way too hot and the flow rate was insufficient to keep the engine lubricated. Fortunately, this can be easily remedied, but it’s an expensive way to find out! In addition, the front diff is shot, so we’ve decided to re-fit the original 4.33 diffs instead of the higher ratio after-market units. I don’t think this will significantly affect our acceleration, but it will keep our revs a bit lower. We’re also installing an oil temperature gauge, and repositioning the oil cooler to give improved airflow through it.

The rear doors and front wing were heavily damaged by the 3-car pile-up, and the impact even bent the rear chassis rail. Rather than replace the doors, Carwise opted to dent them out and they are now re-painted. Most of the major work is now completed, and we’re looking forward to getting the Beast back on the road and doing some shake-down runs.

We managed to get two half-page articles in the Xpress newspaper, in addition to which we were asked to help out with a video shoot just before the start of the DC. The resulting one-hour video of the rally, produced by Talkabout Media, used this footage to bracket the commercial breaks. It was aired during June and July on ART Prime Sports and Showsports, and includes our 3-car pile-up as well as Ramesh’s disasterous fire.

On the rally front, we have an exciting season in prospect. The ATC-UAE recently announced a new cross-country rally/baja series which they call ‘Desert X’. This will comprise six events, each of about 200km, and will include both autos and motos. The first event is already planned for 2nd October, and the new format has been well received by bikers and drivers alike. In addition, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will again take place during the last week in March, and the Hail Baja plans to be back in the FIA Baja Championship in 2010 – presumably subject to their allowing female competitors! A further cross-country event from Riyadh to Jeddah is reportedly being planned, but no details have emerged to date.

Above are a few photos of the DC, taken by Tim Ansell.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Day 1

Sunday’s prologue ended with us in 18th place (not 14th as we’d thought) which put us one place behind the only T4 truck – an Italian team in the Iveco. Dad and Jane came with us to the ceremonial start, where Dave Pryce assumed chauffeur duty for the day. Getting to the stage start on time almost defeated us – a truck had jackknifed on the Musaffah Road and we were minutes away from missing our time control slot. However, we need not have worried as the start was delayed.

The first section consisted of graded tracks leading to the Deadcoach Gatch, a 25km long dusty track with little possibility of overtaking. As it turned out, the Iveco was way too fast for us to catch on the flat, but as soon as we left the track for some dunes, we passed it easily. As the stage continued, we passed another seven vehicles, making us (briefly) 10th overall! Then, just before PC2, disaster struck. After a slightly heavy landing, we lost 4WD and had to face the prospect of either calling in for service at PC2 or trying to complete the stage in 2WD. Knowing that it was likely to be a long job to fix, we opted to continue – and paid the price, getting horribly stuck in some soft dunes some 70km from the finish. Fortunately, the sweep team came to the rescue, not once but twice, and we arrived at the finish 11 minutes inside our 6-hour limit time to find that the finish team had disappeared! I made a quick call to rally control to inform them that we should be credited with a finish, and after the long final road stage was able to confirm our position with Jum Ali Khan and Ronan Morgan, giving us 19th place overall – one place lower than our start.

The service crew worked tirelessly to solve the problem, replacing a broken right hub and a left half-shaft, which we fortunately had in the service truck.

Day 2 is traditionally the hardest of the lot, and this was no exception. The route started on the Madinat Zayed Road, and headed west to the Ghyathi Road. We were only 5km into the stage we came over a crest, and smacked into Manfrinato’s Patrol, at the bottom of a narrow valley between two dunes. Seconds later, Mike ‘Ziggy’ Ziegler came over the same dune and car 214 became the meat in a three-car sandwich! There was no way to disentangle the vehicles without outside assistance, and once again the Sweep Team came to the rescue. Nigel McReynolds did a sterling job with his winch, and eventually all three cars were on their way, having lost a full hour. The drama continued as we managed to get stuck 20km further on, to be rescued by Ziggy, whom we’d just overtaken. After that, we were going well, but the initial hour’s stoppage meant that we were time-barred at PC2. Despondent, we aired up the tyres for the trip back to the bivouac, and decided to call in at PC4 (on the Crescent Road) and get our card stamped in the hope that it might reduce our penalties. For once, luck was on our side, because the section from PC4 to the finish was still open! So we quickly aired down again, put on our helmets and proceeded to complete the stage, which gave us a 14th place for day 2, and 12th overall.

