Passing Places

Peking-to-Paris

2010-09-04T08:42:00.001+01:00

Hi blog fans,

Well here's some news.... Colin is sitting this one out and instead we're taking Fugly, the 1938 Chevrolet Coupe on a 15,600kms rally from Peking to Paris over a 6 week period. Please be sure to follow our adventures at the sister site www.38chevyp2p.blogspot.com

See you all soon (I hope!)
Clive and Ces

Saturday to the Final Result.

2009-11-17T22:51:00.000Z

Saturday 14th November
Time: n/a
Distance: 360miles
Rally Position: 3rd in class, 12th overall

Today there were 6 planned stages ranging between 20kms and 58kms each. All of them involved high mountain passes on roads of varying standards.

Again the altitude really took its toll on Colin and I constantly struggled to get the motor up on the cam and pull us up the intense
climbs. Each time we hit the power-band around 5,000rpm, the issue then became how tight was the next bend and how big the drop-off!

The 1st stage went fairly well, although the lack of power was a constant cause of frustration. I had 6 stages to catch the Morris Land Crab and re-take the 1st in class position, lost due to our puncture earlier in the event. It was going to be literally an up-hill-task!
Having reached the top of a mountain some 2,000 meters high, we re-assembled to be re-timed on the way down. It was at this point
that the newly fitted competition pads came into their own and we took 45 seconds out of our up time!

The 3rd stage was another up-hill struggle and again, Colin felt as though he lacked the grunt. And then a real blow, the final 3 stages were
cancelled apparently due to safety concerns. With those stages went any chance of a recovery for us to 1st place and so we needed
to secure our joint 2nd place position against a 123 Volvo Amazon.

By the time we arrived at the nights final check-point it was a pitch black sky and we'd crossed the high Atlas mountain plain.

The scores were posted late that night and we'd dropped into 3rd place against the Volvo.....

We're 4 seconds from the 2nd in class position and tomorrow we'd have 3 stages to make up the time.

Daily Colin Score: 8/10 Starter-motor needed re-soldering and fuel leak from pipes near carbs.

Sunday 15th November
Time: 17:43
Distance: 230miles
Rally Position: Unknown at time of writing!

Well we knew today that we had to take 4 seconds from the Volvo in a 3 stage day. The first news.... stage 3 was cancelled, so I had
2 stages to take the time back, one down-hill and one up.... The up-hill would be the issue, so we stripped the car of all weight possible
and left it at the hotel.

Stage 1 was very fast for us even with big drops, and I used clutch-slip to keep the car on the cams. This caused silence from my
navigator before an eventual outburst of "if you kill me, I'll haunt you forever".. She kept her nerve and only on one occassion
did the back step-out big time.. The stage was a slower affair, as this involved more up-hill and Colin just isn't keen. I pushed as hard
as I could but at the time of writing, I really don't know.

We saw the Daihatsu crashed out on a blind bend into a local truck and we know that that car was part of the leading team.

Our team, "Team Trotter" consists of Colin-the-Cortina, the Porsche RS and the Morris 1800 Land Crab. The Land Crab is leading
our class and the Porsche is now overall rally leader after the exit of the Daihatsu, who knows, we may win the team prize!

Daily Colin Score: 9/10... We made the full distance, just now need some silverware and the long-haul home to Oxfordshire!

Monday 16th November
Time: n/a
Distance: n/a
Rally Position: Read below

Well, as we expected after the punture we were unable to catch the Morris 1800 Land Crab and that went on to take 2nd place in the Classics category behind the Porsche RS which took 1st place.....

As for Colin?

We beat the Volvo by 1 second pushing us into 2nd in class, however as the Morris took 2nd place in the senior classic that excluded them from our class!!!

Ladies and Gents, particularly those from the Lotus Cortina Register and Buy Sell Cortina, we're 1st in Class!!!! And the LC also was part of the team trophy as well!

As I write from our hotel in Burgos, Spain we've travelled back from South of Casablanca, spent last night in Gibraltar, tomorrow in Southern France ansd then home. Colin is running like a dream! More pics to follow and thanks for all your support!

Regards
Clive, Ces and of course Colin-the-Cortina!

Motorsport is dangerous and today we found out how dangerous!

2009-11-13T18:29:00.000Z

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.

Tuesday we got stoned and today we feel deflated!

2009-11-11T19:39:00.000Z

Tuesday 10th November
Time: n/a
Distance: u/k
Rally Position: 1st in class, 4th overall

After an early start we left the comfort of our hotel in Ronda and headed to Algeciras in order to catch our ferry to Tangier.

All the cars made the ferry in time and some 100 classic cars left Europe, passing Gibraltar and headed out to Africa. As we passed Gibraltar
I thought, I can see my house from here... Although it was actually obscured by the many cranes that are currently transfering the old Naval city.

Some 2 1/2 hours later we arrived in Morocco and were placed in a holding area by the officials. To keep a long story short after only 2 hours of form
filling and general bullshit, we were all on our way and heading towards the first time trial in Africa. Unfortunately the long snake of cars attracted
the wrong kind of attention and by the time we arrived at some of the smaller villages the local 'youth' had armed themselves with a selection of
rocks and stones and proceeded to try and take out the windscreens. Several cars were hit including ours, one lost a winscreen and several
suffered dents and scratches but luckily no damage was done to Colin, such was the build quality of the Dagenham dustbin!

By the time we arrived at the stage it was complete darkness and I mean total darkness! No street lamps or orange city glowing in the distance,
just pitch-black.... Well it was until we used the spotlights, plus headlights... 7 in total literally turned night into day and we knew we had a siginifcant
advantage. The stage went well, but I have to say that a big previous night in Ronda, combined with an early start and a long drive had taken there
toll and by the time we arrived at our next hotel, somewhere in Morocco, I was simply pleased to have arrived safely.

In summary for Tuesday, we got stoned but held our position.

Daily Colin Score: 9/10 (Replaced track rod arm)

Wednesday 11th November
Time: 19:30hrs
Distance: huge
Rally Position: 5th in class, 18th overall.

What can I say...... today there were 5 stages, all of varying length. We were very pleased with the first 4 and quite happily continuing to lead our
class. It was whilst on the final stage of the day that it all went wrong!

We were pushing hard on a sweeping left hand bend, when I felt the back breakaway, luckily I was able to recover it and keep the car under control.
I immediately knew that we had a puncture on the rear off-side (drivers). The decision was do we stop and change the wheel, which we practice
and takes 4 minutes or do we push on? Now normally, in a "proper rally" you know how long the stage is, but on this event we don't always get the
stage distance, so all we knew was that it was between 5kms and 28kms. If it was only 5kms and tyre change was put us last, but if it was 28kms
we were not sure it would last the distance. I found that I could still hit 80 - 90mph on the straights and make the right-hand bends at speed and
under power. The left-hand bends were as scary as hell though, with the back stepping out big time.....

An instant decision was required and as the driver it was my call...... We pushed on and the stage ended-up being the full 28kms! The funny thing is
we still weren't the slowest car on the stage!

The final result at close today is that we've slipped down the leader board to 5th in class from 1st.. To say I am deflated, is an under-statement but
there are 4 stages tomorrow and anything can happen, as the Datsun 240Z found when he left the road and ended-up nose down a 6 foot gully. He
was lucky, because some of the drops today were over 800 feet straight down!

Three wheels on my wagon!

Daily Colin Score: 5/10 - A spotlight fell out and punctured the tyre, also had to change the other track rod arm, plus boiled over!

Are we there yet?

