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0730hrs, Wednesday 8th, the day begins to dawn over Camp Dune and even I am awake and ready to roll! |
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This is the main camp... |
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... and this is the alternative camp in the shelter of the crescent of the dune. |
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A failed attempt to capture the sand blowing over the edge of the dune. |
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The Team Tony Hadley Rover is still adopting the 'Latvian Position' before its final inspection. It is subsequently declared fit for the days activities. |
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Back on the trail. |
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The Challenge convoy reaches out towards the horizon. |
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Well... there aren't many bushes around these parts...! |
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That's where we've come from... |
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... and that's where we're going to... |
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... if the truck holds up over these damned corrugations! By now our right-hand front shock absorber was knocking badly over this sort of terrain. |
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Some more sand. |
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And some more. |
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Cruising past the Cobbs. |
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The Boy Racers find a tiny bit of hard ground amidst a lot of soft sand. |
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Team Tony Hadley: They got stuck in the sand, then Abedlahyol got them unstuck by revving the nuts off the Rover in 3rd gear... and spectacularly finishing off the clutch in a pall of smoke. Here, Karl finally admits defeat after a determined attempt to prolong the patient's life. |
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After sorting out their essential kit, donating some of the rest to other
Teams, and securing their own onward travel within other cars, Chris, Andrew and James say
their good-byes to the Rover. You can't really see it here, but the sand was blowing quite fiercely in the wind. This was not a pleasant stop by any means. |
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Most of their remaining gear (tent, jerry cans, spare wheels, jump leads,
etc) ended up in the Cobb Cruisers van as it was snapped up by Abedlahyol. We were soon on the move again, passing by even more sand. |
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Yes, it's sand. What do you expect in the desert? |
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More corrugations. |
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Loose, dusty sand. It was also very hot. Many of the cars were suffering with the heat and maybe the quality of the fuel. Our Niva was pinking so badly that we were losing a lot of power and struggled to get through some of the soft sand despite having 4x4 and using the low ratio gears. |
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Golden dunes in the distance, pale greyish sand under foot. We're now well on our way through the desert section of the Challenge, and heading towards the coast for the famed Beach Run. |
© www.plymouth-dakar.co.uk 'Drew
Heavey 2003
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