Paul called at some unearthly hour of the morning to say they had been placed 2nd in the team event, and was thrilled by this news.  They were still a little disappointed that they could not compete the last two days but they will still be coming home with a trophy!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well done boys!!!!! Paul also has said thanks to all the people who have been giving them encouragement before and during the event, your support was much appreciated.

Heard from the boys this morning(Tuesday)they have not had signal for a while!! Well things aren’t going so well for them now.  Dom’s car broke down late last night in the middle of complete nowhere and after trying to repair it they ending up towing back to camp.  This wasn’t as easy as it sounds over extreme terrain, they got quite lost and at one point thought that they might be stuck there for days, panic set in, but eventually they got back on course and rolled up in camp at 5am this morning.  Ben got them sorted with food etc and then set to work on the cars.  The rest of the teams left them to it, to continue with the competition. 

I received a call to say find out how much and how long it would take to get an injector pump air freighted over, this was the problem with Dom’s car.  I had no joy the soonest would be Fed-Ex Monday night, (they are supposed to be home by then.) They were going to make their way to the city to see if they could find one and hopefully be back in the competition either later today or at least tomorrow.  Today they were supposed to be doing a series of special stages so they were really disappointed as this is what they have excelled at during the competition. 

I have just heard that they had no joy with a replacement but were trying to fix the fault!!!

I will keep you posted.   

But on a brighter note they are back to 3rd overall!!!

Paul and Dom have dropped to 4th place overall, a couple of the cars that had breakages were now back in the race and were flying!! Come on boys!!!

On Monday 21st April; Paul Bass, Dom Brione, Jim Bowen, Chris Armelin, Ben Burge and Clive Saywood left rainy Tongham for the Outback Import Competition in Morocco. They arrived in Sete in the South of France in the early hours of Tuesday morning, giving them plenty of time for their ferry to Tanger in North Africa that evening.

After 36hours on the ferry, the competition began as soon as they got off the ferry. On the first day (Thursday) Paul and Jim managed to boil a shock absorber dry, due to the heat and the distance they had to travel over the extreme terrain. They managed to replace this when they finally got back to meet up point at 2am. Paul has now altered his set up, to include double shocks on both the front and back of his vehicle.

After the first day, as a team Paul and Jim, with Dom and Chris were placed 2nd in the team event and 6th overall. Paul commented how this event was nothing like the challenge events which are held in this country and it was more like a rally event. However, they were all enjoying themselves and having great fun. 

Other competitors are also finding it hard and several have already dropped out. As of day three, the team were doing very well and had edged their way up the score board to be placed first in the team event and second overall. 

Up to date the competition has comprised of several different special stages each day and long stints through the desert having to pass through various checkpoints.

Please keep looking on the site over the next week for more updates as to how the guys are getting on.