sunbeamtiger.co.uk

STOC member Owain Lloyd is now on day 2 of this 2000 km rally to Casablanca. If you want to check out his progress and catch some video footage go to Owain's blog at http://www.casablancachallenge.com/

Graham
STOC Editor

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the link to the pictures and the video. Looks like they are having a lot of fun .

Regards, Robin.

Owain did say before the trip that there was a tremendous amount of planning, preparation and time spent in getting the car and all the gear ready for the mammoth trip - now you can see why

I'm not envious.......

Looking forward to a full report in the club mag, Cats Whiskers

Thanks Graham.
He must be enjoying that. All that planing and expence,Looks all worth it.

This is looks great been following Owains blog every day waiting for the next installment

This London-Casablanca rally is indeed proving to be extremely demanding to competitors.

There have been already a few incidents and close calls but one of the particpants in a Citroen DS was involved in an accident last Thursday (12th Nov) and sadly lost his life

Reported on another blog from a fellow competitor;

http://passingplaces.blogspot.com/

So sad...............

Just checking The Endurance Rally Website for an update on the London-Casablanca Rally and I see from the results page that with one more day left Owain is running a very respectable 15th overall, and 5th place in his class (3)

More details here: http://www.endurorally.com/casablanca2009/results.html

Full official reports on each day here: http://www.endurorally.com/casablanca2009/reports.html makes very interesting reading, and it's certainly demanding

CONGRATULATIONS OWAIN!!!

In the over-two-litres class in the Classic division, Richard Martin and Travis Cole win in their Jaguar XK150, Barry and Roma Weir are second in a Mercedes 280SL, and the two lads in a Sunbeam Tiger on their first rally, Owain Lloyd and Adrian O'Niell, third.

http://www.endurorally.com/casablanca2009/reports.html

Well done Owain and Adrian Looking forward to more videos

i wish it was 2000km graham! it was more like 8000!

we're back home in one piece now. many thanks to those who followed our progress and apologies for not being able to keep the blog updated daily. i've now filled in all the missing details with lots more photos and a couple more videos. there are more videos to come.

www.casablancachallenge.com

we were happy to finish 3rd in class coming up from 28th place on day 4 after early mistakes.

the tiger's certainly a tough little beast!

Owain, you a braver man than I am

Congratulations on the result, especially from recovering so many places from earlier on in the rally. It's great to see so many photos and videos, you can get a "taste" of the event but sure it would have been hairy a few times. I saw the video when you lost the front bumper, where did that road go

Until you reported, I never appreciated how dangerous these events are. I came across La Carrera Pan American which runs into Mexico and last year's event saw a Tiger roll off the side of a mountain

http://www.luchalibreracing.com/content/?s=1&l=5




Thankfully, due to the added safety features (roll cage, harnesses) driver and co-pilot walked away

So what's next Owain, Peking - Paris????? I'll come.........

that accident didn't actually loose the bumper. i just locked a wheel on a patch of gravel that i didn't see in the dark and overshot the hairpin. the front wheels were hanging over a ditch before the wall and the car was resting on the sump guard. we had to dig a hole under the rear wheels by spinning them and then rock the car out. this lost us a lot of time but much better than not completing the stage and getting a maximum penalty.

the front bumper came off on the terrible stage that one of the competitors lost his life on. amongst other hazards it had big concrete steps that you hit at about 60mph by the time you saw them. at one point the car nose dived so deep it ripped one side of the bumper off. we had to stop to unbolt the other side. we also sheared a fuel fitting from engine movement on that stage and finished the last 1km with 20psi of fuel spraying all over the engine bay and some of it getting into the carb. by the time we finished the sump guard was literally torn to shreds. i'll post a photo of it when i remove it. we lost about 7 minutes but the penalties were canceled due to the tragic circumstances.

i also hadn't really appriciated the danger involved. peking paris in a '40 ford was the plan but now i'm not so sure....

i've now put some of the official photos online:

http://casablancachallenge.com/

Excellent report in Cats Whiskers - thanks