However, the front axle was making some very unhappy noises when in 4WD, and wed spent quite some time running in 2WD to try and avoid further damage. Again the mechanics, Tony and Ray, worked to try and identify the problem, but couldn’t find a definite cause. They also removed the A/C condenser to help the cooling of the radiator, since we clearly had insufficient cooling power to handle both.

Day 3 started close to Day 2 start and followed a similar route. As soon as we started, we found that the noise from the front axle was getting worse. We had no choice but to use 4WD, so we decided to carry on and hope for the best. A tyre off the rim stopped us for about 15 minutes while we changed the wheel, but other than that we were going well. After PC 1 we headed west of the Ghyathi, and reached the mid point of the section when the 4WD noise became much worse. We’d just changed to 2WD when disaster struck once again – something let go inside the engine and we were dead. A quick look underneath told us that something had beaten its way through the sump, and all the oil was gone. Clearly our race was over.

So we called rally control on the Iritrack and they immediately sent us a helicopter to take us out of the desert. Since we had almost no mobile signal there, it was difficult to co-ordinate a recovery plan and getting us back to our service team at PC2 was the sensible thing to do. From there, Sheila took the pickup with the mechanics back to the bivouac, and myself, Rick, Tim and Abi drove back up the road to the underpass where we’d crossed the Ghyathi. We had two cars, both Patrols, to recover the race car. We entered the desert at 1315hrs and took only 45 minutes to reach the car, which Rick drove while I towed. Fortuanetly the section from there on was largely rolling dunes without many steep dunes, and by choosing our route carefully we were able to make good speed. A couple of difficult climbs halted us briefly, and we were forced to deploy our winch to pull the race car up. Finally, at 1815hrs, we exited the desert near PC2 and started back towards Moreeb.

But the drama was not yet over. As Tim trailed us back, driving Abi’s Patrol, the front left wheel fell off and skittered away into the night, while Tim fought to control the vehicle. We realized something was wrong and pulled over a kilometer or so later. Then the Iveco service truck came upon the stricken vehicle, and their mechanics helped to jack the car up and fit the spare wheel. After leaving our race car at the Liwa Guest House, we arrived back for a late dinner at the bivouac. Although we’d retired, we still gained 18th place on the day!

So our race is over. Informed opinion is that our oil pump may have broken up, so there is some hope that the engine itself may be intact. It had not gone over-temperature, nor had we revved it over the limit of 5800rpm. Only a full strip-down will tell the full story. The front axle clearly has a problem, probably in the diff. And there is a large amount of body damage to repair – including 2 new rear doors.

So what of our other friends who are competing? Ramesh and Ian, in another V8 engined Patrol, suffered a disastrous fire on day 2 which completely burnt out the car. Team FJ rolled their car on Day 3, but continued and are currently running 7th. Team Saluki took the start on day 2 and immediately returned to the bivouac, unable to find parts to repair their clutch master cylinder. This gave them a huge penalty, but Glen drove a blinding third stage to finsh 3rd on the day. He then topped this by finishing 2nd on day 4, so they are still in the race. Fadi Melki, driving solo in his Range Rover, came in 8th today and continues to do well. But Chicherit and Thorner in the BMW X3 are unstoppable, having won every stage, and Bilhili in his T2 Patrol lies in 2nd place overall. With one day remaining, it’s a game of attrition, and everything is still to play for.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Abu Dhabi DC - Prologue

We've managed to get two local publications to decide we're interesting enough to write about this week. First we got almost a full page in the Xpress (Dubai weekly freebie), and then a short piece with photo in Abu Dhabi Magazine. We're only apprentice media whores, but we try!

The last days have been spent to-ing and fro-ing to Abu Dhabi - Fri for documentation, Sat for scrutineering (passed with flying colours) and today (Sun) for the prologue. We are car 214, seeded 14th and that was exactly where we came in the prologue - run over a 2.1km stretch of reclaimed land near the Abu Dhabi Intl Marine Club which contained more scrap metal than Steptoes yard. How no-one got punctured on all the re-bar sticking out of the ground is a minor miracle.

