Of studs and gesticulation

A steady day One in the dunes was much like watching Channel 4 in the UK. A few interesting moments but no major dramas. In Ian’s words “for the first 30 or so kilometres we overtook quite a few cars, some which were actually moving and only one of which was on its roof”. I’ve no idea who the first casualty was but apparently the driver flipped his car onto its roof just two kilometres into a 2500 kilometre race. In the words of the organisers “Thanks for the entry fees – the airport’s that way gentlemen”. Not a good start, but I’ve heard no reports of any injuries so I’m sure the occupants were OK.

After 30 kilometres or so Ian noticed that the oil pressure was a little low and the oil temperature a little high, so at the service point he sensibly stopped for a while to top up the oil and change the filter as a precaution. Special mention here for Mr Rick Carless, Newtrix’s Technical Director (he must be because that’s what his T shirt says) who has once again flown to Dubai at his own expense so that he can burn his hands, scrape his knuckles, become dehydrated and sun burnt, whilst groveling in the sand under the Patrol just to keep it in fine fettle. Rick, we salute you, you are a diamond. (Of course that could mean that he’s very expensive and you get little in return, but that’s not the case. Rick’s cheap as chips, and there’s more of him this year than ever before). And whilst we are on the subject of technical support, Rick’s left hand drive right hand man is Mr. Fred Santiago, rally support engineer, a.k.a. Service engineer, Al Thika Packaging LLC. I suspect Fred thought that helping his boss go motor racing for a week would be a cushy little brown nosing number. HA!! Fred is now learning that 22 working hour days filled with mindless boredom staring at sand dunes interspersed (87 points in scrabble?) with manic high pressure servicing moments, do not a cushy number make. You live and learn Fred, you live and learn.

So after changing the filter and kicking the tyres, Rick gave Ian and Sheila the all clear and they shot off into the desert at great velocity. A short while later, whilst minding their own business, bothering no-one and making fine progress, Ian saw our good friend, very experienced off roader and sweep team member Streaky (if you have to ask, you don’t want to know) gesticulating wildly in their direction. Now Streaky has been known to gesticulate for self amusement before but this particular gesticulation seemed aimed in Ian and Sheila’s direction, so naturally, Ian followed Streaky’s frantic “go this way” signals. The consequence of which was that Newtrix became almost immediately stuck in a sand bowl, from which it took Ian and Streaky approximately 30 minutes to extract the car. When asked why he had led them into a sand bowl, Streaky pointed out that Ian had noticed him long after he had started waving and subsequently turned long after he had intended Ian to change direction. I am of course a remotely located non witness to this event but I can’t help wondering if perhaps he could have stopped waving a little earlier? Note to Streaky; Gesticulation. It’s all in the timing mate.

Finally free from the bowl, once more their dognesses hurtled onward, only to note, after some time, that when exceeding 4000 rpm (a not uncommon scenario when driving in the desert) the car was mis-firing. Ian correctly diagnosed that in fact the fuel pump was giving problems and went to switch on the spare (it’s a race car – we fit them), only to discover that his knob had fallen off. Ian and Sheila were, quite understandably, shocked at this development (it‘s only fair to point out that Sheila was perhaps more disappointed than shocked). You see the bezel, which secures the fuel pump selector knob to the dashboard, had shaken loose due to the constant vibration within the race car, and the knob had fallen inside the dashboard. “No problem” thought Ian, “I’ll just pull over here and reach inside the dashboard to retrieve it”. A minute or two later, with the knob firmly grasped in one hand, he was able to twist it in the required direction and all was well again. Until that is, he went to pull away from the “now you tell me” soft sand in which he had parked. Unfortunately the car became bogged down for a while, but much use of sand ladders and earthy language later, the hounds were off after the rabbit.

Then they raced, chased, climbed, descended, cheered, cursed, hurtled, yadda, yadda, yadda and arrived at the finish line. (See how the last two hours only took a couple of lines – impressive!)

So Newtrix ended the day in 17th place with no major damage. The front cross member was slightly bent in “Streaky Bowl” but it’s like a ‘mascara edition’ of Cosmopolitan; it’s a mainly cosmetic issue. Less cosmetic is the problem of the shaking loose of the bolts which secure the front hubs to the drive shaft. Having a wheel fall off a car at high speed is not a lot of fun. Ask me how I know. (Been there, got the T shirt and special edition underpants to prove it) Rick drove almost 300kms this evening to Madinat Zayed, location of the nearest Nissan dealer to the race bivouac, only to find that they had just 2 of the special studs needed to secure the hubs. Yours truly is hoping to be able to buy a dozen of them tomorrow in Dubai and then to find a way of getting them 400kms down to the bivouac by tomorrow evening. So a typical day for the Desert Challenge then.

In other local news, Fadi Melky / Dane Novarlic in Fadi’s wonderful Strange Rover is in 10th place. Good job guys. Malcolm Anderson / Patrick McMurren (Team Dune Raider – Ansell) are in 20th (I’ll take all the credit for that thanks – my old Rangie chassis and I showed Patrick the DC co-driver ropes ;-). Dave “Broke Back” Mabbs and Andy “Didn’t I learn the first time I co-drove for him” Robinson retired early with engine problems in their FJ Cruiser. Their crew are battling against the clock to find the problem and rectify it. Mark Powell’s Predator buggy burst into flames, or rather the spare tyres mounted above the exhaust did, damaging the throttle cable and other engine components in the process. The car is at the bivouac and they hope to continue tomorrow – with the spare tyres relocated!

Photos today are of yesterday’s prologue. A theme which may continue for some time given the absence of any internet connection down at the bivouac.

That’s all folks. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode…….