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Pintpullers For Dakar 2005 |
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TEAM PINTPULLERS IS IN!
It's another dream coming true! We wanted to take part in the PDC from the first time on we found their web page in late 2002. This was just a few days before the crowd left Plymouth for the first challenge, the PDC03. Now, nearly 2 years later, we are one of the lucky 150 accepted applicants (out of aprox 550) of the Plymouth Dakar Challenge 2005!
The Idea
Drive a vehilce from Plymouth to Dakar, sell it in the Gambia, donate the money for charity and fly home.
The Rules
1. You shouldn't spend more than £100 (GBP) on the vehicle
2. You shouldn't spend more than £15 to prepare the vehicle
3. No help from the organisation. All teams are on their own (formal rule)
4. You will hand over your vehilce to the organistaion when arrived
5. Left hand driven vehilces only
6. (Unofficial) Rules are made to be broken... Except Rules 4 and 5 - Julian Nowill, PDC initiator
And yes, it will be on a bike. Or more precise: A bike and a car. The plan is to ride down to Dakar on a 125cc or simillar, accompanied by a supporting car. The simple reason why not just one or two bikes is that you cannot buy a bike at £100 capable to do a journey of this type unsupported. Or at least not until someone did it ;-) As far as we know it's going to be the first time someone is doing the PDC on a bike :-)
The Team
Name: Team Pintpullers
Chief Sweating Back: Andy
Chief Hurting Bottom: Kudi
Chief Bike Mechanics (Home Based): Göbi
Chief Car Mechanics (Home Based): Searching... Might be YOU?
Chief Communications and Informatics (Home Based): Searching... Might be YOU?
When
We're currently in group No 1, leaving on 17th of Dezember 2004 and supposed to arrive in The Gambia aprox 3 week later
Visit the The Plymouth Dakar Challenge Homepage for more informations on the event. More info on the team, vehicles and stage of preparations should be on www.pintpullers.com. If not now come back soon and it might be there...
See you in Africa, Christmas 04!
Kudi |
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The Typical PDC Route
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The Plymouth Dakar Challenge
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Mercedes Benz 208 |
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We have a Car!
We bought a car at an auction, it's a 1981 Mercedes Benz 208 transporter. It went for 510 swiss bugs, little to expensive but it was not possible to find ANY car for 100 quid here in Switzerland... and we realy tried! The 208 seems to be quite ok, minor damages and a bit of rust, 110kkm on the speedometer (???), 2.5 liter petrol engine. More info to come as soon we have it (and we found a place to store and repair it...). |
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It moves! |
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| We got the car. If I'd be alowed to, I'd say it's a wreck... but it moves! Long way to Swiss MoT. Survived it's first 120km in our possession. Just the first pix... |
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Where's the engine?
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Side view
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Evidence - It moves!
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List online |
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EQUIPMENT WANTED !
To start preparing the car was somewhat sobering. A leaking hydraulic clutch system, problems with the gearbox, a defective wheel bearing,
carburator and ignition problems, non working air ventilation, an unprofessionaly attached roof,
the mess in the car, leaking sealings everywhere, loads of rust, catastrophal lights... just a few of the surprises.
But the progress goes on, the thing looks like a car in the meantime (at least from the inside) . Next steps will be to properly attach the roof,
to weld a security cage for the driver, engine adjustments, rust elimination, rallye painting, etc.
We're now in need of several equipment. Here's a list online:
EQUIPMENT WANTED LIST
Please contact us if you have anything suitable at home you don't need anymore. We and the people in The Gambia will appriciate any contribution! |
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Recent Mercedes Pictures |
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Just a few recent Mercedes pictures. Looks a bit like a rallye car, dosen't it??? ;-)
We're still looking for equipment:
EQUIPMENT WANTED LIST
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Front view
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Side view
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Golden rims
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heating fan runs! |
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| After checking out probably all possible car-junkjards in switzerland, without getting any used mercedes heaterfan, we've desided to repair our existing. the coil still was ok, but the carbon brushes has been melted down by the preowner, trying to run the (with a wasp-nest and snailhouses and leaves and other dirt) blocked fan. |
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this doesn't work anymore
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this neither
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repaired
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A star is born! |
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Since we couln't find a mercedes parked lonesome in the darkness, We made the emblem by our own.
