More of the same, but at a new location along the Al Faqa Road - right where the old Desert Challenge route used to pass en route to the Dubai finish. Once again I was starting alongside Ali Al Ketbi, but this time I beat him off the line and headed into the dunes with the green machine in hot pursuit. The first section ran through some easy dunes, and although I lost the lead running wide on a turn, I was straight back past him when we reached the gravel subkha . The next section was very technical and didn't give him much chance to get back at me - until I made a dire navigational error and ended up on the moto route!
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| Just passing by.. |
Rather than turn round and retrace my tracks, I decided to carry on, which was a mistake - the moto track continued through some challenging dunes, whereas the auto track turned back across the subkha. I was beginning to think this nightmare would never end, but eventually I was back at the start/finish straight, but almost a lap behind Al Ketbi. Towards the end of the race, I was hearing some unhappy noises from the rear, and getting a lot of axle tramp - one of the upper control arm bushes had died.
With a new radiator cap, the engine temperatures have reduced by around 10 deg. C. - the old one wasn't holding the pressure any more. Even at 5000rpm in 2nd gear we were around 90 C, which is OK.
So once again Newtrix were 2nd in T1, and 3rd overall in the auto division. Looking back, I should have stayed behind Al Ketbi till the last lap and then got past him on the subkha. It's annoying, because I haven't been able to translate the Beast's superior speed into a win...yet.
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| David McBride, Nick Massey, me, Emil Khneisser, Ali Al Ketbi. |
The control arm has been replaced at Nanjgel, and we only have a couple of electrical jobs to finish - the main one being re-wiring the wipers. Then I want to get the exhaust modified to stop the back end of the Beast getting covered in soot.
Video of the event here.
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