So tomorrow we're back to Abu Dhabi once again for the ceremonial start at Emirates Palace. We have to be in Parc Ferme between 0730-0830, so it's yet another 0600 start - the traffic down on the island is murder in the mornings. Dave Pryce has kindly 'volunteered' to chauffeur my aged parents around on Monday, so they get to see at least one day of the event. Rick is down in the bivouac setting up our camp, and Cesar plus two mechanics on loan from Glen Reid's Icon garage should turn up at our house after we've left, to collect the pick-up and its cargo of tools and spares. We'll see them at the start, then they and Rick should be at the service point later on. This is all very well in theory - but the VW pickup is sounding a bit tired, and Cesar is as sick as a dog, so anything could happen.

Hopefully, Tim will be able to update this from the media centre in the bivouac, so watch this space!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Beast is Unleashed!


Finally on Friday we were able to take The Beast out for a long-overdue shakedown, and Malcolm Anderson kindly agreed to run as ‘chase car’ for us. Although it wasn’t the hottest of days, we needed to test out the new cooling system so we repeatedly ran the car up and down Fossil Rock – high revs and low forward speed usually show up a problem. The results were encouraging – we couldn’t get the water temperature over 100°c, and as soon as we returned from the top, the gauge dropped to 85. So we appear to be well within the 115°c limit at which the ECU goes into ‘safe mode’.

I was also able to explore its performance and handling, which are simply awesome. Ohlins shocks - twin at the front and singles at the rear – do their job admirably. I thought the old car was pretty good, but this is on a whole different level – the steering is light and responsive, it flies level over the jumps and soaks up even hard landings. And as for the performance – well, the only limiting factor is going to be the size of my reproductory equipment! Peak torque arrives at 2500rpm, and it responds to the throttle in any gear, at seemingly any speed.

Back at the garage, we’ve rearranged the cockpit, moving the seat positions and fabricating a new co-driver’s panel in matt-black chequer-plate to house the ERTF GPS bracket and two Monit trip computers. A nine-litre water cooler stands against the bulkhead, replacing the manual firex which is now between the seats, and we’ve plumbed in the air-tank for the diff-locks. Now we anxiously await a new viscous fan coupling, a special unit which is on its way from Australia, and will hopefully arrive by Sunday!

The support crew is now finalized. Rick Carless (who helped out in the Liwa a few weeks back) is arriving on Saturday from the UK. Cesar is driving the service truck and two of Glen’s mechanics at Icon who helped build The Beast are spannering. Dave Pryce is running my parents around on Monday, so they’ll get to see some of the action.

At this point, careful planning and preparation descends into the usual last minute panic, as we try to fathom the logistics of ‘what goes where and when and with whom’. By Monday we’ll know what (if anything) we’ve forgotten. And maybe this year (with some help from Tim!) we’ll be able to update the blog from the bivouac.

Wish us luck!

Monday, March 9, 2009

The Devil Tempted Me!




Down at the NewTrix Garage, we’ve been having a bit of a clear-out. First I swapped my FJ Cruiser for Glen Reid’s 2003 Nissan Patrol 4.8, complete with brand new engine, winch and all the toys. Then I sold my 1991 GQ LWB Patrol (the Blue Goddess), my off-road steed for the past 14 years. That all made perfect sense. Then the devil tempted me.

Glen decided to sell his race car. It’s a 2008 Nissan Patrol with a race-prepped six litre LS2 Corvette V8 under the hood, which develops a stonking 510 bhp unrestricted and 300bhp with the FIA restrictor. It had only done two events, the 2008 DC and the RAK rally last month. It has all the toys – ARB difflocks all round, new tank, seats, belts – everything. And the price was…well, a lot less than it cost him to build it last year.

I can resist almost anything except temptation. I took it for a test drive and felt the power, the enormous torque, the thunder of the big V8…and I couldn’t help myself. I bought it, and now I just need someone to buy the old Patrol so I can afford to pay for it! Fortunately, with the 2009 DC just round the corner, there are several people interested.