2009-11-09T19:20:00.002Z

Well blog fans, today we travelled another 900+kms and bloody hell does it feel like it!

Arrived in Ronda, drank Cava, nothing to report...... tired!

Oh, look a red squirrel?

2009-11-08T18:36:00.002Z

Saturday 7th November 2009
Time: n/a
Distance Travelled: 682km
Rally Position: u/k
Location: Le Mans

Our start time for the first day of the rally was originally 08:24hrs, but a missing car and a full line-up forced the organisers to bring the times forward. Consequently we were up very early in preparation for our new start time of 07:53hrs and woke into an un-forecast dry day!

We were waved off from the line outside the front of the hotel and made our way to the first of two planned trials for the day. The first stage
was through some very slippery forest, made worse by the recent torrential rain and we were warned to take it easy. I mention this because taking it easy was taken literally by some people.... We were spaced at one minute intervals, to ensure we wouldn't catch the car in front. In my case the car in front being a Citroen DS Safari spec.

5,4,3,2,1.... you get the idea.... We were away and instantly sideways off the line, such was the level of grip or lack of it. I must say the trees always look smaller on the television! Ces shouted the instructions, which were a lot more basic than convential pace notes and I pushed as hard as I dare on day-1 of the 3,000+ mile event.

After 4 minutes into the stage, there he was, taking it easy.... The Citroen was having a lovely drive in the countryside and it wasn't even a Sunday.

Now as some of you know my Cortina is a London-to-Sydney replica and as part of that pack it carries 5 x spot-lights, plus the 2 standard headlamps. Hoping it would set his car ablaze, I flicked the switch and the early morning gloom instantly became a mid-Summers lunchtime! Did it have an effect? Did it bugger. Could I get past, nope, did he pull over? No. So we followed this individual all round the forest. Do you know I thought I saw a red squirrel but my wife assures me, it was red mist!

When we pulled-up behind him at the stage, he seemed genuinely shocked that another car was behind him. Later he enquiried, "Did I hold you up?"
and "Oh well you were still in within the time"..... More follows on this but later!

Not all the cars escaped un-damaged and this Jaguar S-Type was one of them...

From the1st stage we made our way to stage 2, which was again another forest stage but this time a lot more open and gave the ability to really push
hard. I made sure I arrived before Capt Slow in his DS and this time really nailed it. Timings to follow, but it was quick and I saw 90mph at one point,
luckily my wife didn't!

Having successfully completed both stages, it was now time to head off to Le Mans for night, or was it!?!?!

The organisers had decided what we really needed was a longer day, so once off the ferry instead of turning right for Le Mans and the hotel, we all turned
left for Belgium! Some 90mins later we arrived at the venue and stage 3 was on! This stage was all closed roads around and enormous farming complex.
It was a full-blown tarmac stage and there was no doubt, the Porsche, Lotus Elan and Corvette Stingray etc were going to shine.

Once again a strict re-start order was imposed and this meant I was going to start behind my old mate in his Citroen DS. My wife assured me that the
tarmac would really suit him and his car and that all we had to do was come in under the set time. I watched as the DS took off from the line like a
proper rally car and thought, oh well, mud and woods aint his thing.

Our turn came and we moved to the start line.... 5,4,3,2,1 and away we went.

Now some of you have met my wife and will therefore know that she actually gets car sick and I first got her to become a navigator for me by lying to her
and saying things like "No, it's nothing like on the telly, it's more of a treasure hunt"... I do remember that 10 minutes into her first 3,000kms rally
her saying "You b*stard, I f*cking hate you, you lied to me, I f*cking hate this" or some words like that. However the subsequent victory that followed,
stopped all her intitial concerns!

Anyway back to Belgium... As we screamed away from the line, the Twin-Cam hitting 7,000rpm my instructions were very slow in coming... I enquired in a
gentle and subtle manner and was advised that she was not happy reading the notes because she couldn't watch my driving which was scaring her....
A brief conversation was had and I promptly was told "Turn left here", tricky in 3rd gear and at 70mph. Anyway once I reversed back to the junction and
made the turn all was well, until "No, turn here"... This time I managed to smoke the wheels whilst reversing! As you can imagine I could see the clock
ticking away and with it any chance of a win. I was then told "Push harder", now whilst I would normally give my right-arm to hear a women uttering this
phrase I was by now fairly uptight... I did as told and pushed. As I rounded the last corner to make the time, there was he was having the time of his
life now on a lovely driving holiday in Belgium rather than Kent! It was my mate in his DS and this time on tarmac he was doing all over 20mph, looking at
the views I suppose. Imagine his surprise when the rather nasty, agressive man in the Cortina came up behind him, air-horns blasting and squeezing
through a very small gap at around 70mph.... I said to Ces "Do you think he saw me that time?"

Before the off in Belgium

Saturday night ended, very late, wet and dark in Le Mans arriving at around 9pm, we'd both had enough by the time we arrived!

Sunday 8th November
Time: 19:30hrs
Distance: 894kms
Rally Position: 1st in class, 4th overall.
Location: Burgos, Spain.

Today was simply a transit day from Le Mans to Burgos. Nothing exciting to report, except when I brake the car is all over the road! Too tired tonight, will have to fix in Ronda tomorrow.

Oh, by the way... my mate in the DS dropped me from 1st to 4th.. I've not seen him yet, but will do in the bar later! I'll let you know how it went tomorrow!

There'll be blue birds over.....

2009-11-06T17:30:00.001Z

Friday 6th November 2009
Time: 17:00hrs.
Distance: 140miles
Rally Position: n/a
Location: Kent

Well it's 5pm, we've arrived safely at the hotel in Kent, passed scrutineering and set the Brantz to the locally measured kilometre.

The drivers and navigators briefing is at 10pm tonight and I've managed to find the bar, which is always good. Good that is unless you're my navigator who has just discovered that the start time tomorrow has been pulled forward and we're now off the line at 07:53HRS.

The car park already has quite a collection of rain soaked cars, including two Datsun 240Z's, which I have to say is a worry for me. Those that followed the blog earlier this year, know that before our engine let go, we were always playing chase the 240! Also there is a Peugeot 205 GTi and whilst not in our class, looks fantastic, together with a Porsche 911RS.

Tiger... or pussycat?

The forecast for tomorrow is rain, rain and more rain, so at least the more powerful cars, including a Mustang and Corvette Stingray, will not be able to lay the power down.

The first two timed stages tomorrow are through local forests, before we head to the ferry at Dover and onto France and Le Mans.

The car is running well and no faults to report.

Colin Daily Score = 10/10

In support of our military personnel...... www.talking2minds.co.uk

2009-11-05T17:45:00.002Z

Thursday 5th November 2009
Time: n/a
Distance: n/a
Rally Position: n/a
Location: Oxfordshire

For those of you new to the blog, hello and welcome. For those of you returning, welcome back!

A lot's happened since the last Endurance Rally from Tunis to El Gouna, Egypt (scroll down to take a look at that event).

The last rally taught us a huge amount about motorsport, even at this low level. The first thing I learnt, is how bloody expensive it is! And how with a classic car you fix one thing, then another part breaks.

Apart from blowing the engine last year, we also managed to crack the A-pillars on both sides of the screen, meaning a very big re-weld was required. Once that started we found out just how much rust we'd been carrying across the desert with us!

Anyway, the car has now had;
The engine rebuilt and driven for 1,500 miles without issue.
New front springs (150lbs) lowering the car for this rally which is mainly tarmac.
XR4 gearbox.
Re-jetted carbs (now 112bhp at rear-wheels)
New road spec rear diff.
Upgraded brakes.
And we've virtually finished the work that makes the car a replica of the Roger Clark 1968 London-to-Sydney works car.

