Ready for the off

We fly tomorrow and take the ferry on Sunday - assuming the car arrives.  As with all events of this type it has been a little fraught leading up to the off but we hope taht we are ready now.

Just before the car went Crewe Alex added some sport kit to the trainers we had collected from South Cheshire Harriers - see picture below.

Now it is a bit of a waiting game, registration and scruitineering on Sunday, ferry overnight then Africa.

If you have travelled on a cross channel ferry you would not recognise a ferry to Morocco.  Firstly it takes all day to load, it is not full of shiney shops and the food is not cordon bleau, BUT it does take you to the magical lands.

With luck scruitineering will be the normal lights on, lights off type of thing then by mid morning Sunday we will be racing.  After that it will be full on for the next week.

Wish us lluck, feel free to comment on the posts and we'll try to get as much as possible up during the race.

Fruit

Tuareg 2010

Ok I know it has been a while since I posted something, but that is rallying, calm followed by total panic.  Latest news is that the car is on a transporter somewhere between Crewe and Almeria.  We travel to Morocco on Sunday and start racing on Monday.

The race route is Nador, Missour, Mersouga, Missour, Nador, Almeria, Mojacar, finishing Monday 22nd March.

This year there is an added dimension as we are delivering sports shoes, equipment and kit to Missour for distribution to the local youngsters this has been coordinated by The Up and Under Foundation with assistance from the South Cheshire Harriers and Crewe Alex FC.

We hope to keep this page updated during the race with results and comments.

cheers
Fruit

Instead of the Dakar

Taking full advantage of the recent chilly weather Andy and Simon set out to dig themselves a mountain top retreat. So the weather started off fine, but soon deteriorated. But with a bit of shovel work (about 4 tonne) a home was excavated and the kettle put to good use.
For those with a head for the figures the snowhole had two entrances, three rooms, two wardrobes. was 7m from front to back and had a maximum span of 2.5m. The snow was over a metre thick over the highest part of the cave. The temperature inside was a consistent zero degrees whilst outside it was horrible!

Sahara Masters - Victory

I am sorry it has taken so long but real world seems to be getting in the way but there was good news in our October outing.

We had an uncharacteristic trouble free win in the K2 class at the recent Sahara Masters Rally. The move from modified Land Rover, Defender to the Desert Warrior XLR kit car proved to be a great success. In the past we had spent more time repairing the Defender than driving it, in this rally it was so different!

The rally held in Tunisia covered a range of piste and dunes and attracted a field of drivers and riders from Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, Serbia as well as three Brits.

The longest stage in the rally was a 355km special where the K1 and K2 classes combined. Interestingly the K2 cars beat their big brothers in the pro class by quite a margin.

The car handled like a dream. Paul (at Rally Raid UK) said it would be good in the dunes, but the biggest joy was the way it handles the piste sections, flicking through twisty sections with ease. I suppose the fact that the dune sections were so uneventful as to be forgettable gives credence to Paul’s assertion. The only minor hiccups we had were caused by our mistakes; wrong tyre pressures and forgetting to put the diff lock back in after a road section ;o) Other drivers commented that they were unable to follow our tracks in the sand. I put this down to the engine power and manoeuvrability of the car. Some less generous mentioned my tendency to follow the route for a while then to head of seeking the most fun route, but hey if you can, why not.

Our plan had been to go hard from the start then defend a lead and it worked out very well. The main competition was provided by two significantly modified Pajaeros who kept pressing to the end, but were unable to close the gap we had earlier built up. Andy Tank was very sporting earlier in the rally giving us a tug off a crest, but he was running a car cooled as a result of a couple of relays we donated, so fair’s fair.

Other cars in the race included a Range Rover, a T2 Nissan, a Jeep, a couple of Toyotas and a Disco that had a catalogue of incidents including crashing into the duty free shop in Tunis.

Rally Raid were helpful with preparation of the car and with supply of spares, cheers for the assistance, we look forward to racing with you all in Morocco.

Shrek Guest Appearance

Our new rally car, christened Shrek by Lorna - Big, Green and tough -has recently had a holiday, spending three weeks in the Blue Bell BMW showroom in Crewe. Being as beautiful as it is, it no doubt attracted lots of attention. I imaging the shiny new BMWs were a little intimidated ;o)

Friday 9th October. We are on our way. we travelled to Folkstone then through the tunnel
attracting lots of comments wherever we went.

The first picture is of a bit of work being done on the drive before we left and this seemed, as ever, to be the theme of the trip. Upon stopping at a garage in central France we discovered that we had a little fuel leak, from the fuel cooler, bet some of you never knew such a thing existed, well I do and I know where it is, how to take it off and bodge it up with a variety of glues, thanks Glen!

The leak, almost, fixed we set off again and reached our goal just outside Chamonix for the
night. Good night and get some zeds. Next day it was through the Mont Blanc Tunnel and off to Italy where we are currently.

On arrival we realised that the back of the truck is getting really quite hot. Before we left we drilled some holes on the advice of BD. It seems we didn't go far enough so with a little help from the maintenance team at the 'Business Hotel' in Casale Monferrato we were going at it with a will. The back will not keep the rain out but should let the heat out from the radiator. We'll soon see.
Tomorrow we set off early for Genoa and the ferry to Tunisia. This is where all the fun really starts. scrutineering, roadbooks, waying up the opposition and Africa.

Can't wait.
I'll update this whenever I get a chance.
Results may be on www.sahara-masters.de we are car 112 in KAT 2
Fruit and Lorna

Back on the Road

Desert racing is a world inhabited solely by optimists. In this spirit we are planning our next adventure which will be the Sahara Masters Rally. 2 weeks in tracks and dunes in Tunisia. When possible I will try to keep this blog up to date with our exploits.

The car has had a few mods includingthe addition of a 3.0l BMW diesel engine, initial impressions of which are very good ;o)

Additional modifications are additional storage in the back, and a change from Terratip to Peltor intercom.

Fimgers crossed this will be a happier story than our last attempt.

One last thing the car has a new name; it's big, green, powerful, a bit grumpy but a good sort underneath.......Shrek!