Hmmm, it's made out of a milkbrick (tetra-p.)but looks good with a low resolution cam.
furthermore, we've got some beamlights (switch it of! i'm getting blind!)
But the most important you can't see in pictures: we've cleaned the carb,
putted in some new sparkplugs and a new airfilter. Then we turned the key and WROMMM the engine was running.
Smooth as silk, no failignition, no backfiring, just a clean round propper idle-sound. (brubrubrubrub)
feels like the car is (re)born. Banjul, we're comming!
PS: we still need equipement
EQUIPMENT WANTED LIST
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looks like a mercedes-star
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got milk?
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naughty beauty
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Yamaha for Banjul |
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Here it is, Team Pintpullers vehicle No 2. A 1989 Yamaha DT 125R, unbelivable 12.5HP @ 124ccm.
But it runs and it's in good condition.
And most important: It's still road legal.
I was able to legalize it without even showing it to MoT!
It only needs a paint job and a few minor fixes and improvements.
Bad news about the Mercedes, the noisy wheel bearing proved
to be a defective drive shaft bearing. The doctor estimated 3 to 4h of work.
F..k! This thing is starting to be expensive. Lets hope it doesn't break down before we reach Basel...
Banjul we're coming! Only 16 days to departure!!
We still need equipement
EQUIPMENT WANTED LIST
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Another Star is born! |
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4 aerosol cans later... The DT is ready to go! No bad surprises so far. Göbi welded a lugage rack for Kudis old saddlebags - for a dignified evening of their life. The big surprise was that the BMW-GS tankbag fited on the small DT tank. Not to forget to mention the most important part - the shovel. A bit rosty in the meantime (there's still Australian sand on it) but should do the job.
Good news about the Mercedes: We've been able to fix the leaking hydraulic system of the clutch, although only the bottom cylinder, we think the upper one's still leaking but that's not so bad. Reto was also able to mount the security boards, looks pretty professional! A bit of a headacke was that the engine didn't want to run properly when we towed it to the PP winter party, but it started finaly independently. Lets hope it'll run on sunday.
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It's a 125 - realy!
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Team 5116
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Shovel holder
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Yes, its a Pintpuller!
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We shouldn't get lost
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What a beauty ;-)
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Pintpullers Winterparty 2004 |
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| Just a few pictures of the winterparty. More to come on the PP homepage soon... |
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Kamal
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Overlord
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DJ
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Dany & Göbi
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Nick
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Chris
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Sibille & Jean
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Headacke
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Morning
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Dream Team |
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| Official promotion pics from the foto shooting with our sponsor SMZ Informatik. 4 days to go... |
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Dream Team I
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Dream Team II
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Dream Team III
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On the Road! |
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| The first day on the road was bloody cold. Mercedes did a good job and no surprises so far. Yamaha prooved to run even when it is freezing. We only shouldnt have stayed in the goin bar that late on Saturday...
Kudi |
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On the Road
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cold?
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frozen kudi
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snow
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Final Test! |
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| The vehicles passed their final test, the 2 days run to Morlaix. Second day was hard, especialy on the bike. Andy is now a prof in fog driving, kudi in folowing blind to two red lights.. Today a few more preps, ferry to p tonight. All in all: were ready! Afica, were coming!
Kudi (via SMS) |
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le Fly bar
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first ray of sun
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le Fly
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Countdown |
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| On the freey back to France. Had a wonderfull evening with the boys in Cornwall. Good pp-style party. Bit of a headache in the morning, as usual. Met the first few other pds'ers, two teams at the party, one on the ferry. Tomorrow the PDC really starts for us - 2100km in 3 days. Next target is Sotogrande in Andalusia, southern Spain. At least the weather is better down there.
10 - 9 - 8 - 7 ...
