Some photos...

To help keep you all up to speed, here are some of the photos so far.


It took me a while to work out what this was exactly a photo of other than a lorry. Then I noticed the British plates...As you may recall, I mentioned that the support vehicle (a Land Rover) had broken down somewhere in Europe and that they were trying to replace it..well here it is! Apparently it's a 30 seater Mercedes Overlander. Well that's what Sue's been calling it anyway!

They've upgraded in size a bit...

The next two show how baron the landscape is. It also suggests a hint of some of the views.

Still a hint of tarmac left

Looks more like a scene from Mars

That's all for now...as I hear more I'll keep you up-to-date.

It's all relative

All photos will follow up on Monday, when I can get the pictures that have been text to me off my phone!


I can now confirm that Mark & Sue left for Marakesch on the 26th and were the first in the convoy to leave, due to them being the slowest car and not wanting to hold anyone up!
They were however, stopped by the police twice on their route. This was not for any offences and I am told that really the police just wanted to have a look at the car!
The traffic, as you may expect, is somewhat different to that of the UK, being made up mainly of donkey carts, mopeds and lorries and they also seem to have little organisation to the traffic flow.
Mark and Sue had a good (although I'm not sure what 'good' is as it's all relative) hotel in the centre of Marakesch. Mark said that it is very reminiscent of Glastonbury, with all the local music, markets and food.
Apparently there are a lot of mosques and gardens which are an oasis of tranquility compared to the bustle and mania of the street markets.


The two of them left Marakesch on the 28th and apparently followed Annabel, who is an ace navigator (although again this is all relative), to help them navigate out of the busy streets.
They should have arrived in Ouarzarzate today (30th). They navigated some fantastic mountain roads with some unbelievable views to get there. Some of the roads are now beginning to get quite bumpy and gravel is now the constant road surface. You will be pleased to know that the car is running well, the fuel pump is getting hot and so Mark has swtiched to the spare pump at the rear of the car, away from the engine heat.
The Delage has had its work cut out at the higher altitudes (7301 feet) as the air thins out, the engine has become a bit 'woolly' but this is expected.


Mark and Sue have now had an authentic Tangine for lunch so hopefully they will have become accustomed to the likelihood of illness during holidays to these areas of the world. They have also had a tour of a local Kasbar, the oldest one in Morocco and have found a fanatastic authentic Moroccan hotel made from earth and straw, with woven bamboo ceilings, all for the very reasonable price of £12.00 a night!


Thats all for now,


on behalf of Mark and Sue

The wedding anniversary photos!

Here are the two photos showing the new Renault Clio fix.

The second radiator, combined with the original

The beer can fix...

Whilst I'm not sure exactly where under the bonnet the second photo is taken, you can see the somewhat make-shift fix that's gone on...perhaps that explains why Renault F1 haven't been doing so well...

That's one way to spend a wedding anniversary!

Photos to follow...


Following the cars continual overheating, on Sue's wedding anniversary she was treated to a trip to the local scrap yard, and was bought a Renault Clio radiator and fan, which is now held in place with hoses and beer cans (to protect from the exhaust manifold heat) and thus, with the non-Delage fix, although taken from a French car, the temperature has dropped by around 15 degrees, and the car appears to be behaving itself for now...


Mark has also adapted the bonnet further so that even more air can flow under it and over the engine.


Their journey from Tanger to Rabat went o.k, although the old French wagon is holding up the rest of the pack a little...despite being one of the slower cars, the Delage still managed to pull quite a crowd wherever they stopped!


As for the whole journey itself, everything is going very well, although there was a little bit of a hold up to begin with. No your wrong, this had nothing to do with the car over heating, and in fact it had nothing to do with any of the old cars involved in the trip! In fact, the group was let down by the reliable build quality of one of the support Land Rovers that blew its engine up somewhere in Europe (exactly where I will have to find out).
The driver, who I believe is also one of the main rally organisers, has had to make his way over by public transport, leaving behind all the cooking equipment etc that the group was to use in some of the more 'rural' areas. I believe the plan is that the Land Rover will catch up the rest of the group once the engine has been repaired, but until then, it looks like Mark and Sue will be cooking by open fire, something I'm sure they'll enjoy...