Over the year the car has been driven in anger at The Rally Show Chatsworth House

Tested on the circuit at RAF Abingdon, where we learnt that the hard suspension and super grippy Dunlop rally tyres were not a good combination!

Got invited to show the car at Lotus HQ in Hethel and found ourselves on the test track somewhat out of our league!

Won a trophy at the National Meet being Tony Mason's choice car from the show. I suppose being a Roger Clark replica helped as Tony was his navigator!

And finally, finished preparing the car for the challenge that starts tomorrow...

Well here we go again!

I must be bloody mad.....

London-to-Casablanca - November 2009

2009-09-07T19:37:00.001+01:00

Hi blog fans, keep an eye on your favourite blogsite as we're off again, this time competing from the UK to Casablana.

The Casablanca sections are full-blown rally stages, so this time we'll really see how we and Colin perform under pressure...

This time, it's personal!

CD

Some action pics....

2009-02-16T11:18:00.002Z

Extra Engine Damage Pics....

2009-02-13T15:32:00.002Z

Engine damage pics....

2009-02-12T14:36:00.001Z

Thanks to you all....

2009-02-12T10:06:00.001Z

Thanks to all of you that followed our adventure both here on the blog-site and within your owners club forums.

The car is on the water back from Egypt and will be with me in around 4 weeks. Once back the engine will be removed and we'll get a clearer idea from the builder (Vulcan Engineering) what went wrong and the way forward etc.

Your support was much appreciated.... watch this space though because we're competing in a two-day event at Chatsworth House in June and then a 7 day event from the Brooklands circuit to Casablanca in November.... You'll see an LC win in 2009!

See you all.
Regards
CD

Here's the score...

2009-02-08T18:01:00.003Z

We checked into our hotel and awaited the arrival of the spares from the UK. They arrived late last night and we hoped we could breath life back into Colin.

I spent 4 hours today working with the mechanics trying to get the engine back to life.

The initial checks revealed that all the cylinders were holding pressure and remarkably none of the valves were smashed. We re-assembled the top-end using the new cams and buckets and checked for clearance.... We were having to use the original shims and these needed cutting back. This was done using a rotary drill and a cutting disk.... Welcome to Egypt!

Having reduced the thickness by 40 thou, we tried again; still no clearance....

We removed the shims..... no clearance! A closer examination revealed that the head had been modded (which we knew) but the standard cam we'd brought from the UK head the valves open.... In short, we were finished! As mentioned on the following forums, The Fat Lady had just sung!

We've now arranged recovery from Luxor to the exit port at Hurghada, so we'll be travelling with Colin, but he'll be on a flat bed.

I honestly believe that we were in a strong postion to finish 2nd but possibly 1st. The engine failing cost us the rally and I am hoping that Vulcan Engineering will be as disappointed with their engines performance as me..... especially with the spend involved... I'll keep you all updated and let you know what happentced to the engine etc...

Once again Ces and I would like to thank you all for your support.

For you ze war is over!

2009-02-07T16:26:00.002Z

Saturday 7th February 2009
Time: 09:30 - 10:00
Distance: 20 miles
Rally Position: Failed to finish.
Soma Bay, Egypt - Desert road……

For you ze war is over!

After a very bad nights sleep worrying about what today would bring the alarm finally confirmed it was time to attempt the drive from Soma Bay to Luxor via a huge timed stage.

The car started and sounded so noisy that the man at filling station asked if I wanted diesel and he was serious! We filled up and tried to make the run to make our time windows and attempt to hold our position. Within 20 miles the engine dropped back to two cylinders and this was immediately followed by a very loud metallic sound and then silence……… I thought for you ze war is over and we coasted to a halt in the middle of some very high mountains.

Within 30 minutes a recovery truck was with us and I asked for recovery to Luxor, around 180 miles away. My hope was that the spares arriving from the UK would get me mobile again…..

Safely delivered to our hotel I lifted the rocker cover…. pics to follow but imagine a cam-shaft in three pieces and you get the idea….

Simon and Andy (RPS) are yet to see the damage, but I think it is terminal…….

The blog will continue to give updates over the next few weeks and also be able to upload some bigger in action rally shots, but for the time being thanks to all our supporters!

We’ll be back!

June 2009 - Lotus Cortina The Rally Show, Chatsworth House www.therallyshow.org
September 2009 - Lotus Elise sports car challenge www.guildofmotorendurance.com
November 2009 - Lotus Cortina - London to Casablanca www.endurorally.com
September 2010 - Lotus Cortina - Peking to Paris www.endurorally.com

Shit happens, but here’s a view of the Nile from my hotel window! Later people…..

Today’s car summary:
Faults: Rev counter & speedo, oh and the camshaft is broken into 3 pieces!
Issues: Minibar is empty.

Colin score 1/10

What a disaster?

2009-02-07T07:05:00.001Z

Friday 6th February 2009
Time: 07:00 - 17:26
Distance: 190 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Cairo, Egypt - Soma Bay, Egypt

What a disaster?

A very early start was arranged so that all the cars could be taken to the foot of the pyramids before the gates were opened to the public.

The views were fantastic and without the crowds of touts and beggars the whole experience was a great deal more pleasurable than the day before on foot.

At the drivers briefing an extra two timed stages were listed for the day.
Stage 1 - 4 kms hard sand with later rock-bed.
Stage 2 - 4 kms rock-bed turning to hard sand or in other words stage 1 backwards!

This was going to be interesting because for once on the return journey we could fully open the taps knowing that we weren’t about to drive into a huge ditch.

The run in was in open desert and very uneventful.

Before the stage we gave Colin the once over and apart from the ever present rattling, all was good.

Once on the stage I was determined to make-up for the balls-up on Wednesday, so pushed hard. In summary I am pleased to report that we set the fastest time for stage 1.…

The return was about pushing harder but not too hard to spin etc. So away we went… I am again pleased to report that as we finished stage 2, again we’d set the fastest time! I felt Wednesday was recovered!?!

We turned away from the stages and onto the main road to our hotel. We cruised along at 110kph and all was well with the world. Very quickly we were nearly an hour up on our expected time of arrival window and there would be no penalties for an early arrival, so time for the pool etc…. ( I know it’s snowing in the UK)
Then all went wrong….. Colin nose dived as the power simply fell away…. Huge amounts of back-firing started and thoughts turned to faulty points, spark-plugs etc.

After 10 minutes tinkering by the roadside, Peter and Betty Banham arrived in one of the sweep mechanic vehicles. Peter re-checked the plugs etc, as I had done and then went on to check the cylinder compression levels. He suspected that we’d dropped a valve and that for us the war would be over…..

Once he removed the rocker cover, all became apparent…..

The cam shaft had punched a hole through one of the bucket tops that open and close the valves and was busy working it’s way through the others….. Yum, Yum… This explained the rattling we’d been suffering since leaving the UK, but all advisers had been saying “They all do that”……
The top-end was re-assembled and we pushed on for the hotel on 3 cylinders…. Our penalty free window was now going to be tight…. We in fact made the window with 2 minutes to spare, but now the really hard work began.

Friday in the Middle East and Arabic countries is like Sunday at home, everything is shut!

Here were the options…….

I either pulled out and called it a day?
Got some spares flown out?
Bodged a repair?

Anybody who is following this blog and knows me, will know that pulling-out was not really an option.

