EMSF Desert Championship Round 1 - 03/10/2014

I was planning on driving solo when my old mate Ali Mirza – formerly co-driver for Mansour Al Helei – rang up and asked if I wanted a co-driver.  So that was settled, and I met up at scrutineering which the Beast passed with flying colours (hurrah!).

When I reached the start there wasn’t really anywhere to park, so I pulled the trailer onto the sand.  I should have known better - that really was the triumph of hope over experience, and of course I was stuck and so was the trailer.  Wonderful.  And it was hot.  Bloody hot.

 

 

At drivers' briefing there is a respectful minute's silence in memory of  Cameron Waugh, the tragic victim of this year's Desert Challenge. Then we’re off, second car, 30 seconds behind Mark Powell, following a different course from the 90-odd bikes.  It’s supposed to be marked with triangles, we’re following Mark but there aren’t any triangles…..quick look round….found the route….Marks’s turned round…and now we’re heading on the right direction, and right on Mark’s tail.  Result!

 

Did I mention it was hot?  It was hot.  I made a half-hearted attempt to pass Mark but – well, it was hot.  Then we pass Emil’s Patrol, stuck behind a dune, so that’s at least someone who’s having a worse day than me.  After a couple of laps of the 14km circuit, ( by which time the thermometer has gone from ‘hot’ to ‘sweltering’)  I make a mistake and land heavily, after which the car doesn't seem to be steering properly.  Better stop at service and see if the front axle has fallen off or something.

 

 

Fought my way through a pitlane crowded with people, kids, cars, chairs.  Stopped,  got out, but found nothing obviously untoward.  Got back in and discovered the transfer box had jumped out of 4WD – bugger!  Just wasted 5 minutes, and if my brain hadn’t been completely fried I might have thought of that.

 

So now I’m waaaay behind, no sign of Mark, I’m even behind Mansoor Parol’s ancient yellow Pajero which started behind me - but I’ve lost the will to try and get past because it’s so damned hot.  Will this nightmare never end?  Let’s just try and finish, eh?

Which eventually we do.  I celebrate by sitting slumped limply in some shade, emptying bottles of cold water over my head and down my throat, thinking ‘how the hell do I get the trailer out of the sand?’  Ali tells me we’ve won, silly sod, of course we can’t have won anything (except perhaps the wooden spoon.)

But it turns out that Mark retired just after me when his lady co-driver almost passed out from the heat (did I mention the heat?), Emil got stuck three times, and the Pajero was also a lap of two behind me as well.  So actually all that came in ahead of me were a couple of buggies and Mansour Al Helei (T2).  Which makes Newtrix Racing first in T1!  25 points and a trophy, thank you very much!

Would have been nice to have some pix of the podium, but The Phantom Blogger, who was supposed to be there photographing it, was otherwise engaged at the time, up to his armpits in sand trying to extricate his Disco.  (Then he had to help me retrieve the trailer, it really wasn't his lucky day...)

Anyway, we get to do it all over again on 24^th October, when hopefully the weather will have cooled down a tad (I did mention the heat, didn’t I?) and Sheila will return to the co-driver's seat. 

(Photo credits: Darren Rycroft, Tim Ansell, and someone else)