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We were all up at 7 packed and ready for a hard days driving/bribing officals at military check points, all cars started as we pull off, the general lee (vauxhall carlton painted like the dukes of hazard) spluttered and cut out.
Having two mechanics in our group we found it was no getting the fuel through, fuses check, filters changed, we hard wired the pump and discovered the pump was dead. I went 40k down the road with darren one of the mechanics while pat set about hand cranking the spare mechanical fuel pump we bought for the mini as a bodge.
In layoune I found fuel injection isn't really used. Most cars are twenty or more years old or diesel. This far south nobody speaks a word of english, and Gcse french didn't cover the finer points of asking for an inline high pressure injection pump. The was one little workshop where the guy was really helpful and sent his lad off all over town on a bike coming back with different bits but none that were right, the problem is 90% of fuel injection cars have the pump in the tank so it has to be an exact size. I asked if we could get a whole tank complete with pump off any make of car that we could put on the roof. He said no problem there was a place the other side of town but its too big for the bike and we have to drive. The didn't have a car and there were no taxis, so darren (who has never in his life left the uk befor!) Rather nervously offered to stay at the garage while I took the guy to this other place. Next thing I know the guys best friend wants a ride too so they both pile in the passenger seat and we are off around town they are grinning ear to ear and waving at people. The place we went to didn't have a tank, so we did a tour of all the local workshops. Eventually we got a mitsubushi inline pump and I went back so find darren a couple of local mechanics getting on like a house on fire (when I left him he looked worried they would cook him and eat him). They were all really helpful and when we gave them a carton of our bribe cigarettes they were over the moon. On the way back to camp darren came out with a comment good enough for only fools and horses " that bloke was teachin me the french for head gasket, they call it - le head gasket" well it made me laugh.
Back at camp pumpall hooked up and still it won't start, calls back to the uk to a vauxhall specialist and we decided its the E.C.U. That has gone, it fried the fuel pump on its way but lots of other things that should happen with the injectors that didn't meant it was terminal. The campsite owner told us it is very expensive to dump a car In morocco and we should tow it to the border, the rally organiser pointed out that although the car is on the passport number of simon, the driver. The mauritanian border doesn't have a computer so they won't know, we towed the car a longway off road and hid it behind a dune. Once we skip the country, I have the cell phone number of the mechanic and I'll tell him where to look so he can get it and strip it for parts. Meantime we are down to four cars and we spent the afternoon building a roofrack the a-team would be proud of, to go on the bronco. Its a squeeze but we got everything in, leaving at dawn to catch the main group! Just another day in the dunes ;)
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Properly in the desert now, western sahara, not the sort of desert you imagine with sand but acres and acres of barren plains as far as the eye can see. Roughly mapping along the coast where you occasionaly see a shipwreck but nothing else. Sand snakes across the tarmac as it windy all the time. Never seen so many series one landrovers, they use them as a desert taxi, must have seen fifty today. Camped in a bedouine encampment chilling round the campfire.
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Bitterly cold once the sun goes down but the fresh air is a much better experience than the acrid smog from marrakech. Camping by the sea is great for the scenary but the waves make a lot of noise when you settle into your tent. On the road early aiming for layoune.
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From: Barry Kirkpatrick
Sent: 26 December 2006 16:58
To: 'dave_'
Subject: Leaving Marrakesh
Having just returned from Marrakesh I can assure you that all the cars and drivers in our group are well and in good shape,apart from the inevutable Christmas day hangover. Spent time in Marrakesh getting the final essentials for the dessert , the main one of which was a Kabala for everyone. While parading round Marrakesh in them the group looked like a cross between an order of monks and the KKK., but they are very warm. They left Marrakesh today knowing it was the end of the Hotels and tonight is the first night to break out the tents. It was approx zero degrees at night there. Thier group has incresed to 5 with the addition of a honda driven by Brite and a Ford Bronco driven by Amaericans which is big and thirsty but could be a cunning move if any of the smaller cars get stuck in the sand. They are having a great time.
Barry
We are on the way to Tiznits, just been through the atlas mountains where the scenery was stunning, bright sunshine up the yet very cold, down the other side into agadir and its red hot in the sun. Roads are now single lane each way and cracked and weathered so you can't do more than about 60 mph without dental work. Seen a few other rally guys on the way including a chevy blazer with just second gear working !!!! They can do about 40 tops. In. Car mini fridge is proving a bonus now. Police checkpoints are getting more and more frequent but these ones can't afford the radar gun so they do it by eye. Camping on the beach or near if we read the book correct
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Roads have started to get a bit worse now, the mini is a bit bumpy but still running fine. Marrakech is so different to casablanca, more touristy but cleaner and more modern. We saw our first camel today! Nobody can work out why there are just dozens of people wandering up and down the motorway miles from any town. Heading off into the souk to check out the trinkets and snake charmers. We thought all the rally guys would be at our hotel but so far only two that aren't in our group have showed up. Everyone is contemplating the end of hot showers and a roof over our heads after tomorrow night.
