STOP PRESS
As of 11.45pm local UAE time the official race website results show Ian and Sheila placed FIFTH overall in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2010 and SECOND in the T1, modified 4x4 category. And since this is the first event of the 2010 Cross Country World Cup, that means that an 'old dog' and his young friend are currently, officially, the second best specialist 4x4 drivers in the world. So no pressure tomorrow then.
The trouble with having live tracking of the race on your PC is that it’s difficult to get any work done. When I checked at around mid-day today Ian and Sheila were FLYING round the stage – they were in third place for well over two hours, which was exciting, so I kept checking. Then the signal from the car disappeared! I thought the worst, even thinking at one point that if they were upside down, the GPS aerial would be covered and that this might be the problem. I rang Rick and he hadn’t seen them pass, and I started to worry. So I checked more and more often, despite being rudely interrupted by customers and staff on more than one occasion. Have they no sense of priority!
Eventually the satellite tracking showed me that Newtrix were in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which I must admit surprised me, and I calculated that they’d been traveling at approximately 2,000 kilometres per hour. Or Mach 1.5. Now that’s impressive. I was concerned that at those speeds Ian might have had the usual engine problems but apparently not – 15 minutes later I checked back in and they’d returned to Liwa. Given that most of the competitors covered just 380 kms today whilst Ian and Sheila appear to have covered close to four thousand, I think they’ve earned a drink. God only knows when they stopped to refuel. I’ll have another word with Sheila about calibrating the trip meter more carefully though. To be honest, she really should have noticed that degree of error.
Anyway once normal tracking service had been resumed, it seemed clear to me that something was afoot. It turned out to be the fleshy, toey thing on the end of my leg. Not only that, but Ian had slowed down. And that’s not an expression with which I’m particularly familiar. By now Team Saluki and a couple of the other front runners had clearly retired for the day so I knew if their Dognesses could cross the finish line, they’d be in a good position for tomorrow’s race.
Another call to Rick confirmed my fears, they’d see the race car go past but a bent tie rod meant that the front wheels were pointing in different directions, causing major drag on Ian’s strength, to keep it moving straight ahead, on the power steering pump, the tyre walls and almost certainly, Ian’s patience. He drove the last three hours of the race like this, finishing after a grueling seven and a half hours behind the wheel, and tells me he’s unlikely to go to the gym tonight. No need really.
And here’s another wonderful benefit of satellite tracking. Early in the day Rick called me to say “are you near a computer, can you tell me where they are? Bear in mind that Rick was at the time located around 600kms from my office and staring at a fairly large sand pit in which he was trying to observe a single car. Silly Boy. A quick check on the system told me that Ian and Sheila had passed the point where Rick was stood about an hour earlier. Upon relaying this information Rick was heard to say “Christ, I’d better go or we’ll never catch them back up” and since he was driving a similar car to Ian’s but on flat tarmac, that gives you some idea how fast Ian was driving.
Ian told me this evening that Sheila has now definitely got the hang of cutting corners at waypoints. By turning at the moment the GPS picks up a waypoint signal and tells the co-driver it's been 'collected', which is typically around 250m before reaching the exact point itself, Sheila is able to give Ian advanced notice of 'short cuts' which means not having to slow down, taking wider turns much faster. This can add up to several minutes saved by the end of the day. "Way to go Sheila" Of course she had a good tutor. Modesty forbids me from mentioning his full name. Tim something or other.
The photos above, of Ian and Sheila racing on Day 1 (note - no chicken wire grille)were kindly supplied by The Right Honourable Mr. Craig McAteer, who writes and takes photos for a Dubai based rally team named after a dog. Hang on a minute.......Deja Vu all over again.
Other local team news:
Desert FJ never started the day – they damaged the front diff in yesterday’s heavy landing (a.k.a. ‘crash’) and since they drive the only FJ Cruiser in the country fitted with a manual gearbox, the available diffs are the wrong spec so they drove to the start line, turned round and came back. Failing to start would mean exclusion from the race. They incur maximum penalties this way but can still race tomorrow if they succeed in repairing the car
Team Saluki were on a mission in the morning, driving even faster than Newtrix (only just). But 3kms after the service point the steering pump pulley shattered, leaving them with no way of running the water pump or alternator. Having no cooling and no battery is a bad situation to be in, so they made the smart decision to return to the service point, then to the bivouac on tarmac, thus avoiding getting stuck in the desert. Smart move, no matter how galling it is to pull out of the race day halfway through
Fadi Melki is apparently still struggling through the desert as I write this. I don’t know what the problem is but Fadi is not the sort to ever give up (frankly, no-one who races in the desert would last long if they gave up easily) so I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow.
Malcolm and Mark’s “Ansell Chassis Racer” completed the stage in a grueling NINE hours. I know from personal experience how hard it is to keep up the momentum driving an old Classic Rangie in the desert and I don’t doubt that they’ll be shattered. But they made it – a creditable achievement on such a grueling stage.
Emile and Patrick pulled out of the day’s stage at PC2 with mechanical problems and I had a call from Patrick, whom I “taught the DC ropes” to along with Sheila and Mark, asking for my advice about race regulations as they drove back.
Isn’t technology wonderful – enjoying satellite tracking and offering regulations advice whilst 600 kms from the race in air conditioned comfort. And I get to have a proper shower and sleep in my own bed. THIS is the way to do the Desert Challenge!
Woooooooooooff, I’m outta here
No comments:
Post a Comment