We spoke to Steve at Vulcan Engineering (who built the engine) and he was as devastated as us with what had happened. It seems as though the wear is either down to a faulty cam or buckets, but I am sure we’ll have a more detailed report for you once Steve has had the engine back next month. He did not have parts on the shelf to assist.

Andy from RPS the car builders phoned a friend in the UK and as we speak he and his wife are about to have a lovely weekend in Luxor courtesy of Clive and Ces and perhaps Steve (Vulcan) if you’re reading this a contribution from you guys? The friend is bringing some replacement buckets and cam-shafts, so the boys here will repair and allow us to continue… Here’s the tricky bit though….

If we don’t start today at the designated time and compete in an 80kms off-road stage, we’re out…
So the RPS mechanics (Andy and Simon) have bodged the “hole in my bucket” using washers! I’ve test driven the car and it’s about 70% power… If it can hold for the day and stage, the replacement parts will be here tonight at 8pm.. Tomorrow (Sunday) is a rest day, so the RPS boys will have all day to re-build the top-end of the engine……

SO…… What a disaster? Today will tell….. If the blog is not published later today, it’ll be because I am either still stuck in the desert or pissed in the bar!

Today’s car summary:
Faults: Rev counter & speedo, oh and the engine is running on 3 cylinders!
Issues: Will a washer last 247 miles today?

Colin score 2/10

What a result!

2009-02-05T12:47:00.003Z

Thursday 5th February 2009
Time: Rest Day
Distance: 0 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Cairo, Egypt

What a result.

Sure enough our cock-up on the first stage yesterday had cost us dear dropping into 5th place on the stage. However on the second stage we’d recovered the situation by winning the stage…. At close of play we’re still second in class and second overall but now we’ve closed the gap on the rally leader from 11 minutes to 5 minutes. There are some huge stages to come later this week (80kms) so it’s still all to play for. The downside is that the Morris 1800 and the Holden are less than a minute behind us.

The broken engine mounting:

As you can see the rubber block that is sandwiched between two sheets of metal to give some flexibility had completely split. Thanks again to Simon from Rally Preparation Service, a fix was found….

The block has been drilled and bolted and secured with some chain. Not fancy but keeps us in the race

Oh and yes, here’s some pyramids etc…

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter & speedo
Issues: None

Colin score 9/10

What's that knocking noise?

2009-02-04T16:22:00.004Z

Wednesday 4th February 2009
Time: 08:00 - 17:00
Distance: 286 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Matrouth, Egypt - Cairo, Egypt

What’s that knocking noise?

We left our hotel at 08:09am and headed some 100kms to the start of the first timed stage. The stage was 14kms long and was a mix of very hard rutted baked mud and sharp loose gravel.

Our arrival timings put the Datsun 240Z at the front and this was followed by the Holden. Immediately behind us was the Morris 1800 Land Crab, so it was a real re-run of the 1968 London to Sydney marathon with all three cars being of the era.

The stage ran alongside a railway line and then dived off into open countryside. For this stage we were told the rely on the GPS rather than the route notes (tulip notes). Unfortunately Ces was a bit flustered as we approached the start due to a last minute route change and we took off from the line using the wrong notes. Needless to say the navigation soon became a nightmare and we went way off route, nearly getting ourselves stuck in some very soft sand. It was at this point that we were overtaken by the Morris 1800 and we knew all was not looking good for our overall or class position.

The upside of being overtaken was that we could follow the Morris in and record a time one minute slower than them.

As you can see with this pic, once you go off route, things all look very much the same.

After the stage there were some fairly strong exchanges of views within the car, but it was agreed the tulip notes were wrong. That was of course why we’d been told to use the GPS!

From the stage we made our way in silence to the museum at El Alamein and took time to let the car and occupants cool down….

After lunch we had another extended drive to the second stage of the day. This was a 4km blast in soft sand totally based on the tulip notes.. On route to the stage I heard some serious knocking from within the gearbox tunnel and Ces said “what’s that knocking noise?”…. It was too late to check and so we entered the stage. To say we were keen to push this and recover our dreadful morning session was an understatement.

The stage was short with numerous twists and included a full-blown, jump over hill-crest….. We flew the course and ripped through the sand. All the time the knocking got louder, so I drove faster the mask it.

After the stage I checked underneath the car and all looked good. It was only once I opened the bonnet and looked in more detail I found the cause…. We’d broken and engine mounting and drove the second stage like it! For those not mechanically minded, it holds the engine in the car!?!?! We nursed the car the remaining 100kms or so and into Cairo. Luckily Thursday was a rest day, so we had sometime to effect and repair or bodge!

The driving in Egypt is generally bad, i.e. driving the wrong way down a dual-carriageway is acceptable. But in Cairo it is taken to a new level…. So after a sweaty and stress filled journey, we arrived at our hotel right by the pyramids. This is the view from our balcony!

Colin was abandoned in the car park for the night and we experienced a real 5 star hotel…

Howard (you work with Ces) this pic is for you!

Tomorrow we’ll fix the car….

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter & speedo
Issues: Broken engine mounting.
Engine rattling like hell, we need to wear ear-plugs!

Colin score 7/10

Tuesday 3rd February 2009
Time: 08:00 - 17:00
Distance: 247 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Tobruk, Libya - Matrouth, Egypt

It’s very nice, the people are very nice and I like it…..

We had our final night’s dinner in Libya and whilst the restaurant was clean and tidy,

The hotel was something else….. It was brand new, but was in fact apartments presented as hotel accommodation. Each apartment had three bedrooms and two toilets, plus a kitchen and sitting room area. What it did not have was curtains or any hot water! The beds were comfy but the packs of wild dogs that roamed the streets outside and fought for territory all night were not….. Oh for the use of a gun!

We woke-up bright and early and had breakfast and then headed for Egypt……

We arrived at the border at around 10:00am and expected a long wait, instead the Libyans couldn’t wait to get rid of us and it was with a sad farewell that we waived goodbye to the secret policeman and the unbelievable amounts of rubbish that is to be found in Libya…..

We drove 100 yards and were met with “Welcome to Egypt” from the customs officer, which is an improvement from UK customs…. However thereafter, we waited….

And waited (I’ve got man boobs?)

And then Colin swapped his Libyan plates for Egyptian….

After 4 hours, we were able to leave and we followed Nigel and Paula in the apparently unstoppable Datsun 240Z

The driving in Libya had been bad, but in Egypt it appeared that stacking was the problem…

Once in Egypt proper, we met with the local car club and had a welcome beer on the beach….. think about a film called “Ice Cold in Alex” it was the best beer I’ve ever had.
Tonight, we’ve given Colin the once over and courtesy of FEDEX the replacement temperature sensor has arrived and been fitted, plus we also have some extra spares (just in case). Tomorrow tests begin, i.e.
Stage 1 is 14kms (rough gravel)
Stage 2 is 4kms (soft sand)

These stages are building to some later in the week that are 70 and 84, so fingers crossed….

We’re 11 minutes behind the leader, but a lot can still change….

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter & speedo
Issues: Knocking from rear damper on nearside (spanner fix).
Engine rattling like hell, we need to wear ear-plugs!

Colin score 9/10

Monday 2nd February 2009
Time: 10:00 - 15:30
Distance: 187 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Apolonia, Libya - Tobruk, Libya

Some corner of a foreign field…

Today we were able to visit another historic monument even before we’d started the car. The ruins of an ancient Greek and then Roman port were located literally on the doorstep of the hotel.

And on this occasion it all looked original without any evidence of re-pointing in sight!

Once in the car and whilst waiting for my route and time card for the day, I looked back through the earlier photo’s of Colin and noticed how the interior had changed….

