Report from Benghazi at the end of Day Six

It's Day Six today and we have driven from Sirt to Benghazi. The drive was 570 kms through scenery that could not be described as particularly interesting.... a few camels here and there and the wind blowing sand across the wide and long stretch of tarmac that lay ahead. We passed through a few typical truck stop towns along the way. There were three rally checkpoints with each one set-up at a local café where the crews could take a welcome break to sample a tasty local snack such as a hot chicken sandwich or whatever else took ones fancy. It was a slight worry to find an ostrich strutting around behind one of the café control points. "Where's the toilet?" asked most crews of control marshal, Martin Clark when they arrived.. "Turn right at the ostrich" said he..... "just do it..." he added to the bemused looks.

As mentioned in our previous report there were two test sections on Day Five. The first was almost a straight line for 40 kms along the line of the great man-made river project. The route was very wide consisting of many parallel tracks worn by trucks and local traffic. If one section of track becomes too rough the local drivers just start using an alternative way that is gradually worn smooth before it too becomes rough and rutted. The skill on this test was for each driver to pick the best track. The annoying part about the process is that the track to left or right always looks much smoother than the one you are driving on.... that is until you swap over to the other track. An excellent point about this test was how closely it resembled road travel in Mongolia. Several of our crews are entered for, or considering taking part in, the 2010 Peking to Paris rally. On this test they were able to see how their cars handled the bump track and consider what further modifications they might need to make.

Once more it was the Brodericks who showed a clean pair of heels or exhaust pipes to the rest of the field. Michael and Anne Wilkinson took second in their Holden HK with Frederick Robinson and Roy Stephenson third in the ex-works Morris 1800. Romao and Maria de Sousa were fourth in the Volvo. The Nissan Pathfinder of Roger Allen and Maggie Gray are one of a handful of modern cars taking part in the Nile Trial. Their 4x4 should have proved ideally suited to tackle this slightly bumpy test but they suffered a puncture causing them to lose quite a lot of time. Another car going well here was the MkII Jaguar of Stephen Hyde and Janet Lyne who took fifth place but perhaps they were trying just a little too hard as they struck trouble a little way into the next timed section that immediately followed.

The pipe line service road apparently continues in a straight line for another 80 or more kilometres so to add a little variety our route turned away to run back across open country to rejoin the tarmac road being used by those crews running on the Touring route. This short 8km section on tracks through open scrub was considered an ideal section to practice GPS route navigation. At the start of the test crews would activate a Route pre-loaded in their GPS then follow the GPS pointer directing them to each new point along the way while also being guided by the written route notes and watching the track ahead. One or two crews got a little lost adapting to this new skill but everyone rated it as a valuable exercise. Obviously taking to the process very well and looking to be thoroughly enjoying the experience as they chucked the heavy Morris 1800 through the scrub was Frederick Robinson and Roy Stephenson who took the fastest time on the test. Equal second, just two seconds behind, came the Allen / Gray Pathfinder and the Ward / Nicholls Mercedes.

Once again the sweep mechanic crews had some work to do. This time it was the MkII Jaguar we mentioned earlier. They had both rear shock absorbers break away from the axle causing the car to leap alarmingly in the air. It took Peter Banham a little time to sort the problem out so that they could reach the overnight hotel in Sirt where replacement brackets were welded to the axle and alternative shock absorbers fitted. Among other smaller problems being fixed the Rolls Royce Coupe of Mark Robinson and John Austen was seen stopped at the roadside suspecting a blocked fuel line that the mechanic crews traced and sorted as an ignition fault.

Apart from the cost of fuel in Libya we cannot believe that any Nile Trial competitor will forget the actual experience of driving in this remarkable country. It has been quoted that the accident statistics here are not good but we have not seen anything like as many accidents as in many other countries although the Mustang of Arnold and Dorothy Denman does have a slight battle scar to mark one close encounter. This is a country of high speed motoring with consequently huge differentials between the lumberingly slow heavy-laden trucks and the very high speed Chevrolets and Hyundais that the locals drive. To add to the spice of three abreast overtaking it is not uncommon to have vehicles coming the wrong way against the traffic on a dual carriage-way or the wrong way on a roundabout to take the shortest route from their entry to exit point. Your writer hasn't quite mastered the local skill where traffic lights are concerned with the red and green lights obviously only being for some kind of visual decoration. From the evidence of our few days here the general driver skill level is high and there is the added comfort of knowing that the other driver will not be drunk in charge.

It's now 5pm Saturday and all but one crew have arrived safely here in Benghazi. The remaining car on the road is the venerable Vauxhall 14/40 of Geoffrey and Linda Cook for whom this was always going to be the longest day of the event. Their replacement fuel tank fitted a couple of nights ago has cured the fuel feed problems but we now hear that they have another problem the cause of which we have not yet heard. They have the very able mechanics Andy Inskip and Simon Ayris with them and are looking for parts some way back up the route. We're sure that they'll make it to Benghazi soon. Today is Andy Inskip's birthday.... Happy Birthday to him.... he'll probably remember today as the birthday he spent looking for car parts in a Libyan town.

A few other jobs are being chased up while we are here in Libya's second largest city. The Mustang has lost its rear brakes and is having repairs made. Stephen Hyde s trying to arrange the correct replacement shock absorbers for the MkII Jag to be delivered from England to somewhere ahead down the route. Bill and Bridget Bolsover are looking for a replacement alternator for the E-Type Jaguar. Meanwhile those without dramas are going off to the Benghazi souk and returning with all manner of souvenirs.

It is almost certain that there will be no rally penalties today so there will be no fresh update to the results pages. Tomorrow we have a short run to Apolonia, the site of more extraordinary ancient ruins with a stops on the way to see a museum of glorious mosaics at Qasr Libya and the ancient site of Cyrene.