Motorsport is dangerous and today we found out how dangerous!

Thursday 12th November
Time: 21:45hrs
Distance: u/k
Rally Position: u/k

Today there were 5 stages ranging between 10kms and 28kms each. The altitude really took Colin's breath away and he gasped for power struggling between 2nd and 3rd gear throughout most of the morning as we
climbed into the middle Atlas mountains.

Colin developed a fault early in the morning in that the starter-motor decided to stop working and so for the rest of the day we stopped on hills where there was a slope down. Given the fact that we're in the middle of the mountains, not so difficult to find!

The stages have been tight and fast and we've really needed to push on, travelling over broken roads and water-splashes en route.

On two occassions the road seemed to tighten upon us and Colin held on to the last levels of grip. It's been a scary run.

On one of the stages, one of the two Citroen DS cars left the high mountain road and the driver has been killed.

Apparently he was struck by the in-car fire extinguisher and died instantly, despite the efforts of crews on the scene and the local police and ambulance services. His wife is at the hospital and news is scarce.

We're currently waiting for a drivers briefing.

Daily Colin Score: 6/10 Starter-motor fell apart, brakes failed, upper rev misfire.

Friday 13th November
Time: 18:15hrs
Distance: 290miles
Rally Position: u/k

After the death yesterday, all 5 planned stages for today have been cancelled and today became a transit day towards the Sahara.


To be honest for those of you that don't know, I am an ex-policeman and dealing with death was an all too frequent part of the business, so Ces and I are not as shocked as many on the event.

There are timed stages tomorrow, but in effect the puncture that dropped us from 1st in class to 5th will have cost us the win. In the bigger scheme of things, its irrelevant and we're both glad to be alive.

On the stages that weren't cancelled yesterday we put in some blinding times and have moved up to 2nd in class behind the Morris Land Crab.

On a cheerier note, Colin is running fantastically well! The starter-motor had shaken itself apart, so last night it was stripped and re-built and it works! We fitted some Mintex competition pads and bloody hell do they work!! A new set of sparkplugs solved the misfire and the car has never been so solid and ready to race. My intention is to push, push and push some more, you never know in rallying! I have 5 stages tomorrow and 1 on the final day, Sunday.