Kudi (SMS) |
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PDC Day One |
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Swimming through France : actually we were lucky as escaped the storn in France by hours. On the road it wasn't fun. Kudi gave up riding after 500km of constant rain. The temperature was OK but it didn't stop raining for a second. Otherwise we did the first repairs (frozen carbs), forgot credit cards and disapointed lorry drivers. Near the Spanish border now. Travelled all day with PDC team 5107 and met more teams in the hotel. Run through Spain tomorrow...
Küdi (SMS) |
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PDC Day Two |
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Into the sunshine - man that was tough! 16 hours on the roads, 400km through rain before we met the sun near Madrid. Now travelling in a row of 4 teams, a Landi (Land Rover), a Golf, a Peugeot and us two, Golf broke down twice due to a dead alternator, the Peugeot once because of a dead ignition module. These were the first serious repairs, good luck that Regy (in the Landi) is a professional mechanic! At least I could help using my multimeter and soldering iron :) My GPS died this morning while push-starting the DT.... Think SERIOUSLY, we will se tomorrow.
Mercedes and the DT are running well, no serious problems so far! Tomorrow we should reach Sotogrande in Andalusia; should be easy compared to today, only 300km to go. Andy was straight to bed tonight but I found beer at 1:30am ... I love the Sierra Nevada!
Kudi (SMS) |
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First Repairs
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Ignition Module
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Sun again
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Sierra Nevada
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Sunset
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Anybody got a spare battery?
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PDC Meeting |
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Day 4 on the road was easy, only aprox 400km. No more (unexpected) break downs. Reached Sotogrande near gibraltar in the afternoon. Mileage approx. 3500km. Weater sunny and 20C. Some shoping today, now waiting for the first team meeting to begin. Must be hundreds pdcers here, the whole hotel seems to be occupied. Africa tomorrow. Ferry to Ceuta and border crosing to Morocco. Just hope customs will be easy. Nothing new for us but might be different with the van and all the gear.
Next message will be from africa...!
Kudi (SMS) |
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Gibraltar
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coffee
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more sierra nevada
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mediteran sea
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hmmmm???
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sun
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meeting
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more meeting
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team lost baja
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Don't Know Where |
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Very nice day travelling through Morocco but very slow going. Didn't reach our target by 250km. Split up from the others as they didn't like the hotel we choose (ark back road, many kids and no other eu people...). They will have to get used to Africa soon, things are a lot worse in the south. We will meet up with them on the road tomorrow. The Sahara is the target! We and the vehicles are in a perfect mood!
Küdi SMS |
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Been here before
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Atlas I
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Atlas II
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Into Morocco |
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Entered Morocco today. It took 3 hours and cost 3 packs of Malboro and 20€ to get in. Nasty buggers! The weather is good and warm. Marakesh is our traget destination for tomorrow. Soon we will be in the Sahara! We are travelling with teams 5107 (Irish Peugeot 408), 5140 (British Golf), 5145 (British Landie) and 5109 (Dutch Trooper). We have 4 days ro reach Dakhla, some 2000km to go...
Küdi (SMS) |
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Village in the Atlas
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Thanks to the border guards...
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A few teams
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Campfire
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Mike and Al
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To be or not to be...
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Another Long Day |
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Reached our target! The weather was a bit cold and wet but not too bad - should be be better tomorrow. First off road section today. We are at the border to the Sahara now, only the High-Altas to cross. The car has started to use fair amounts of cooling-water and bike is showing first signs of usage. But nothing to worry about. We're travelling in the old convoy + team 5128. The mood is brilliant! Tomorrow we should reach the Sahara!
Kudi (SMS) |
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Straight road I
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Straight road II
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Pete & Woody
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In Mauretania |
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Unbelivable, but we made it into Mauretania! Now we have no doubt to make it to Banjul - only another 1500km or so to go (im not mentoning that it will be the most difficult kms of all ;-) At least we now know what the C in PDC stands for...