It looks as though we’ll be bringing some of the desert home with us!

The run today took us along the coast road and into the town of Tobruk. My great uncle had served with the 8th Army during the second world war and spent some time in Tobruk, so I was keen to follow in family footsteps. The first port of call was the Knightsbridge Cemetery, which was a fairly miserable experience but at least for one day the men who were laid to rest there had some visitors from home, although the huge amount of Kiwi’s, Oz and SA’s are not so lucky, but to them we also pay our respects.

After the cemetery visit we continued into Tobruk town centre and made our way to the hotel. It was only when we tried to check in that we were told that we’d been moved to a sister hotel. Now being in a strange town, with no mobile phone, no understanding of Arabic seemed a pretty unsuitable way of starting a trek alone to the next venue. The answer? The local police said they would escort me… fair enough, except he meant escort as in police escort, with blue lights and siren…!

The hotel, was in fact some apartments that were half finished. This meant that we had no curtains and more importantly heating. Not a problem during the day when it was 25 but at night… wow!

Tomorrow we have an early start and head for Egypt….. Hooray!

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter, speedo, temp sensor.
Issues: The handbrake has failed, we need to inspect rear shoes.
Engine rattling like hell, we need to wear ear-plugs!

Colin score 9/10

Sunday 1st February 2009
Time: 10:00 - 15:30
Distance: 182 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Benghazi, Libya - Apolonia, Libya

Some Roman ruins.

Today was yet another transit day and the organisers had scheduled in some stops to break-up the route.

The roads out of Benghazi were a lot quieter than we’d been used to and the views a lot more spectacular.

We passed a number of caves where apparently the ‘freedom fighters’ had lived during the fight for independence from Italy.

We also visited some Roman ruins that turned out to be a World Heritage site! I am not known for my love of culture, so the visit here lasted around 30 mins, but for those of you who do, here’s some pics….

Tomorrow we head for Tobruk and we intend to visit some of the Commonwealth War Graves whilst in the area. I am fairly confident that the boys who fell there don’t get many visitors, so we’ll be dropping in on them.

The general mood on the rally is that we could have pushed on yesterday and been in Tobruk today and Egypt tomorrow, but we suspect there were terms and conditions with our visas to pass through Libya, so at the moment it feels like were dragging our heels a little.

The car performed well today but is suffering from the poor fuel quality and pinking merrily away on all the hill sections and under hard acceleration. For once I can see the benefit of 99 Octane and Shell Optimax!

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter, speedo, temp sensor.
Issues: Horn & lights fixed (fuse).
The handbrake has failed, we need to inspect rear shoes.
Engine rattling like hell, we need to wear ear-plugs!

Colin score 9/10

Hello from Libya!

2009-01-31T17:01:00.004Z

Saturday 31st January 2009
Time: 08:30 - 15:30
Distance: 432 miles
Rally Position: 2nd from 41 (2nd in class)
Surt, Libya - Benghazi, Libya

Are we there yet?

One thing I realise that I have been forgetting to mention is the food and the cost of fuel…..

The food is actually pretty good and is typical North African fare, although we are yet to sample camel. Well we are yet to have been told that we’re sampling camel. One thing I can’t get used to is being served tinned tuna for breakfast, so for me it is usually bread and cheese, the cheese being a rip-off of Dairylea….

The fuel, now here’s an interesting situation; two cans of Coca-Cola is roughly £1.50, a litre of 95 Octane fuel is,……….. well so small it’s not worth the calculation, so instead try this. To fill my 24 x gallon endurance tank is around £8 (Don’t you love Gordon Brown). Beer’s also very cheap here… you can’t buy it!

Mean while back to the rally. As I mentioned yesterday we are now 2nd overall and in class and unless I can cut the brake pipes on the Datsun 240Z, that looks pretty set. Unless of course we breakdown in the next 1,500 miles or so, or we crash the car on a timed stage!

Today was a real chore as we drove nearly 500 miles from West to East, heading towards Egypt.

The route was fairly uneventful until on the outskirts of Benghazi we took a wrong turn from the tulip notes (route directions) and ended-up lost in the back streets of Benghazi. It was at that point that we realised that all the street signs are in Arabic, our mobile phones do not work, and we had no way of contacting rally HQ. After an initial surge of adrenaline (I think it’s brown) we started back tracking our route and after some 5 miles or so found the error and headed into the hotel.

The hotel for tonight is a business hotel and seems to a much higher standard that we’ve become accustomed to. Who knows, it might even have WiFi and this blog will live again….

View from hotel room

The actual rally has two more complete days inside Libya and then Tuesday 3rd February we exit into Egypt. It is at this point that the big timed events start including one desert GPS stage that is in excess of 80kms, so I am hoping to provide you all with some more daily action detail etc.

Todays car summary:
Faults: Rev counter, speedo, temp sensor.
Issues: Horn & lights have stopped working, we suspect a fuse.
The handbrake has failed, we need to inspect rear shoes.
Engine rattling like hell, we need to wear ear-plugs!

Generally performing well and travelled all miles today in one block with no stops, only once for fuel. Cruised at 100kms, without issue…. Colin score 9/10

Friday 30th January 2009
Time: 10:00 - 13:30
Distance: 180 miles
Rally Position: 3rd from 41 (2nd in class)
Misrata, Libya - Surt, Libya

Morning, sleep well?

Unusually I am starting today’s blog at the moment of waking, well I say waking…. My question to Ces of morning, sleep well? was not met with much amusement. You see all those stories you’ve heard about the desert being cold at night are very, very true and our accommodation for the night appeared to be an out-of-season Butlins, with Summer time sheeting to match. Whilst the wall mounted heaters did a fantastic impression of actually giving off heat they did in fact simply give off noise and circulated the rooms very cold air! Oh yes, at the moment of writing I am really in-the-zone, mentally prepared for the days challenges, like a coiled string.

A thorough levels check of Colin revealed that the engine oil needed topping-up, but otherwise was good to go.

After a drive of around 120 km’s we arrived at the first timed stage running alongside an underground pipeline. We had deliberately not re-fulled that morning so for once we were light and ready to race. After the initial start all was going well and very quickly we found that we were using top gear (5th) and pulling through the power-band. I glanced at the GPS speedo and this was reading 130kph, not bad considering we were on loose gravel! The car was floating over the gravel and I knew we were in for a good time. Just then the unimaginable happened….. a puncture! Luckily Ces and I had been practising our routine for this and we completed a front drivers wheel change using our trolley-jack and we back driving again within 4 minutes….

Whilst changing the wheel we were overtaken by the Morris 1800 Land Crab but we also saw that the Nissan Pathfinder was in the middle of dealing with a puncture of their own….. they had not been practising! The Datsun 240Z was no where to be see and by now had a commanding lead. After the end of section one we re-strapped all the loose repair equipment into place and prepared for straight into section two. Section one had been a stage of 30kms, whereas the second stage was only 8kms. If we’d only had the puncture on the second stage!

Section 2 went very well and without incident and we recorded a good solid time.

After the timed sections ended we then had a dreary drive to our next hotel for the night.

It was an improvement on Butlins in the sun from the night before, but not much! At least the cars we all together this night and the police we there to help us.

Having settled into the hotel, we stepped out via a back door and over some razor wire and made our way to the local beach. The views were something else and this was most certainly a Blue Flag beach to compete with anything in Devon.

At the time of writing the blog, we have seen the results and despite the puncture we still came in ahead of some of the other cars. Plus stage two was quicker than I had expected, so I am pleased to report that we are now 2nd Overall and 2nd in Class.