The Exhaust Fix...

I have been provided with a photo of the new exhaust fix. It's hard to tell from the photo but I think this part of the exhaust is the bend just after the manifold? As for Sue and Mark, they are both fine and will be making the trip across the water to North Africa very soon!


I should have an update from then either later this evening or tomorrow but until then this photo will have to do!

The exhaust fix

Mid Spain - Not even started the event and already a problem!

Don't worry when I say there is a problem, the wheels have not fallen off and the car is still going! I'll come onto that in a second, to keep the tension, and to ensure you read all the blog!
I've been receiving the updates from Mark and Sue with ease whilst they are still in sunny Spain, well I say 'sunny', and that may be true, but it is certainly pretty chilly over night.

The frost is present at night, either that or the Amstel beer (left) fridge was left open over night!

Since the chilly night in Spain, they had their first minor issue of the trip. The front most part of the exhaust decided to disintegrate whilst they were driving along. Luckily the exhaust pipe decided to finally fall apart next to a scrap yard and the owner was very helpful in letting Mark use his tools and all (I say 'all' I wouldn't have a clue what to do) Mark had to do was to cut out the old section and weld in a piece of new pipe.

If all else fails, there's a flat bed parked next to the car!

That's all for now folks, but as soon as I hear more I will inform you!

For and on behalf of Mark & Sue

Updates on their way!

I can now tell you that Mark and Sue have begun their trip to the start of the rally!


They are now around Northern Spain and I will be bringing you the latest live updates tomorrow, complete with their first minor breakdown!


For now i'll leave you with that cliff hanger!

The Deadline Approaches...

The Trip Bit...

After the generous donations, we feel like we're on a bit of a roll! On top of this, the Ghanaian Visa's have arrived, and it was a worry that they might not arrive back in time. Also, the 'Carnet' process is pretty much finished.
It is the final meeting of the group next week, after that, the next time Mark and Sue see everyone else will be at the start of the rally. Mark parents have just got back from France, and Mark set his mum to work sewing up the foam strip that lines the desert air filter and he had his dad purchase plenty of engine oil for him from France. Not because the French make particularly good oil, but because its far cheaper! (Mark always was one for a bargain)



The Car Bit...

This post will be a little longer than normal, because I want to add in a few photo so that you can all see how the car is coming along. To see some more pictures, please click here. 


As you can see to the left, the alternator has been fitted and runs directly off the prop-shaft. (There are more photos of this at the link above)

The new cam followers are in and have been machined and heat treated in record time! This has made the car far quieter.Mark has also managed to devise a method for letting more air flow under the bonnet by opening them slightly at the front with a new fix.

Mark has also found space for spare gearbox and diff' oil as well as coolant under the bonnet. He has also got a safe box and is finding somewhere hidden to fit it, but I couldn't tell you where that was!The front and rear bump stops are now nearly finished (right).

A new battery needs to be purchased, but this is low down on Mark 'Vital List'.The new seats need to be installed as the old ones had wood-worm and will not last the endurance distance. The hubs are now finished thanks to Orson who, as I mentioned previously, did a fantastic job.

The desert air filter is now fitted, to cope with the extra high levels of dust on the rally. The exhaust has been wrapped under the bonnet to help keep the temperatures down under the bonnet.

I have spoken to Mark and Sue about the usual 'things they are both most and least looking forward to' section and they told that they were 'far too busy to think' so in summary of that statement I can tell you that they are both getting very excited now about the approaching deadline. They just want to make sure that everything is ready by then!

A huge, massive thank you!

We are so pleased by all the donations that we have received so far, that it deserves its own separate post!

To say that we are pleased, would be an understatement, to say that we are really impressed and touch by peoples generous donations would sum it up better.

Please take a second to look at our fund-raising page here to see what we mean. We are now getting ever closer to our £4000 target, just a little more to go!

A special thanks goes out to all our family and friends, but particularly to The Renault F1 team who donated £100. On top of this the everyone within Renault F1 that Mark spent all day talking too have helped us move a huge way towards our goal, raising around two thousand quid between them!

A huge thank you to everyone, we really appreciate it, and so will the Sabre Trust and the end user!