‘The Beast’ (as it will henceforth be known) is in the workshop at present, the original build was completed in a hurry and the cooling in particular was never quite right. So a new 4-core radiator has gone in with an improved cowl, we’re fitting an airtank to enable the difflocks to work without constantly switching the compressor on and off, and we should be out this coming weekend for a shakedown. So NewTrix Racing steps up to T1 with the Big Boys, and I just hope I’m sufficiently brave to use that additional power to get a good result in the DC.

‘Expect the Unexpected’ in Liwa

Bayer AgroChemicals are running an on-going sales contest, with annual prizes for the top performing teams worldwide. This year their prize was as trip to the UAE. But, true to their slogan ‘Expect the Unexpected’, they were kept in the dark as to the event schedule. In the end, they were dropped in Liwa, close to the Moreeb DC bivouac, and after a walk and a camel ride, arrived at their desert camp. The following morning, three rally cars turned up to provide them with the thrill of a passenger ride through the dunes of the Empty Quarter! Mark Powell had been contracted by the organizers to arrange this, and the additional vehicles were provided by Ali Al Shawi and myself, both in our T2 Patrols.

The previous day we’d arrived to set up a course, but only had a chance to make a couple of circuits before we had to vacate the area to avoid giving the game away. The 15km circuit was sufficiently challenging to keep us on our toes, and after some 6 passenger rides we were exhausted! Fortunately I’d taken the car down on the trailer, and Rick Carless – a visitor from UK whose assistance I had co-opted – ended up driving back while I slept!

The best news was that it paid, so another slice of cash could go towards the DC entry fund.


Continental Wealth Management

Our friends at Continental Wealth Management (CWM) have been sponsoring NewTrix Racing since the middle of last year. They are a specialist investment broker based in Spain, and I feared that the current financial crisis would have hit them hard. But on the contrary, their business has gone from strength to strength because, as managing director Darren Kirby explained ‘Nobody goes to the doctor when they’re well!’ Poor returns in other areas have persuaded many clients to review their portfolios, and CWM has proved that even in recession there are profitable opportunities for savvy investors.

So we are delighted to confirm that CWM will continue their sponsorship through 2009, and their branding will be prominent on ‘The Beast’. Future plans for CWM include overseas branches, and expansion into the Gulf region is a definite possibility.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hail Baja - Day 3




Well, to answer the questions:

(a) No, we didn’t make up any time on Al Shawi
(b) Yes, there was breakfast
(c) No, we didn’t have brakes
(d) And yes, the engine was fine.

The stage was only 200km, compared to the previous day’s 300km, so we decided to lighten the car as much as possible. We filled only ¾ of a tank to complete the outward liaison and the stage, and we removed the sand ladders - the mounting had broken and having seen the terrain, we couldn’t imagine needing them. Then I found that the air-line gauge had broken off, meaning the air-line was useless, so we ditched that and the air tank! As a result, we were flying from the start on some good sand tracks, slaloming through the bushes as though we were in WRC. The brake fix clearly hadn’t worked, so once again I was relying solely on 2nd gear engine braking. We passed a number of cars before getting a puncture in the right rear, which took us far too long to change – we have to re-work the layout to make the spare wheels more accessible. The route was an interesting mix of good sand tracks, with some steep climbs and one horrid stony subkha, before it opened out towards the end into a fast flat plain. The final dune section to the finish was full of spectators, including (surprisingly) a number of local women.

Once again, everyone wanted to have their photos taken with us, while we aired up the tyres and took a quick coffee with Sheila and Hamdan before the long road stage back to Rally HQ. At the end, despite our puncture, we retained our 10th place overall and 2nd in T2, the final results being:

1st T1: Yazeed Al Rajhi/Matthieu Baumel (Nissan Navara)
2nd T1: Mark Powell/Paul Richards (Honda Buggy)
3rd T1: Miroslav Zapletal/Tomas Ourednicek (Mitsubishi Pajero)

1st T2: Ali Al Shawi/Ahmed Malik (Patrol 4800)
2nd T2: Ian Barker/Lee Marshall (Patrol 4800)
3rd T2: Mubarak Al Shamri/Nasser Al Shamri (Mitsubishi Pajero)

At the finish podium, my main concern was to actually stop the car on the podium, without running over anyone important. Prince Saud, the governor of Hail region, made the presentations and we headed back to the hotel. Two days and 1700km later, we were home.

