Syd Stelvio – Sahara Challenge - Day 5 – Erfoud to Merzouga – 212km

The Argentinian man peered into the never-ending vanishing point of the desert, the horizon always disappearing, however much pressure he applied to the accelerator of his Chevy Coupe. Then, in the distance, there were a series of dots, growing larger and evolving into the shape of cars – stuck cars, stranded in the sands of the desert. A slight adjustment on the steering wheel and a little drop of speed, and the obstacle was cleared, and the stuck cars once again became dots on the horizon. And this is how on a day when so many suffered problems, Jorge Perez Companc, alongside navigator Jose Volta dropped only a second of time, on a day when so many others suffered in the heat.

Day five of the Sahara Challenge was a later start, with a shortish desert loop for everyone to enjoy. There may not have been as many miles to complete, but the miles would be the most challenging to chalk off, with a desert regularity and two sporting sections in the shadow of the dunes at Erg Chebbi.

The day began innocently enough, with a simple regularity that took crews into the very crater where Spectre had their base in the James Bond flick of the same name. You didn’t need 007’s credentials to get in, but one driver, who’s name wil remain classified for now, did think they had a license to kill when they went all double agent and ran over HERO-ERA film maker Gary Williams at the summit of the crater walls. It was an accident of course, and if anything, the driver has gone up in my estimations! n.b. no Gary Williams’ were harmed in the making of this rally report.

Next it was onto the first sporting section, which had to be cut short due to a lake having appeared on the floor of the desert, thanks to the huge amount of rain Morocco experienced just a few weeks ago. It was certainly a novelty seeing the newly installed water feature, but as we drove through the flooding that still remained in Merzouga itself, it was sobering to think of just how much rain had fallen.

Next it was the big one, the Erg Chebbi sporting section. A 37 km run across the desert, through soft sand, wadis, buildings and whatever the desert could throw at the competitors. The recent rain played its part, and certainly increased the challenge, but, as our rally leaders had shown, discerning use of speed would lead to a good result, maintain pace isn’t always about going flat out.

There’s no getting away from the excitement of quick desert driving though, it is addictive and sucks you in. There are plenty of challenges, including staying on track when there is a myriad of options at times, and you must of course retain visibility when approaching and overtaking slower moving vehicles – as even a modest speed results in great rooster tails of dust and sand being thrown into the atmosphere. Beware though, moving offline can go against you, as you often hit unchartered Wadis, some of which are incredibly steep.

The desert did of course exact her tariff, there must be a toll collected after all. The biggest casualty of this was one of Jorge and Jose’s direct competitors, third placed Sherif Hwaidak. His run across the desert came to an abrupt end when he suffered suspension damage and a bent axle, in one of the softer areas of sand. There was nothing to be done except to wait to be recovered, and by some cruel twist of fate the sister car of his Ford 48, driven by his brother Amin, also ended up beached at the same point in the desert.

Another high-profile casualty was HERO-ERA Chairman Tomas de Vargas Machuca, who cracked the chassis of his Bentley 3/4½. Not a small crack either, but one that was bordering on the chassis being severed, and apparently a problem suffered in period by Bentleys entered at Le Mans. A very slow tow back to the evenings camp, as well as a stint of pushing the stricken machine for a km across the desert, and a plan was hatched to repair the machine – despite the situation being desperate. Welders were found and a late night of reparations ensued, mirroring exactly what had happened on the last Sahara Challenge, when Tomas spent his night in the campsite repairing his American LaFrance until the early hours of the morning.

Elsewhere there were gearbox problems for cars 5 and 11, exhaust issues for car 19 and a number of other niggly problems that had no doubt been exposed by the day in the desert. For those who weren’t working on cars, there was a chance to enjoy the campsites hospitality and then get a good night’s sleep, before a much longer day on day 6, and whilst the repair efforts on the Bentley continued until 1am, the tents were rocked by gentle snores of the sleeping occupants.

As mentioned, the number 6 Argentinian crew had compounded their lead at the top of the table, but one car had gone better than them on the day; Tony Sutton and Andrew Lawson in the chasing Chevy had cleaned the day entirely, incurring no time penalty whatsoever and moved up to second in the combined leader board, as well as consolidating their second overall. The two pre-war machines were streaks ahead of everyone else, indeed they were the only cars under a minute. Third overall was now in the hands of Raj Judge and Monu Singh, though they are some way behind the two Chevrolets. In the Classic Category the flying Finns, Heikki and Heikki in the Fiat 124 had grappled the lead back into their possession, with an almost possessed drive across the desert in the diminutive Fiat, defying gravity and physics at times, perhaps taking some inspiration from two-time motorcycle Dakar winner, and current champion, Ricky Brabec, who had been staying in the same hotel as the rally the previous evening.

It had been quite the day, with plenty to digest. A change of scene was on the horizon for Day 6, with an advance into the Atlas Mountains and a completely different sort of challenge.

Until then,

Syd