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!

Game Over!

If guts, determination and sheer bloody mindedness were all that was required - we would be in Spain by now, waiting to go to Morocco. Unfortunately, some good luck was also required and that was sadly lacking!

Fruit managed to get as far as Montpelier in the south of France before the car just stopped. There had been the expected problems along the way but most were solved with a turn of a spanner whilst others required a little more ingenuity - fuel pumps wired via a cig lighter.

On Saturday morning Fruit was barrelling along when the engine cut out with no warning - this proved to be a problem too far. Despite numerous attempts to get the car going again both Fruit and his new French mechanic friends were stumped - game over!

It has been some adventure, and we have met and worked with some great people, but we just couldn't manage the happy ending we were after.

We would like to thank everyone who helped us with this project and hope everyone on the Tuareg has a great time - we'll be thinking of you!

Take Two

It is probably true to say that when most blogs should get interesting - they dry up for a while - either because people are two depressed to write anything or they are so busy they barely have time to sleep - let alone be vaguely creative. We are no exception - Fruit has been stupidly busy and I have been trying to keep him going. Also, we are now up to about Plan F is it is hard to keep track!

Anyway - enough excuses.

Fruit set off for Almeria again yesterday evening (Thursday) - take two! He originally left at lunch time on Tuesday - but didn't get very far. The car conked out and we had to call upon the services of the AA to get him home. First thing Wednesday morning, man and car headed over to Land Ranger Services in Middlewich courtesy of Shaun's tow truck (2 days and 2 tow trucks).

Some work was needed to the cylinder head, and water system in general, a wheel bearing and the brake calipers. It sounds very much (to me at least) that if the engine hadn't conked out a wheel would have fallen off!!! It's funny how things work out sometimes!

So, by Wednesday evening the car was going again - but vibration was something of an issue - so Thursday saw the engine mounts being replaced with more compliant ones and me searching for some gel gloves and some ear defenders!

Last seen (and lets face it he is hard to miss) in France and heading South!

Dunes and desert maintenance

Back to the Xmas trip......

We started the day camped under a palm tree by a dune, what we had assumed - the previous night - was "the middle of nowhere". In the morning our every move was observed by 5 kids and an old chap, who were quite keen on selling us something - but even more interested in not missing a single move we made. Initially I found this rather uncomfortable (largely because I wanted the loo), but once we had decided to engage it was really quite fun - especially when we turned the tables on them and subjected then to our version of the tea ceremony. They weren't too impressed and required about half a mug of sugar to make it palatable!

We eventually got underway and headed into the dunes on a bearing - found the first waypoint and relaxed a bit. This was our first experience of driving in the dunes and the light was terrible - really flat - so it was difficult to see where the holes were, which resulted in us ending up in a couple of precarious positions. But a bit of digging and some advice from the locals and we were soon back on the flat lands between the dunes drinking coffee and comparing landrovers.

We filled up the tank and the jerry cans and headed away from Mersouga and civilisation following a route from BD. There was no sign of tracks or villages on the map - but the GPS seemed to know where it was going as we headed further and further off the beaten track. About 4.30 we spotted a rather nice looking dune which looked as if it would offer some shelter and pullled over for the night. It would have been a nice early stop, apart from the fact that the vehicle check revealed a dodgy wheel bearing! Time to put Jim's pre-trip lesson into practice with some desert maintenance. So Fruit's first wheel bearing change was done miles from anywhere, in the sand and in the dark. Quite an eventful day.

Shopping

There's not just a car to think about you know - oh no. There are gizmos and gadgets (the trip meter and GPS I have mentioned already), there are video recorders and cameras, there are miscellaneous bits of kit, first aid kits and, of course, clothes! While Fruit has been ordering headlamps and intercoolers I have been buying clothes and today I received the first consignment of Up and Under rally team hats (which will, believe me, become collectors items - my dad is already after one). The fleeces and T-shirts are to follow.







Miscellaneous bits of kit








Speaking of clothes, there is also the small matter of a race suit. I wore one of these for one stage during the Tuareg in 2007 and hated it. Fruit, on the other hand, looks at his as a big romper suit and loves it. He thinks I should have one and I suppose he has a point - while I hope not to need one, having a chance of not being burned to a crisp in the event of a fire seems like a good idea. And I have capitulated with the boots (Asics don't yet make nomex training shoes - a possible gap in the market?) and gloves, but the jury is still out on the full suit .... shame they don't do a two piece.....!