We are delighted with the result. Without the tyre problems we might have done better – we dropped a further 18 minutes on Al Shawi due to the puncture, but that’s rallying for you.

Now we have only 7 weeks to get ready for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Hail Baja - Day 2




Hail Baja – Day 2

The day’s drama started when, despite promises from the hotel management that breakfast would be served at 5am, none appeared. Seemingly no-one had told the kitchen, but fortunately we had planned for such eventualities and headed back to our room for an impromptu meal.

After reaching the Maghwat parc ferme and tracking down Sheila’s driver, we headed for the nearest petrol station to fill the race car before heading to the start, some 60km away. Our interpretation of the road book was that there would be firm bumpy tracks, so we only let the tyres down to 18/20psi. But within the first kilometer of the 300km stage it was clear that we had badly underestimated the terrain, and had to waste valuable time deflating to 15psi.

Then we discovered that we had no brakes, which came as a surprise as they’d worked fine on the prologue. Then, after about 50km, the fuel pump packed up, and after a few nervous minutes diagnosing the problem, we switched to the reserve pump and carried on.

But despite this, we managed to overtake quite a few vehicles both moving and broken down, and when we reached service at 200km we felt reasonably pleased with our progress. Sadly one of the cars we passed was Dave Mabbs’ FJ, out with a blown engine at the 150km point. At service we topped up with brake fluid, which promptly fell out of the broken flexible hose to the front right wheel – looks like we twatted a rock on the prologue and broke the union at the diff end. It being reinforced hose, we had no quick fix to hand and only a 20min service time, so we grabbed a bite to eat and carried on.

The terrain is quite different from Liwa, with more vegetation and generally firmer sand, but no huge desert dunes to speak of. The Patrol was running well, and Lee was doing a sterling job on the navigation, not greatly helped by a roadbook which contradicted the GPS data at every turn! At his instigation, we took several hors-piste detours off the track, enabling us to hit every one of the 128 waypoints. So in the final third of the stage, now with a lighter fuel load, we turned up the wick a bit and went for it. We still got caught by Hamad Al Thani from Qatar, running a much quicker T1 Patrol, but made a fast run through to the finish.

After the road liaison and refuel, we had only 3 hours to fix the car before it went into parc ferme again. Sheila and Hamad went in search of parts while I stripped out the damaged pipe, enabling Lee to take it as a sample. By the time they arrived it was late, dark and cold, and we only just managed to finish the repair, bleed the brakes and refit the wheel in time.

By counting the vehicles we passed (and were passed by) we guessed that we might be around 13th. However, it turns out that we are lying 10th overall, and 2nd in T2 class by a mere 6 minutes – less than the time we spent deflating the tyres! Team Saluki are 2nd overall, behind Yazeed Al Rajhi in a South African-built Nissan Navara, and seem to have finally laid their engine demons to rest.

Tomorrow we have it all to play for – can we make up six minutes on Ali Al Shawi’s brand new T2 Patrol? Will there be breakfast? Will we have brakes? Will our engine rebel against the relentless thrashing I’ve been giving it? By this time tomorrow, dear readers, these and many other questions will be answered.




(Pix: The Gates of Mordor, and leaving service)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Hail Baja Prologue


Six kilometres seems a lot for a prologue, in fact in a local EMSF rally it would almost qualify as a stage. We were given two hours to walk the route in the morning, and we needed it! It was very close to the Meghwat Rally Control and ran through a local park close to the mountains, and through a shallow wadi.


Lee did a great job of pace notes and although not fantastically quick, we made no real errors and came through (by our count) in 6mins 17 secs. So weren't best pleased to find that the timekeepers had given us 7mins 32 secs, putting us in 27th place out of 30, and promptly lodged a written complaint at rally control.


After the dust had settled and the drivers briefing was over, the timing gear was re-checked and our time was changed to 6mins 15.5 secs, bringing us up to 21st overall and 7th on T2 which isn't too bad.


