JEDDAH, 6 October 2004 — Two intrepid entrants from Team Mountain Dew in the UAE Desert Challenge made an overnight pit stop in Jeddah recently. Shihab Alireza and Martin Camp, sponsored entrants in one of the most grueling endurance races in the world, stayed only to check the machine and leave.
“It was a test and training run, really,” said Alireza. “We needed to prove the bike and iron out any problems before the race.”
The modestly described “test run” involved a 1,600 km non-stop endurance run across the Rub Al-Khali at speeds of up to 140 kph on a very tough quad-bike in full desert trim.
The route followed the trans-Arabia pipeline from Dammam to Yanbu and included two days of punishing rough riding. “The bike performed flawlessly after a modification at the start,” said Martin Camp. “That’s where the run helps.”
A new and untested modification had been fitted to the machine but proved inadequate to the extremes of desert racing.
The two quad-bikes which Camp described as “the best money can buy” are powered by a 650 tuned Rotax engine. Off the shelf, the vehicles still will not stand the ordeal of the Desert Challenge and have to be upgraded.
“It is a balance between speed and reliability,” explained Alireza. The race is over 2,400 km across some of the harshest desert driving conditions anywhere. Tuning the engine often yields less racing competitiveness than tuning the suspension. “It has to take the most ferocious shocks and survive.”
The run across Saudi Arabia was to test both man and machine. In the 1600 km sprint, the rider encounters the full range of conditions from sharp rocks through basalt-strewn lava fields to soft sand.
“We have to be able to cross all of these at speed and keep the machine intact,” said Camp. “That is a challenge in itself.”
Staying on the machine is another. There have been deaths and serious accidents. “It is part of the package. We take all the precautions we can,” said Alireza, “but it only takes an instant’s inattention at the wrong moment for an accident to happen.”
The quad-bikes are comprehensively equipped with emergency radios, satellite location systems, GPS navigation and a supply of water and military food rations. The team support vehicle carries a comprehensive range of spares for the pit-stops during race week.
“Preparation — physical, mental and mechanical — is everything,” Camp confided.
The racing and reliability of the machines are only part of the competitive equation. Camp runs marathons as part of his endurance training. “There’s absolutely nothing to prepare you for the actual stress of traveling in excess of two kilometers a minute over rocks,” he grinned. “The very best training is done in the saddle.”
During the race, the riders get through up to nine liters of water a day. “Good exercise,” said Alireza with a wink.
As well as the incredibly wearing conditions of the race, the riders have to navigate accurately, sometimes on less than four hours sleep a night. Navigation by GPS and magnetic compass is part of the race as the competitors travel from point to point, often across featureless landscape.
Alireza hopes that his profession of pilot will add a dimension to the Mountain Dew team that will give them an edge. “My navigation is pretty good,” he said. “The comprehensive training helped enormously.”
The UAE Desert Challenge begins with a short-circuit “Prologue” race over a three kilometer circuit on Oct. 10 in which spectators can see the riders and machines competing for positions on the starting line-up. Over the following five days, they take on the desert.
