So – now that the dust has settled, where does that leave us? 27 vehicles passed scrutineering, and we came 15th overall out of 16 finishers, which isn’t that great. But had we avoided the problems of day one, and kept up the same pace as we achieved on day 2, we’d have been around 5th overall. If only…
Overheating was still a problem on day 2, and although I could keep up with Dave Mabbs for a while, eventually I’d be forced to slow down when the temperature hit 115c. So after some discussions with Peter at Pacet (the fan manufacturer) we’re going for their 16” Profans in place of the 13” units, which were sized to suit the old Patrol-shaped radiator. If there’s space, we’ll also use one of their PowerVent bonnet fans to help extract the hot air from the engine compartment.
New bonnet pins have been fitted and I’m looking for a couple of high-mounted brake lights – it would be nice to get another pair like the existing ones and mount them in the rear doors.
The bad news is that Carwise – the garage that’s looked after my cars – is closing down at the end of February. Fortunately, Rick is staying in Dubai, and will have no problem finding another garage to work for. Since he knows the car better than anyone, it probably makes sense to use whichever garage he ends up at to provide service for the Desert Challenge. The DC is now only 4 weeks away and the clock is ticking.
An interesting conversation took place at Hail with an FIA representative. I was asked why Sheila was not competing, to which I replied that we'd applied and been turned down (again). This came as a surprise to him as (a) SAMF had signed a letter to the FIA confirming that women competitors would be allowed, and (b) SAMF had subsequently told the FIA that no women had applied! I suspect that the FIA may not be too happy to learn that the the Saudis have been economical with the truth.
Here are a few pics of us at the Hail Baja taken by Mohd Al Sultan. Click on the thumbnails to get the larger version.
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