Everyone here - local competitors, organisers, media, spectators - have been absolutely great. There was a huge turnout at the prologue and everyone wanted to have their photo taken with the khawajas!


Tomorrow is a 6am start, so we're up at 4.30 and the hotel has laid on breakfast at 5am specially for the rally crew, which is nice.


Next year they plan to extend it to 4 days and rename it the Arabian Desert Challenge - talk about throwing down the gauntlet!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Sheila - as Hail sees her.

Sheila at Blackbladder Roundabout
With the benefit of hindsight, the Prado was probably not the ideal choice for towing a three and a half ton load 1700km. But it was either that or the Patrol, which is now in its 18th year and clearly past its prime. Even with its supercharger, we struggled to top 120kph on the flat, and any sort of incline or headwind knocked us back to around 90. But after the long haul up from Dubai to Riyadh, we reached the Al Janadriah Hotel in Hail at around 2.30pm Sunday, and had time to visit rally control and complete some of the formalities.

Most of the UAE entrants are housed at the Janadriah – Team FJ, Team Saluki, Nabeel Al Shamsi, Abdullah Al Heraiz with his beautifully prepared Patrol, as well as Miroslav Zapletal’s Czech team, fresh from their successful completion of the Dakar. Despite its removal from the FIA Baja Championship, the event has over 30 entrants, a third of whom are competing in our T2 class. Prize money is not yet confirmed, but rumoured to be over SR100,000 (₤20k). A small share of that would make our journey worthwhile!

Sheila seems to be able to get away with wearing jeans and sweater, with her head covered in an Arabic shayla or headscarf. Western women are still a rarity in Hail, almost a century after Gertrude Bell’s visit, so her appearance in any garb will hardly go unnoticed. Since she is unable to drive in Saudi, we have managed to retain a driver called Hamdan. He will take Sheila in the Prado, with its cargo of tools and spares, to and from the service point each day.

Hail is noticeably cooler than Riyadh, which was much colder than Dubai. At over 1000m altitude, its sere air dries lips and skin continually. As night falls, the mercury dips to around freezing and our rooms need heating. Hail is ringed by a mountain range which appears to have been transplanted from a ‘Lord of the Rings’ set. There’s even a wall between two mountains with a huge gateway – surely the entrance to Mordor! The city boasts interesting road features, too. The interchange behind Sheila we have christened ‘Blackbladder Roundabout’.

We’ve installed the GPS, Iritrack and Sentinel equipment, applied our lucky number 13 rally stickers, and successfully completed scrutineering, so we are all set for tomorrow’s prologue.

Friday, January 23, 2009

We got ourselves a convoy!


I drove the Prado with the race car on the new trailer for the first time yesterday, and a bowel-loosening experience it was. Having three and a half tons hanging off the towbar doesn't do a lot for the handling of our 1800kg Prado, the acceleration is non-existent, and it has the braking distance of a supertanker. So tomorrow's road trip is going to be an interesting one. All three teams - us, Team Saluki and Team FJ - have decided to meet up at 0630hrs Saturday and proceed in convoy. This may hopefully mean that we only have to explain once to the Saudi customs what we're up to.
Above are a couple of shots taken by Tim Ansell - a sunny day in RAK and a rather gray and rainy day in Dubai.

We've spent all day packing and making last minute preparations, removing the RAK rally stickers and replacing Sheila's name on the doors with Lee's. Now I'm going to bed.

1800km each way? We must be mad!

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Samuel Becket Day

In the play ‘Waiting for Godot’, nothing very much happens. And it carries on not happening for quite a long time. Samuel Becket’s play could well have been set in the visa section of the Saudi Consulate in Dubai, where I spent most of today.

Yesterday, we had our visa applications typed. But, for reasons best known to the Consulate, you have to wait till the next day to apply for your visas. So today, our P.R.O. took all three visa applications to the Consulate – where he was denied admission. According to the notice outside, with effect from 25th January, visa applications must be submitted in person or via one of their authorized service providers. Pointing out the fact that this is only the 19th January did not seem to impress them at all. So Sheila, Lee and myself had to drop everything to trek down to the Consulate, arriving around 10am.