A long transit day tomorrow, so I suspect a limited blog to follow….

Thursday 29th January 2009
Time: 09:30 - 17:00
Distance: 180 miles
Rally Position: 3rd from 41 (2nd in class)
Leptis Magna, Libya - Misrata, Libya

The wheel’s wobbling….

A leisurely start in Libya was down to today being purely a transit day, so positions remain unchanged.

We drove for around an three hours to our first port of call, an ancient Roman city called Leptis Magna, recently made famous in ‘The Long Way Down’ series.

What these pictures of calm and civilisation fail to show is the chaos on the roads of Libya. Traffic law is easy to remember here, there isn’t any except that you must stop for a red light. Other than that overtaking, undertaking and driving the wrong way along a dual-carriageway are all genuinely acceptable and seen frequently. The Ring-Road around Tripoli is something I shall always remember!

There is also some interesting cargo carried.

It was whilst fighting for survival on these roads that I noticed that at any speed in excess of 120kph, the steering wheel began wobbling and I could feel some vibration through the pedals. So long as I kept the speed down all was well, but this lack of speed caused two issues. Firstly when the roads did open up, we couldn’t use them properly; And secondly or perhaps more importantly, tomorrow (Friday) there are two more timed stages and both sound to be fast. Therefore once at the nights stop I decided to jack the car and examine the steering. The fact that I had a spanner in my hand, seemed a shock to everyone and even the rally photographer took a picture of this momentous occasion.

It soon became apparent that the inner track rod ends had failed on both sides of the car, even though they were new at the time of departing the UK and so some additional tools and assistance was sought from one of the sweep mechanics, namely Simon Ayris. You may recall from my earlier script that Simon built Colin for the rally and fortunately as part of our equipment list, we were carrying spares!

Once the repairs had been made we then carried out our other basic checks and found that the gearbox oil level whilst within acceptable limits, had started leaking at a greater rate and now needed a two daily check. The exhaust manifold was blowing on the first cylinder and the engine was still leaking. No rev counter and no speedometer were minor issues as was the rattling top-end.

Tomorrow we need to at least hold our position and hopefully climb the board. More track rod ends will be ordered from the UK tomorrow and will join us in Egypt. We need to push and nurse at the same time, not an easy task!

The timed stages tomorrow take us along the edge of a huge water pipeline in the desert and for the first time we will be relying on GPS for navigation. The route involves a mix of sand and gravel.

On a lighter note Ces is very keen that I share with you a couple of pictures of our wonderful hotel room.

Later blog fans….

Wednesday 28th January 2009
Time: 09:30 - 17:00
Distance: 160 miles
Rally Position: 3rd from 41 (2nd in class)
Sabratha, Libya - Leptis Magna, Libya

Welcome to Libya

We awoke to blue skies and bright sunshine, however the look was very deceptive as the temperature had just about reached 10° and a cold wind was blowing in from the North rather than from the warming Sahara to the South.

A routine check of the car revealed nothing out of the ordinary just the usual small oil marks underneath the gearbox and engine itself and all the rest looked good, if not a little dirty from the previous days stages.

The results of the previous days stages showed that we had been beaten on stage one by the Datsun 240Z by 23 seconds and on the second stage by around 35 seconds. This moved us into 2nd in class i,e, classic rather than vintage or special and into 3rd overall.

1st Place overall being held by the Datsun 240Z.
2nd Place overall being held by a Nissan Pathfinder
3rd Place overall being held by Colin-the-Cortina

The only apparent hazard at this time was the local wildlife in the form of camels….

As we neared the border with Libya we noticed lots of small stalls at the side of the road selling what looked like bottled water. This was in fact smuggled fuel from Libya and the advise we later received was that it wasn’t so much the octane content that was the problem but more the donkey liquid content that bulked it out!

We arrived at the Tunisian exit border at around 11:30am and crossed into no man’s land without issue. Once at the Libyan border post we had to hand over our passports and wait……

And wait……

Three hours later we were issued with our local number plates and allowed to leave.

The police were very helpful and escorted us to our hotel and once there also kept an eye on our cars and the exit from the hotel, to keep us safe.

They also kept a watchful eye on us on the beach, in case there were any problems etc.

All in all it’s proved to be a very long day with little mileage, but at least the car is still running very well. Unfortunately my mobile telephone will not connect in Libya and so I suspect that this blog will not see the light of day until Egypt on the 3rd February.

And now for a quick drink (fruit juice) and then to dinner.

Two Days Update...

2009-01-27T20:11:00.002Z

Tuesday 27th January 2009
Time: 07:45 - 17:00
Distance: 410 miles
Rally Position: 8 from 41
F*ck me that was close

The day started early at the hotel as the official start point was over an hour away at a Roman ruin.

A review of the previous days timings showed that whilst quick, we were well off the pace and had dropped into 8th position. The Datsun 240Z had certainly shown the rest of the pack a clean pair of heels and had recorded a time of 15mins against our 17mins, so the need to drive harder was certainly there.

The first stage on today’s route was a fast off road section being a mixture of chalk, mud and gravel. Luckily for us were driving on Rally Use Only tyres and they are for mud and snow, so we were confident.

At the time of writing who knows our position but it was some serious fun! I glanced at the GPS speed reading and at one point in loose gravel we were in excess of 110kph, the car was just floating across the surface and pulling like a train. We were fully loaded with fuel (24 gallons) and we knew that the previous day this had held the time down, so this time it was push, push, push and it seemed to have worked… results tomorrow.

The second stage was a bit if a shocker. It was deep sand, mud and gravel with huge water pools and cars with low ground clearance were warned against it.

The car immediately in front of us was the rally prep’d Volvo 145S and he took off after the countdown. I watched as within 100 yards of the start he span and then span again. Mental note to self, go easy, it’s harder than it looks!
I moved up to the start point and waited for the countdown… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 GO!
This time I had built the revs to 6,000 rpm and we left the start line covering the officials in sand and gravel and reached the Volvo’s spin point…. to say it was slippery was an under statement and I span the wheel first one way, then the other to keep Colin straight and floored the accelerator… he pulled straight and through the deep sand. We continued at full chat alongside a railway line and on two occasion the back started to swing wildly… more power kept the car straight but caused some anxious moments in the car! We crossed a railway line and then turned sharply left. As we did so I saw that the route split into two parts travelling in the same direction, in effect a high road and a low road. I chose high and as we did so we saw the Volvo up to its doorsills in mud on the low road…. That ditch was to claim 4 mores cars before the stage was over!

As we neared the end marker we had to cross a water splash that was about 25 feet long but with no idea of the depth. I checked the speed and it was 100kph, no time to brake so foot down and in… As we entered the water I saw a pedestrian crouched at the far end by the exit taking photos…. We hit the water hard and some squirted up into the cockpit through floor-pan holes, the screen was mudded out and I went for the wipers. Although I could not see what I did know was that the car was turning at high-speed towards the photographer…. I literally waited for the bump as we were surely going to hit him…. Apparently he must have jumped for his life because some how we missed him! My wife, who is a lady don’t you know said “F*uck me that was close”……. I laughed, but thought closer than you know!

After a lunch break stage three was cancelled due to flooding! Welcome to the desert I thought?

The afternoon was now free of competition to we have pushed further South towards Libya and tomorrow we cross the border. The mountain roads en route have been deserted and I travelled at speed for 40 minutes before seeing another person. My Lotus Elise would have a blast here!

