Badawi Trail to the Last Oasis 2026, Syd Stelvio Day 2 – Abha to Taif – 644km
If yesterday finished with one of the most dangerous roads in Saudi Arabia, today began with one of the greatest. If anyone had begun today feeling the effects of yesterday’s long day in the saddle, the 100 km or so of the magnificent Highway 15 would soon blow away any cobwebs. The road was stunning, climbing from Masqarah up into the Sarawat Mountains, on a twisting but flowing corkscrew of a road, but with plenty of space to use the throttle.
The views were stunning as well, increasing in unison with the altitude, offering far reaching vistas of far-off peaks, as we climbed above the clouds. Unfortunately, back down in Abha, Belgian Bentley Boys Jean-Pierre Swennen and Freddy Gevaert were missing the fun, as the Bentley Justine had suffered a broken gearbox, leaving them only 3rd and 4th gear and no real hope of continuing in the 1950 machine. They have sourced a hire car though, and will continue the adventure in that at least, though it is a real shame to lose their beautiful car this early in the game.
Back to business end and the run out to the first of the days three competitive sections was soon at an end, thanks to the brisk run along the mountain highway. A turn off the road took the cars east and onto a loop that contained a pair of regularities, sandwiching an offroad link section that was billed as an opportunity to practice a bit of offroad driving. The first reg of the event was a short one, with nothing too much to get excited about, though plenty of locals stopped to admire the cars. There were Donkeys present as well, the peace of their morning shattered by the V8 of Richard Clark and Jonathan Round, who were first on the road today, after finishing day 1 at the top of the leaderboard.
The link between the regularities was a long offroad section, that offered a good experience of what driving along Saudi Arabia’s rocky tracks can be like. Before the tarmac finished though, there was one element of navigation that was foxing a fair few crews. Shortly before it ended, the road forked, with a choice of following the old road or of taking a slot onto the brand-new tarmac. Those that were seduced by the new tar would rue their credulity, as it was the wrong the choice and thus caused havoc with the subsequent navigation. Choices was the name of the game on the next off-road section, as picking lines through the hazards is crucial to a safe and smooth navigation of this kind of terrain. There was also a choice to make when the track was blocked by a giant muddy pool, either go for broke and go headlong into the pool or push further on to find an easier route around. Those that braved it were greeted with a cesspit of effluence, with an egregious stink the like of which I have never known. It is probably best not to think about who, or what created the mire, thank fully nobody became stuck in it, as I daresay it may have needed the Coast Guard to remove them.
The rest of the section was great fun, rough in places but very passable and with tremendous scenery. The reward for reaching its end was the second regularity of the day, that began as a hill climb amongst the angular and jagged rocks spread across the slopes of the mountains. The view from the summit was nothing short of breathtaking, as the road dropped away and the views continued as far as the eye could see, to a panorama of distant and enormous peaks. We were back on tarmac again, and the sinuous, flowing nature of the road was great fun, even at reg pace.
Before long, we were back onto highway 15 and travelling through a seemingly endless string of towns and villages that straddled the road. The Police were ever present here, and seemingly everyone had some sort of encounter with them at some point during the day, though all were good natured and friendly. Surrounding the towns were more mountains with some incredible geology on display from peaks such as Jabal Harfa. If Highway 15 had been a treat, then the subsequent Highway 30 raised the game even more, with even less cars and racetrack smooth asphalt that had bends in it that matched all your favourite corners from the world’s most famous circuits and the rally ticked off the kilometres at a fair pace, with plenty of early arrivals into the days final competitive section, and the only Sporting Time Control section of the day.
The running of the STC was delayed somewhat, as fittingly a group of Bedouins had set up camp in the middle of one of the planned tracks. With a quick recce for a route round and some even quicker reprogramming of GPS coordinates for the section by Chris Elkins and the section was ready to go. The 5km or so track would need careful driving and navigation for a brisk but safe passage, with plenty of wadis to get through and, particularly in the second half, a number of decoy tracks that could quickly take crews off route, requiring some off-piste driving and a certain amount of imagination to rectify. One crew that took off with plenty of enthusiasm were father and son team Alonso and Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon, who took off completely as their Landcruiser hit the first Wadi of the section. Their airborne antics continued throughout the route, and whilst I’m unsure of exactly how they did it, the car reached the first time-control with some interesting bodywork modifications to the roof.
Elsewhere the low-slung Datsun 240z of Zane and Masood Bhatti did its best to regrade the entire section for those following it, and the diminutive BMW 1602 of Brazilian Joao Penido and Dutchman Pieck van Hoven managed to get beached in the sand, well they do love a beach party in Brazil! There were slightly more serious problems for American father and son crew David and Matt Leblanc, as their Volvo 1800E came to an undignified halt after dropping all of its oil. The diagnosis was the sump guard bolts puncturing two holes in the sump that the guard should have been protecting, an unwelcome irony if ever there was one. They needed a Saint to fix the stricken Volvo, and a pair of them appeared in the form of our ever-resourceful sweep mechanics, who patched the sump up. There was of course the unknown of any damage that may have been inflicted on the engine internals as the motor ran dry. Thankfully the car ran fine on the near 300km run into base, and the pair have lived to fight another day.
It had certainly been an eventful day, and when the results were released the black Ford V8 Coupe of Richard Clark and Jonathan Round was still sitting atop the leaderboard, after only picking up 1 second of penalty all day! A standout performance for sure. Their nearest challengers for day 2 honours were Kurt Deklerck and Patrick Debusseré, who chalked up 39 seconds and are leading the Classic Category overall.
Tomorrow the rally continues to head north, to Madinah, on a 631km day with a pair of STC’s and a regularity to contest, and hopefully even more tremendous roads.
Syd.