SAÏDIA, Morocco – British duo Thomas Edward Bell and Patrick McMurren drove their Dragon Energy Nissan Navara across the finish line at Oujda-Saïdia, completing another adventure at the Morocco Desert Challenge.
Bell and McMurren are with the Dubai-based race team Sabertooth Motoring Adventures. Their Nissan Navara was built by Red-Lined Motoring Adventure, an official marketing partner of Nissan South Africa. Red-Lined builds custom off-road race cars and trucks that are marketed and sold around the world. The Nissan entries are purpose-built T1 Dakar Navaras powered by a VK50 engine.
The treacherous 3,000-km, eight-day race across the Sahara Desert extended Bell and McMurren's 100% finishing rate to four races, which total to over 10,000 km of racing over 26 days since the beginning of the year. After starting the season with a successful finish at the Dakar Rally, they went on to place eighth at the Dubai International Baja and third in class at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
"We're absolutely delighted to have finished all four of the international cross country raids we've entered so far this season," said Bell. "Most significant about that is that we had never completed a race like this before we teamed up with Terence Marsh and the Red-Lined team. But since then, we have not only raced and finished, we have also proven quite competitive in spite of the fact that we are doing it first and foremost for the adventure – the romance of it."
Bell and McMurren started the week cautiously in 12th among the cars on the first day and continued at that pace for the next two days.
"We let the race come to us," said Bell. "And come to us it did — we were up to 8th overall on Day 4 so we pushed a bit harder, then went to fifth and we were third on Thursday evening with two days left to run. Then disaster struck: Our car stuttered to a halt. We tracked the problem to a faulty crank sensor, and there was nothing we could do about that in the middle of the desert except wait for assistance. By then we were already in deep trouble with penalties and ruing what could have been. Fact is we were in third overall and the leading car on the road by a comfortable margin, but all those penalties dropped us way back among a group of cars that were all delayed by similar issues along the way. At least we were not alone in our disappointment."
"I think we have done an incredible job for a privateer team who are here mainly for the fun and the experience of it all, and we owe a depth of gratitude to our team – both our Sabertooth guys and the Red-Lined crew from SA," said Bell. "We are moving mountains right now and having a hell of a blast doing that. It's such an awesome feeling."
Bell and McMurren will now shift focus on to the second round of the South African Cross Country Series, the KZN Berg 400, in the foothills of the Drakensberg mountains next, over the May 11 weekend before the Toyota Desert 1000 in June.
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Contact
Karen Van Wyk
Red-Lined Motoring Adventure Marketing
karen@redlined.co.za
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