The internet in Tunisia has been very hit and miss, so my rally following chums this might be the last posting until 3rd February when we enter Egypt, but who knows.

Car: Coolant leaked stopped, gearbox still leaking but manageable, engine oil leaking but again manageable. The tappets are as noisy as hell and driving me mad, but at the moment don’t fix what isn’t broke! Still pulling like a train!

Come on Colin…………

PS. Bulletin just published.... we're 2nd in class and 3rd overall...!?!?

Monday 26th January 2009
Time: 09:09 - 16:00
Distance: 240 miles
Rally Position: Starting point position No. 19 from 41

This what it’s all about!

Looking around the car park on Sunday afternoon revealed both expensive and well prepared vehicles, not necessarily both together.

The first well prepared car I made a mental note of was an Morris 1800 Land Crab, arch-rival to the Lotus Cortina having competed head-to-head in the 1968 London-Sydney Daily Telegraph race. The car looked the part and had been signed by Paddy Hopkirk having been one of the original recon vehicles.

The Nissan 240Z also caught my eye as did a fully prepared Volvo 145S.Throw in a selection of Jaguar MKII’s and an E-type we were in for some fast roads…

The drivers briefing took place on Sunday night and it was a relief to be in a conference room that was not pitching and rolling. We were allocated start number 19 and given warnings re local wildlife, accidents, fuel etc.

After the briefing Ces and I went for a drink in the hotel bar and relaxed into the convivial atmosphere. Within minutes one of the biggest cats I’ve ever seen arrived from nowhere and plonked itself squarely onto Ces’ lap. Having just had the briefing about rabies here was a dilemma…. You see in the local culture, cats are a sign of good fortune and are cherished. This one was not so cherished and soon learn that what was good as a local culture was not so good for my wife….. A long story but that cat wasn’t so lucky!

After a night roughing it in our hotel, we had breakfast and made our way to the car park and starting line.

It would be fair to say I was very nervous but accepted we were as prepared as we could be.

At the designated time Ces came sprinting back to the car and we tore away from the start line, making I felt a really rather good impression of a proper rally car. Unfortunately as I rounded the first corner the policeman didn’t think so and ordered us onto the back of a queue of other rally cars… We were held for 30 minutes and then escorted as a group away from the hotel and out into the countryside…. I started to think that they thought we were Gumball types and that we were to be shepherded the entire route. How wrong can you be…. Once at the city limits we were waved through and away the stream went onto the first timed stage.

The first timed stage started by the remains of a Roman aquaduct and ran for around 40kms. We were despatched at 1 minute intervals, however in our case the marshall made us wait for 2 minutes. Just as well because Colin-the-Cortina was set-up exactly for this stage. A real mix of gravel and mud with tarmac stretches in between. At the time of writing I do not know our time or position, but we caught and passed numerous other cars….. It was fantastic and I thought this is what it’s all about!!

The Twin-Cam was the right engine for the job and the type-9 gearbox that had given us the ability to cruise at motorway speeds to the event, was geared to give us all the grunt we needed in the first four road gears and all delivered between 4,500 to 7,000 rpm.

Once at the check point we were able to make some basic checks and it was just as well. The engine was covered in green coolant and it was leaking fast. We had a ten minute window to find the leak and make a fix. I am pleased to say that the sweep mechanic on the event is also the man who built the car for this rally and within seconds he diagnosed the temperature sensor weeping. He knew this he said because he’d changed the dodgy looking original one for a new one!

We missed our start slot by 5 minutes but the distance to the next check was on main roads and so great that we easily made our arrival time for the next special stage.

The second stage was not so well suited to us, as it was all tarmac with very long straights and some minor gravel or loose sections. I anticipate a Jaguar for the honours here….

Having arrived at our hotel I checked the coolant situation, and the leak had stopped. Downside was that we now had no temperature read-out but hey, what a result. Oil had also been leaking from the rocker-cover and this was tightened down and we’ll monitor the leak to see if it is also finding another route out. I was aware that our gearbox was leaking oil so took the opportunity to jack-up the car and test… Just as well, the box took ½ litre! Again this is now on the watch list….

In summary, going well but along way to go yet….

You won’t want breakfast!

2009-01-25T13:00:00.002Z

Saturday 24th January 2009
Time: 07:00 - 08:30
Distance: 2 miles (driven)
Rally Position: N/A

You won’t want breakfast

Yet another early morning alarm, but this time all we were required to do was load the car and head the 2 miles to the ferry terminal.

We arrived at 8.00am as requested by the rally organisers and were shepherded into our own loading area.

For the first time we were able to view some of the other competition cars and what a mix! There were many vintage cars present built in the early 1900’s through to a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder. Within our group we’ve so far sighted a Holden, Nissan 240Z , Volvo 240, Volvo P1800, Austin 1800 (Land Crab) and some MG’s but due to the dreadful weather (yet again) the whole list is not complete.

At the time of writing this blog we’ve boarded the ferry and found our cabin. The actual loading of the ferry has given us our first taste of Africa….. it was chaos and appears to run without any structure! We started queuing at 8.00am but loading began at 10.00am it was only once in the queue having rushed and gone without breakfast that one of the organisers said “You won’t want breakfast, it’s blowing a gale out there”

Well safely aboard with Colin on the car deck there’s nothing for us to do now but relax and enjoy the cruise across to Tunis…. well that’s the version I am trying to sell to Ces.

Sunday 25th January 2009
Time: All night….
Distance: Miles and Miles
Rally Position: Who cares…..

Looks like we’re in for a rough night.

As we pulled away for the berth in Marseille and headed out into open water, the was a real feeling of goodbye to Europe as our next stop was Africa or to be more exact Tunis the capitol of Tunisia, North Africa.

Once clear of the harbour walls, thoughts of Africa quickly faded and instead thoughts of The Poseidon Adventure filled my head. Would I really be able to remember which way to swim to freedom along an upside down stair case and would there really be a priest there to save me….

The drivers briefing after the signing-on procedure was promptly cancelled, in part due to the fact that one of the organisers had his head in a bucket for most of the time. There was no smell of Jeyes fluid in the air, instead something much more overpowering..

The upside was that there was no queue in the restaurant and my last European meal of chicken and chips (it sounded better in French) was fantastic, although the loos seemed permanently engaged. One of the restaurant staff commented that we were in for a rough night, and I thought you’re in the wrong job, you should be a fortune teller.

The local time is now 08:35am and at last the ship has began to settle, the rolling and swinging has stopped and we can see land.

That land is Africa!

We cleared customs in a little over an hour which was a huge surprise, but then had to wait for our police escort honour guard that would take us to the hotel! Apparently the local police chief is a car enthusiast and he insisted...

Once at our hotel some 5 miles from the coast we settled in and then reloaded the car in an attempt to reduce the rear end sag we'd developed.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow and the start for real. It looks like it's going to be a hard run..... And oh, it's stopped raining!

Watch your speed...

2009-01-23T15:48:00.004Z

Time: 09:00 - 16:30
Distance: 427 miles
Rally Position: N/A

Waking up in Dijon I threw back the curtains in anticipation of a glorious day. Instead I was met with a view of a steel fire escape and a wet one at that. It was raining....

We headed back on to the autoroute and headed South, this time pushing the car a little harder than the day before. Within minutes my level headed navigator told me to "watch your speed", and without hesitation I thanked Ces for her welcome advice! It was at this point she suggested I look at the speedo....

It became apparent that the rev counter and speedo were in fact part of the same union and had decided to down tools in support of one another. Fortunately the Garmin navigation system we are running also gives your current speed, so law and order was once again maintained.... Phew, I was worried about speeding!