There we met James Thomas of Team Saluki, who had already had the visa stamped into his passport the previous day. But there was a problem. The visa stated (in Arabic) ‘by air’, whereas, like us, Team Saluki are trailering their race car through the road border at Silla. So we queued, and waited. And waited. Time in the visa section passes slowly. Paint drying would be the cause of almost unbearable excitement. But eventually we reached the counter, where the official informed us that our visas would only be granted for air travel. We pointed out that this restriction would prevent us from participating in their prestigious international motorsport event, so what were they going to do about it? After some discussion, we were asked to return at 1.30pm to meet the consul and explain our problem to his excellency.

It being already noon, we decided to indulge in another extended period of waiting, and at 1.30pm we were waiting outside for the doors to open – after which we enjoyed another hour of waiting to be served, while the will to live slowly ebbed away. Finally, and without meeting said consul, we were informed that our visas would be processed for road travel, and James’s would be amended. But, since the bank counter only opens in the morning, they couldn’t accept our application as we couldn’t pay…so we should come back again tomorrow, between 9am and noon. And then, of course, come back again in the afternoon after 1.30pm (OK let’s be realistic, 2.30pm) to collect the visas.

However, after the frustration of wasted hours in the Saudi Consulate, things could only get better, and they did. Gareth turned up from his base in darkest Ras Al Khaimah with our trailer! Unfortunately, this silver lining had its own cloud – our towball is 2” diameter, whereas the hitch is 50mm. The 0.8mm difference is just enough to stop it fitting, so tomorrow the towball takes a turn on the lathe of our local machine shop. Oh, and we can’t get a 7-pin socket for the trailer lights here – but after a quick call to Team Saluki’s Mark Powell, their tuning guru Mark Adams has been dragooned into bringing one out from the UK tomorrow.

Team FJ’s Dave Mabbs will be up at the Consulate tomorrow – but we’ve made sure he knows how to avoid the road-trip issue. Because, although there’s rivalry, there’s also a great deal of camaraderie between the three UAE teams heading for Hail.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Hail, Dakar and Ras Al Khaimah

HAIL BAJA UPDATE

Last week I picked up the 2009 international rally licences from ATC for Sheila, Lee and myself, as well as the carnets-de-passage for Sheila’s Prado and the race car. These are now required for the border crossing to Saudi Arabia, unlike previous years when a simple police permit sufficed. The visa authorisations for Lee and myself also came through, and finally today Sheila’s came through as well. So these are going into the Saudi Consulate tomorrow for stamping.

On the car front, the inbuilt QuickAir 3 compressor started making a horrible noise when we were inflating the tyres at the end of the UAEDC. I pulled it out and stripped it down, to find that the main motor shaft, about 13mm diameter, had sheared off next to the bearing! So rather than try to repair it, I have decided to install a dive cylinder and regulator. This gives us compressed air at 200bar, and will provide more than enough air than we can expect to need even for the Challenge. (Of course, having made that decision, I was then unexpectedly able to find a replacement motor for the QuickAir – typical!) So our local dive shop, Scuba Dubai, have done a great job testing the tank and installing the fittings we need.

Lee and I have done a shake-down in the car over part of the 2008 DC route, and he’s got to grips with the Terratrip and the road book. Rally gear to fit him is being begged and borrowed from various sources. Our shiny new Ifor Williams car-trailer is in the port, and Gareth will hopefully arrive with it on Monday. I need to fit a new stereo into the Prado as I fear we may run out of conversation before the 3600km trip is over, and Saudi radio is unlikely to provide any relief from the tedium!



HAPPENS-TO-THE-BEST-OF-US DEPARTMENT

Nice quote from Giniel de Villers, the South African winner of the 2009 Dakar in a VW Toureg:

"20km from the end of the stage, I crossed a sand dune and I really had bad luck waiting for me on the other side. We were in the wrong place and ditched right into a hole. I lost 20 minutes trying to get out. The front of the car is a bit bruised but the car is so sturdy... it’s incredible. I hurt my back more than I hurt the car. There was nothing I could do to avoid it. It was just bad luck. Of course, I am a bit disappointed because we have lost even more time. We just have a lot of bad luck. This is really not our Dakar!"

So next time it happens to you, console yourself with the thought that even the professionals get it wrong sometimes!

