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!
(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!