The first day in the Sahara, from Agadir to Layounne in the Western Sahara, was nice but sometimes very cold, especialy when we crossed the High Atlas. That was the 24th. Our Christmas present was a broken waterpump on the Mercedes... 2 hours, 2 packs of Marlboro, 90 Euros and a small bottle of Whiskey later it was exchanged and we were ready for the desert. Good luck the Mercedes vans are the most common transportation vehicles in this region :-)
Next morning we had to pay 10 Dirams for a guy who wached our car through the night (of course we didnt ask him to do that :-) but all in all, Layounne was a very positive experience. Very impressing how these guys know to improvise... 90km after Layounne did a PDC Beetel brake down with a serious engine problem (hole in one piston). It was decided that they want to try to tow it to further on, to see wheter there is a garage by the road. The bigest car standing next to it was our Mercedes... We found a garage in Dakhla, that was 450km further south. Andy was declared to be a hero :-)) Another point worth mentioning was that we had to bribe a police officer on the road who wasnt willing to let us pass because we were towing the Beetel...
We had a day off in Dakhla, just hanging around and dooing nothing expect a service to the Yamaha. It started to wind heavyly in the afternoon and it was pretty cold so we went early to bed to be prepared for the next day - border crossing into Mauretania.
The first 350km fro, Dakhla to the Mauri border were easy going and every bikers dream: Through the stunning desert, through a slight sand storm, tailwind, like gliding through a dream, somehow unreal. Very nice experience! (And new speed record for the bike: 130km/h..)
Crossing the border was a real adventure. This meant to cross a 8km wide mine field. What we did was that we followed the instuctions we had (there are no signs or any other signalation whatsoever, the locals are removing it to be able to get payed for guiding). We ended up in sand barrier over the road exactly there where we were expecting customs into Mauri. Well, never mind we thought and diged a path into the the barrier. After passing that point with about 15 vehicles (we were reminded to the Camel trophy) a couple of military guys appeared and ordered us to return to the begining of the minefield and to take a different path. Finaly we passed the mine field 3 times, sometimes without a clue wheter we were on a path or wheter we were in the middle of the mines... Mauri customs were easy, they didnt even check the car and only the official tax had to be payed.
Were now in Nouadhibou, a 150k inhabitants town near the border with Morocco, having another day off. We havent been able to send or receive SMSes ever since Agadir, thats why there was no update till now. The first i,pressions of Mauri are imressive, it starts now to be the Africa as one imagines how it should be.
The best part of the journey is now in front of us: 3 days offroad in the desert, following the coastline down to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauretania. That will include 70km beach pist, the highlight of most West Africa journeys. It will be a guided tour, we engaged a guide for our small convoi of 6 vehicles: 5107 (Peter and Nick, Peugeot 405), 5109 (Mark and Koos, Isuzu Trooper), 5111 (Andy in the Mercedes), 5116 (Kudi on the Yamaha), 5140 (Mike and All, Golf) and 5145 (Regie and Holy, Landie).
There will probably be no message in the next few days. No worries, were all in best mood and are realy looking forward to what the desert will show us... And yes, just to nake you geleous: Its now about 25C and sunny ;-)
Kudi, from Cybercafe in Nouadhibou |
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Dead Beetel
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Bit packed
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Rider Dreams
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Sunset in Nouadhibou
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The border wall
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Through the mine field
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Survived the desert |
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Greetings from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania! Nearly drowned the van in the ocean today (will explain more later).
Happy New Year!
btw. It's 25C here ;-) |
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A bit of sand
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The convoy
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Landie
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A bit damaged
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Planing
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Swimming in the sea
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No comment...
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On the beach
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Being stocked
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Made it to Senegal |
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Survived the dessert! Unbelivable if we remember what we did to the vechiles. The Mercedes is a bit unhappy since it went for a swim in th Atlantic, but it still runs. Only 400km to go... Te desert part was amazing. Now 2 days off in Zebrabar. Tomorrow we wil head for Gambia.