The day continued in a very uneventful fashion and at last I could see the sea....

Well, I could see the sea on my nav system. The weather was so bad in fact that seeing much past the end of the bonnet for spray was in itself an achievement.

There were some breaks in the rain and this did allow some glimpses of local countryside.

The road into Marseille was surprisingly quiet and we arrived at our hotel in good time.

Tomorrow we met all the other competitors for the first time at the rendezvous point near the old port and form up to catch the ferry to Tunisia. The car is running well and at the time of writing all seems pretty good. The next blog update will hopefully be when we arrive at our first hotel of the rally in Tunis on Sunday afternoon immediately after scruntineering and at that time, you'll see some pics of the other cars taking part, including a Holden, Jaguar MKII etc.

As a surprise for Ces, two friends from SELOC (Lotus Owners Club) have driven from Geneva to see us off tomorrow, so for now it's time for a glass or two.....

Intermittent to mittent?

2009-01-22T18:33:00.002Z

Time: 07:00 - 19:30
Distance: 429 Miles
Rally Position: N/A

I was already switching-off the alarm as its first beep filled the room. I had experienced one of the worst nights weather that Dover had surely ever endured.... Driving rain and strong winds, just what you want when about to board a ferry!

Once outside in the car park the true extent of the weather situation became all to obvious and any good intentions I had had re checking oil, water, tyres etc soon went by the wayside. Pouring rain and bitter winds, in my opinion do not encourage roadside tinkering.

Once into the car and out of the weather I turned the key and......
nothing, completely dead!

Immediately my mind ran through the electrical items that I could have left switched-on and it was that thought that reminded me I had removed the kill switch key! It's funny how 3 hours sleep plays tricks on the mind.

With the kill switch in place, the car fired and started at first attempt. On went the blower and of course the wipers. It was at this point that the passengers side wiper decided that it did not want to be part of our adventure and promptly threw itself from the wiper arm and off into the dark. I looked at Ces (the wife) and Ces looked at me..... Now I am a modern man and believe that women are mens equal, therefore without hesitation Ces was sent out in the rain to retrieve the wiper blade and of course re-fit it.... Ah, equality, I am a big believer in all things politically correct.

Once loosely fitted back in place we departed the car park, trying not to use the wipers until a more permanent bodge could be put in place on the ferry.

We arrived in good time only to be told that the boat had been delayed due to the bad weather and things were running around an hour behind schedule. In short, wiper fixed!

Once on the ferry we were assured that the boat had stabilizers and that although rough we would glide over the top. I couldn't help but think why the hell didn't we use the tunnel. At least once aboard there was no trace of the smell of Jeyes fluid and that at least meant that the previous crossing had not been too bad...

Breakfast on-board allowed a view of the mill-pond called The Channel and all I can say is, I am glad we had stabilisers.

After an hour and a half on the high seas we joined land and that meant the autoroute system... In summary it rained...

and rained....

It was whilst on this mind-numbing journey that the intermittent Rev counter fault decided to become mittent, no matter how many gentle taps I gave it!

Everything else ran smoothly zooming along at an indicated 80mph and an oil pressure of 50psi and a temp gauge just about cool, the car did us proud....

Well yet again the bar beckons, and another day of autoroute tomorrow.... I can't wait. For the bar that is.....

And so the madness begins.....

2009-01-21T17:33:00.002Z

Time: 14:00 to 17:00
Distance: 192 miles
Rally Position: N/A

Having spent the early part of today packing the car, it quickly became apparent that we should have bought a Ford Transit rather than Cortina for the rally...

Whilst looking the part, we were going to be travelling light for the next three weeks.

Boot space was at a premium and necessity dictated that the fuel tank had the lions share, leaving room for two spare wheels and two small handbags.

After much packing, un-packing and then re-packing the car was loaded and we finally climbed into the cockpit..

The run down from our home in Oxfordshire was fairly uneventful, having decided to avoid the M40 that seemed to have been closed for most of the day!

'Colin' the Cortina sat at a steady 70mph all the way to Dover. This speed seemed to give the dozens of spectators the greatest viewing opportunity and allowed many camera phones the chance to flex their lenses.

There was a 10 minute stop for an accident on the M20 and this did cause the temperature gauge to climb above the centre marker for the first time since the engine rebuild but the new cooling system kicked-in and the engine ticked away quite happily.

The stop allowed us the chance to try our secret entertainment system....
Our modified 1968 Motorola push-button radio! It has a jack-plug for an I-Pod built into it and is cunningly hidden within the glove box, so our historic rally look is maintained whilst we're still able to listen to some modern music, even though it is in mono....

Tomorrow's alarm is now set for 6.45am in preparation for the early ferry to Calais and from there onto our first French stop in Dijon.
Aparently the hotel is mustard......

Another day of motorway madness beckons, but for now I hear the bar calling!

Lotus Cortina - SVO 497 G

2009-01-08T12:43:00.005Z

The Story so far...... (click on the pics to enlarge)

In March 2008, having searched numerous classic car web-sites we eventually sourced our donor car from the auction web-site; E-bay at a cost of £8,200!

Our new pride and joy was a Ford Lotus Cortina MKII, Series 1 and was a very clean and tidy standard example brought back up to spec by an enthusiast.

The car had an indicated 92,000 miles on the clock and was in a generally good mechanical condition, having apparently had a fairly recent engine re-build.

At this stage little did "Colin-the-Cortina" as he was now named know what was planned for him in the coming months!

My wife (Ces, short for Cecilia) and I ran the car over the Summer months to identify any issues that had not been apparent at the time of purchase. Quickly we found that the gearbox was on it's last legs and the rear-axle was weeping oil at an alarming rate. Apart from these minor faults, the car was a solid as a rock.

Once the Summer season came to a close, Colin was delivered to Simon Scott-Russell of Lotus specialists; Brooke-Kensington, Bicester, UK.

The drive-train and engine were removed and the upgrade work commenced:

The gearbox was re-built in-house and the engine was sent to Steve at Vulcan Engines, London, UK.

Once stripped the engine showed some signs of wear and at this point a full re-build was commissioned.

Some weeks later and at a cost of £6,800 the engine was re-built and dyno tested, the results were astounding from a 40 year old engine.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4w0I3gF0F34

The engine was developing 142bhp and this was despite running a very low compression ratio of 9:1 (reasons to be explained later).

A handbuilt manifold and exhaust system was made to compliment the new engine by Neil at 105 Speed at a cost of £ 600

The engine was re-fitted to Colin.......

Road testing began and almost immediately we suffered a complete electrical failure from the dynamo and for reliability reasons this was changed for a high-output alternator.

After some extra road testing, in late October 2008, the car was then delivered into the capable hands of Simon Ayris and Andy Inskip of Rally Preparation Services, Standlake, UK (http://www.simonsrallyprep.com/)

The car had been entered into a classic endurance rally running from Tunis to El Gouna, Egypt, starting from Tunis on Sunday 25th January 2009 and Simon would be carrying out the prep work.

(http://www.endurorally.com/) The previously mentioned low compression ratio is to allow for poor fuel quality.

The modification list is to say the least, extensive, so here are some pictures of the build!

At the time of writing the Blog it is still a work in progress, so watch the space for updates! My intention is (subject to Internet access) to upload a daily diary and pics from the event as we progress from our home in Oxfordshire to the finishing line in Egypt!

(By clicking on the "follow this blog" green button at the top of the page, you'll receive auto updates and by clicking the "subscribe to" button below you'll be able to view full size pics!)

Clive