“This really is not our Dakar!” You reckon? Perhaps, reading that again from his top step of the Dakar podium, he might reflect that he was being unduly hard on himself that day!

RAK RALLY

Finally, the last event in the 2008 UAE Cross-Country Championship was held this weekend in Ras Al Khaimah. We were seeded 8th out of 12 competitors, only nine of whom showed up for the spectator prologue stage on Friday. One of them managed spectacularly to break the front drive shaft of his V8 Patrol by landing it nose first after a jump, whereas we managed a fairly tidy attempt at the twisty circuit and ended up 5th.

That left eight of us to contest three stages over some 100km on Saturday. Recent rainfall meant that the sand was firm, and we were happy to get 6th place behind the more powerful T1 vehicles – our main concern being not to break anything before Hail!

Raed Baker won the event in his tasty Mitsubishi L200 pickup, all space-frame and carbon-fibre, followed by Bin Humaidan in his V8 Toyota-engined GQ Patrol, with Glen Reid 3rd in his V8 GM-powered GU Patrol.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Hail Baja beckons!


On 2nd January, the SAMF issued the following press release:

SAUDI AND GCC ENTRANTS PREPARE FOR PUNISHING HA’IL SAUDI BAJA

2009 Ha’il Baja will not count for FIA Baja championship points

RIYADH (Saudi Arabia): A host of Saudi Arabian drivers have entered the forthcoming Ha’il Saudi Baja, which takes place in the north-central region of the Kingdom on January 26th-29th. The entry will be dominated by drivers from the host nation and other GCC countries this year.

The event is being organised by the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation under the patronage of HRH Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsen Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of Ha’il, President of the Supreme Commission for Ha’il Development and the Head of the Supreme Commission of the Ha’il Rally.

The FIA, motor sport’s governing body, have also confirmed that the 2009 Ha'il event will not count for FIA Baja championship points because of the restriction on female competitors taking part in a motor sport event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This means that competitors taking part in the FIA Baja series will have to wait until the Northern Forest Rally in Russia to kick-start their points-scoring campaign at the end of February.

"This decision by the FIA is regrettable, but totally out of our hands," insisted Mishaal Al-Sudairy, chairman of the organising committee. "However, we will continue to advance and improve our event which crosses some of the most challenging terrain in the world, with a view to re-entering the FIA series in 2010. We have good support from local drivers and several teams from other GCC countries have expressed their desire to compete in Ha’il.

“We received terrific feedback from several of the world’s top teams last year when we were a round of the FIA Baja series for the first time and that gives us great confidence going forward into 2010 and beyond. We have the scope in Saudi Arabia to run some of the most difficult and admired cross-country events in the world and this small set-back will not sway us from planning our future path in off-road rallying.”

What this means is that SAMF has informed the FIA that they will not allow Sheila’s participation, and the FIA has removed the event from the Baja Championship – which is what they said they would do. So if any of our readers were hoping to score Championship points at Hail, I’m sorry.

I had already started canvassing for a substitute (male) co-driver, and after numerous rejections, and with time running out, today finally Lee Marshall said he’d do it. Lee (pictured here driving the ‘toast-rack’) and I were partners on the Sweep Team for the 2006 UAE Desert Challenge, and we hit it off immediately. Now the strength of that friendship is about to be tested! Lee has plenty of off-roading experience although he’s never competed in motorsport, and he’s a keen cyclist and triathlete (i.e. a lot fitter than me) so he definitely gets the first turn on the shovel if we have to dig!

So our revised entry is going in to SAMF today, and hopefully the required visit visas won’t take too long to come through – we have exactly 20 days to get ready for our planned departure on 24th January. We’re also trying for a visa for Sheila as support crew – we’ll see what happens. So far they have 14 entries (of which only two are T2) and the details are here.

Our ‘to-do’ list is now more administrative than technical, although the QuickAir 3 compressor on the race car has died so I am getting a dive tank fitted instead, for which I need a regulator. The Prado needs a road pass for Saudi as well as a new CD player (it’s a long drive), the race car needs its annual test, and Lee needs a rally licence.

But at least I have a co-driver – welcome to NewTrix Racing, Lee!