KND
Puppy
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2013
- Messages
- 35
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Cape Town & Dubai
- Bike
- AJS (all models)
Pharaons Cross Country Rally, Egypt update
Just want to update the forum of what happened during the Pharaohs International Cross Country Rally held in Egypt last week.
Although my end result was not what I expected I had my high moments.
The low moment is that my spares parts, tools, wheels and spare engine did not arrive until the second last day of the 6 Day event. This cost me a podium position or at least under the first 5. It may sound optimistic but I believe that you need to set high goals.
Day 1 - (El GounaI I set the fastest time which was a privilege to start an international event in first place on the grid.
Day 2 - (El Gouna - Luxor) Stage was around 400km and I came in 4th position after I got lost for about 20km. Unfortunately, I had GPS problems and missed a way point. This penalty pushed me back to 16th position.
Day 3 - (Luxor - Dakhla) Stage was around 600km. Was extremely hot in the dessert (50deg) and I pushed hard to get to 6th position again till my engine blow up only 60km from the finish. Here I waited for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere and with my luck, the ambulance arrived. I convinced them that I'm getting heat stroke and that I cannot wait for the sweeper truck which meant that I had to overnight in the desert. They took me home but got terribly motion sickness in the back of the ambulance (land cruiser) which we had to cross around 40km of very tough dunes.
Day 4 - (Dakhla - Baharia) With no spare engine, I had to travel by road with the KTM van and admire the scenery.
Day 5 - (Baharia - Baharia) Franco Picco, a legend in this rally's lend me a Yamaha bike to continue with the race. The organisers approved due to the fact that my spare parts did not arrive with off course a penalty. I started last 26 position and at the halfway mark (250km) I was in a good 6th position again. Unfortunately, 10km after the halfway mark, the gearbox on the Yamaha decided that this was enough and got stuck in 4th gear. Could not continue and had to take another road trip back to the camp. That evening my spare parts arrived and my mechanic worked franticly to replace my engine and prepare my bike for the last stage.
Day 6 - (Baharia - Cairo) New engine in place, I had to first run the engine in. We managed to do about 30min of that before the start of the last stage which was around 430km,
I had my sight on going flat out, not making any mistakes. Started again last, would make it difficult because of the dust created by the other bikes, quads. It all worked out well and ended in third position for the day, finishing at the Pyramids in Cairo. What a sight and privilege to ended the race on a high.
Now Im preparing for Brazil in August. This is a bumper 10 day rally with 9 special stages.
Thanks for always posting interesting posts. Kobus
Just want to update the forum of what happened during the Pharaohs International Cross Country Rally held in Egypt last week.
Although my end result was not what I expected I had my high moments.
The low moment is that my spares parts, tools, wheels and spare engine did not arrive until the second last day of the 6 Day event. This cost me a podium position or at least under the first 5. It may sound optimistic but I believe that you need to set high goals.
Day 1 - (El GounaI I set the fastest time which was a privilege to start an international event in first place on the grid.
Day 2 - (El Gouna - Luxor) Stage was around 400km and I came in 4th position after I got lost for about 20km. Unfortunately, I had GPS problems and missed a way point. This penalty pushed me back to 16th position.
Day 3 - (Luxor - Dakhla) Stage was around 600km. Was extremely hot in the dessert (50deg) and I pushed hard to get to 6th position again till my engine blow up only 60km from the finish. Here I waited for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere and with my luck, the ambulance arrived. I convinced them that I'm getting heat stroke and that I cannot wait for the sweeper truck which meant that I had to overnight in the desert. They took me home but got terribly motion sickness in the back of the ambulance (land cruiser) which we had to cross around 40km of very tough dunes.
Day 4 - (Dakhla - Baharia) With no spare engine, I had to travel by road with the KTM van and admire the scenery.
Day 5 - (Baharia - Baharia) Franco Picco, a legend in this rally's lend me a Yamaha bike to continue with the race. The organisers approved due to the fact that my spare parts did not arrive with off course a penalty. I started last 26 position and at the halfway mark (250km) I was in a good 6th position again. Unfortunately, 10km after the halfway mark, the gearbox on the Yamaha decided that this was enough and got stuck in 4th gear. Could not continue and had to take another road trip back to the camp. That evening my spare parts arrived and my mechanic worked franticly to replace my engine and prepare my bike for the last stage.
Day 6 - (Baharia - Cairo) New engine in place, I had to first run the engine in. We managed to do about 30min of that before the start of the last stage which was around 430km,
I had my sight on going flat out, not making any mistakes. Started again last, would make it difficult because of the dust created by the other bikes, quads. It all worked out well and ended in third position for the day, finishing at the Pyramids in Cairo. What a sight and privilege to ended the race on a high.
Now Im preparing for Brazil in August. This is a bumper 10 day rally with 9 special stages.
Thanks for always posting interesting posts. Kobus
