Friday, September 28, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
They Are Off!
After carefully sneaking bags out the back door so the dogs wouldn’t see them, our team is off to Africa! (No, the dogs weren’t fooled)
After much concern about the size of the bags, I think the final pile was quite reasonable. I left our travelers in search of a check in counter and hoping Emirates has a nice lounge.
They should be wheels up by 6 PM, 14 hours of flying and a few time zones later they arrive Dubai tomorrow at 7 PM. After a half day of sightseeing in Dubai, they fly again to arrive in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania Saturday afternoon, the starting point of this grand adventure. They have a couple of days to rest up and free Fang from Customs before they present him on Tuesday to the scrutineers for a pre-race inspection, the green flag drops Wednesday morning. One little pre-race adventure has been added. As a result of complicated import rules in Tanzania we were unable to include any extra oil or brake fluid in the car and group attempt to ship it separately from London has recently failed for all of the cars. This will result in a small mob of foreign motorists prowling the streets of Dar Es Salaam trying to translate things like “5W/30W synthetic motor oil” and “Dot 3 or 4 synthetic brake fluid”. Stay Tuned!
Your Crew Chief, Charlie
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Onward!
Thank you to all who will be watching and reading about rallying in Africa, for your love, encouragement, and support. Onward!
Your Driver
Your Driver
Friday, September 21, 2018
Fang is honored to be named after Juan Manuel Fangio
Fang is honored to be named after Juan Manuel Fangio, five time F1 world champion who got his racing start driving these Chevy coupes in hair raising events throughout his home country of Argentina.
Fang was built in 1938 just outside Buenos Aires. The Chevrolet factory is still there. He has right hand drive which was the norm prior to WWII.
Fang is a business coupe, two seats and room in the back for samples, or in our case, luggage and lots of tools. His trunk lid has been replaced with canvas for weight reduction. Never built for speed, his 3750cc engine is quite rugged and attains speeds of almost 85 mph !
downhill.
Hopefully Charlie and the brilliant, long suffering T-Zero team will chime in on the details of building, rebuilding and reassembling a winning rally car. Think thousands of hours.
Endurance rallying means rough roads, long hours, thick books of navigation, demanding speed control, and, if we are lucky, great track time. Come join the fun.
Your Navigator
Fang was built in 1938 just outside Buenos Aires. The Chevrolet factory is still there. He has right hand drive which was the norm prior to WWII.
Fang is a business coupe, two seats and room in the back for samples, or in our case, luggage and lots of tools. His trunk lid has been replaced with canvas for weight reduction. Never built for speed, his 3750cc engine is quite rugged and attains speeds of almost 85 mph !
downhill.
Hopefully Charlie and the brilliant, long suffering T-Zero team will chime in on the details of building, rebuilding and reassembling a winning rally car. Think thousands of hours.
Endurance rallying means rough roads, long hours, thick books of navigation, demanding speed control, and, if we are lucky, great track time. Come join the fun.
Your Navigator
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Frequently Flying Fang
The rally car, AKA Fang, left by container ship in early July bound for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to take the start of Rallyround Africa on October 1. Plenty of time, right? Then Fang’s tracker warned us of a very long stay in Singapore. Only when the tracker pinged Schiphol Airport, did we discover that he missed his ship.
You may recall high drama on the eve of Inca Rally 2016 when Fang lost ship connections because of a hurricane and arrived in Buenos Aires at the very last moment by multiple cargo planes from Panama via Miami.
Same shipper, now familiar with Fang’s wily ways, and remembering the last debacle, unzipped his ship container, air mailed him to Amsterdam and hence on to Dar es Salaam where he awaits our arrival next week.
Stay tuned for more from your navigator as she attempts to persuade half her possessions to miraculously jump into a carry-on suitcase.
You may recall high drama on the eve of Inca Rally 2016 when Fang lost ship connections because of a hurricane and arrived in Buenos Aires at the very last moment by multiple cargo planes from Panama via Miami.
Same shipper, now familiar with Fang’s wily ways, and remembering the last debacle, unzipped his ship container, air mailed him to Amsterdam and hence on to Dar es Salaam where he awaits our arrival next week.
Stay tuned for more from your navigator as she attempts to persuade half her possessions to miraculously jump into a carry-on suitcase.
Monday, September 10, 2018
Log Update
Your navigator spent the morning pouring over the Africa rally route in a giant, and very heavy, atlas. Africa looks to be quite a different experience from South America. Of course, we are missing the key element for success and evening fun, our beloved driver Chuck.
Most notable will be our adherence, in the early days, to tarmac instead of gravel and dirt. This is due to the nature of African roads which generally just bump along to a village and stop. Additionally, unlike in speed crazed South America, there are few race tracks to test the mettle of our more than qualified new driver, Laurie Lyford.
Laurie managed to sharpen her skills last weekend on the racetrack in Portland, between boating, board membering, airplane camping, and gardening, as well as attending to dog Thor, who’s backend went out and has yet to return.
Fang, our ride, rides along at sea somewhere past Singapore, hopefully arriving in Dar es Salaam soon, very soon.
Later, Your Nav
Most notable will be our adherence, in the early days, to tarmac instead of gravel and dirt. This is due to the nature of African roads which generally just bump along to a village and stop. Additionally, unlike in speed crazed South America, there are few race tracks to test the mettle of our more than qualified new driver, Laurie Lyford.
Laurie managed to sharpen her skills last weekend on the racetrack in Portland, between boating, board membering, airplane camping, and gardening, as well as attending to dog Thor, who’s backend went out and has yet to return.
Fang, our ride, rides along at sea somewhere past Singapore, hopefully arriving in Dar es Salaam soon, very soon.
Later, Your Nav
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