Kudi (SMS) |
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Waiting in the no man's land
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Night run offroad/rider horror
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The paradise - Zebrabar
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The crowd
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Zebrabar suroundings
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Zebra-BAR
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A long tow for the Mercedes |
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Mercedes died again - carburetor problems and fucked battery. It's now being towed the whole day because we are travelling in the convoy. But we WILL arrive!
Kudi (SMS) |
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Survived! |
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We did it! We arrived in Banjul on 5th of January late night. The last day was a bit tricky... Andy had a co-driver who permanentaly dropped fuel into the open carb, but the Merz finaly made it on its own. The Yamaha was as reliable as ever and was one of the fewer vehilcles without a major brakedown on the whole trip. Finaly the ferry crossing over the Gambnian River, or more exactly the waiting for the ferry, prooved to be one of the major challenges of the trip, some sort of new sport, something like extreem-ferry-crossing... I ended up with a sheet with the words NO on it and pissed of quite a lot of people who were trying to sell you anything between Fanta, food and women...
We're both very tired now, the whole trip was pretty exhausting, ready for a longer break. It was more than 8000km and we think there was not a lot we left out...
We're now trying to get a flight back to europe which is not as easy as we thought it to be. But we hope to get one for end of next week tomorrow. We'll send the exact dates as soon as we have them.
Not a lot left to do, the car auction tomorrow (the Merz will be auctioned on the second one, not tomorrow), the official handover of the bike (the police already nearly occupied the bike during the end-ceremony in the olympic stadion of Banjul:-) and I think there might be a few more beers to be drunken until we leave ;-) The weather is brilliant and between 25-30C so we're looking forward for a few very lazy days in The Gambia... |
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On the ferry to Banjul
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Arriving at the safary Garden
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The start of the parade
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The End |
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That is it, we are nearly on the way home. Our flight leaves tomorrow late afternoon from Banjul and will arrive in Zurich via Brussels on Saturday morning, 11:25 I think (its Brussels Airlines).
We have a few very lazy days behind us, did nearly nothing. We know the whole life of our bar keeper Crocodile-John, raised loads of money for the local brewery (JulBrew) and have a new local friend named Eddie.
A couple of the boys in the hotel cleanded the Merc yesterday, looks like new (at least a lot better than when we left CH)! We still havent decided 100% what to do with it so that is the last thing for us left to do.
Ok, thats it for this time. I will add many pics as soon I have time to do it, there are a few very very nice things we met on that journey, I hope we have them all on film... |
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The Mercedes...
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... The Team ...
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... and the Bike
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Launch Party |
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| We went to Plymouth and furtheron to Liskeard for only one reason. The famous pintpullers launch-party. Meeting of the first other PDC'ers, eventouhg they are group 4ers. Loads of beer, as usual. The headache, we had the next day on the ferry, said it was a good party. |
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PDC Group4ers
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they are nutters
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Dick
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Atlantic coastlne
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Dead locusts
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Welcome to the Sahara
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Repairing the waterpump
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Andy the head banger
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The Road
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First dunes
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The Trophy
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Through the desert
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Desert Burnout
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Playing in the dunes
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Beach camp
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PDC repairs
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Dunes Crossing I
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Ceremony
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Do you want to buy it?
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Tea break
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Dunes Crossing II
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Postface |
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Back in europe. Bloody cold here :-(
It took us 18h to get back, but at least we've been to Dakar... the hardest part was to wake up from the dream we lived during the last few weeks. Or is the life here the dream and africa was the reality? I'm really not shure about this...
The last thing we did was to hand over the keys of the Merc to Simon who lost his car, which was promisedto the local hospital, in WS. We decided to give ours as a replacement. So it finaly went to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul.
Again? YES! But at least for me with a few changes: bigger engine, unsupported, more time and less organisation ;-)
Africa, we WILL return!
Kudi 2005'
Additionaly a few newspaper-links concerning the journey:
Allafrica.com - Plymouth-Dakar Challengers Arrive
Daily Observer - Plymouth-Dakar Banjul Rally here again
Daily Observer - Our Merc in the news
Daily Observer - Greets from the DT
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