Doesn't feel like christmas eve today, but the hotel has a token tree in the lobby, everyone has lost all sense of what day and date it is, (not drink related ;)
Emails only work as an when the phone network is allowing it.
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Crazy driving crazy people, but great- got a taxi from the hotel to a restaurant on account that its so easy to get lost here, the guy just aimed at other cars and bullied them out the way, everyones second job here seems to be trying to sell tourists drugs! Hustle and bustle of down town has to be seen to be believed, donkeys charging through four lanes of traffic with some old guy trying to hang on. We have hooked up with two more rally cars, two americans in a 4x4 ford bronco and some guys in a honda civic- the ones who were caught speeding. Heading on down to Marrakech later today where we have our last hotel.........
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Absolute free for all on the roads, the border took best part of four hours then negotiating tangiers traffic was just crazy, one of the group was stopped for speeding by a radar gun that didn't look like it had worked for ten years but she got a special tourist rate of £20 ;)
No idea when this update will go through as the phone network is patchy from here on.
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Up at stupid o'clock to get the ferry to tangiers, a police man in Gibraltar said if we leave the cars unattended in morocco they will be broken into before we know it! Hmm now it gets interesting, not sure how much signal I will get from here on so the updates may thin out
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these are the two other cars we are travelling with. Fuel stop in southern Spain, there is actually snow on the side of the road!
Well Tarifa which is just outside Gibrtar but you would hardly know it as there are no signs to Gibraltar, something about an old grudge I hear! All the other cars are turning up and there is a wide range, from junk to complete crap, everyone is looking at the mini and saying how good it looks and how much they are glad they are in something bigger !
Right I believe there is another bar to check out.....
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We are on the way to gibraltar now, South East Spain has some quite steep hills so the other two cars are having to go a bit slow waiting for us bule the dukes of hazard car seems happy enough giving the locals a blast on the dixie horns. Thanks to all those who have donated on www.justgiving.com/italianjob2006 we are up to £565 now for the yorkshire air ambulance plus the money from abbey grange!
I tried to upload some photos at the last stop but they wouldn't allow access to the usb slots on the pc's but should find somewhere soon, we have sprayed up the roof box yesturday to match the rest of the car. More updates later !
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We have installed a fridge into the mini and given it a check over, then gave the local pub a check over which lasted late into last night ready for another siix hour drive to gibraltar tomorrow where we meet up with all the teams in the rally and have to plan the route through Africa.
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We have two days off now, as we left two days before the official start and built in a bit of a cushion incase one car didn't make it. We are scouring the local shops for some form of bonnet decoration. Dukes of hazard team are after some genuine bull horns????? Then a small sample of the local beer might occur ;) back on the road thursday, hope to find a net cafe today or tomorrow and up load some pics. Thanks for the comments everyone
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We can read any comments you post on the blog, so feel free to post ( clean ones only please there is a school project following us) n.b. Thanks to Abbey Grange school in Leeds for all your fund raising efforts.
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Well fuel is much cheaper in spain than france, car is running finen we have gone from snow in the french hills to clear bluue skies in spain, speeding along the edge of the Med as the sun goes down. Two spainish police bikes came along side for a while grinning away at the mini, gave them a wave, the did some lights and siren action, waved and sped off. Loads of people are looking at the car in service stations and other cars are waving as the see us, affection for the mini seems universal! We have a couple of rest days at a friends house in Murcia now before the last european leg to gibralta.
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http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1935486. If this link works it should be pats article in the yorkshire evening post. We are just south of barcelona
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12 hours on the road and every one is tired (we are on the trip with two other teams, startkey & clutch and the dukes of hazard) the mini seems to cruise fine on the motorways keeping up with the other two cars at about 70 mph but coming through the mountains it struggled a bit and used a lot of fuel! First 1000km complete!
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Currently sitting in portsmouth waiting for the ferry after our first brush with the law. We wanted to get some photos infront of buckingham palace, Pat took my comment "just pull up near the palace" a little too literally and drove on to the forecourt of the palace, the police shouted at us to move and a patrol car the followed us for a couple of miles before some nifty backstreet short cuts managed to throw them off the scent! Pictures are great though, coming soon.
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Pat was just setting off to bring the car to London when one of the rear suspension cones collapsed, but I’m reliably informed that he can get his hands on a new one and it will all be sorted in a few hours – we leave tomorrow!
