There isn't much briefing, well less tha 5 minutes of it at the time of draw on friday night. The best one can do is, mingle with people there and ask for tips. I guess, because we weren't aiming for positions there was no stress etc. Probably gave 90% during qualifying and 70% during the race. Same for Desert Devil. We had to finish and than travel same evening back from Cholistan to Islamabad and join our jobs next morning. It was very long drive but trip made it worth it.
Total 88 participants, I guess around 55-60 finished, 10-15 roll overs and rest were mechanical breakdowns, including tyre problems. There were people who had tyre trouble, changed them and still finished. .
We had no GPS, one can easily do rally without it. Many vehicles were equipped with it though.
There were 11 check points, and all had a vehicle for recovering the participants for any breakdowns during the rally, the vehicles were supposed to be recovered at end of race, by tractors or other 4X4s as necessary. Many serious participants had brought along their own recovery vehicle etc.
Finally both our Pajero and LC did not have any tyres problem though-out the trip. Pajero did have plenty electrical gremlins (hence the sleepless night, looking for mechanisc/electricians) The LC behaved brilliantly, only hard work I had to do was removed both spare wheels for qualifying and put one back inside for race and after race had to put them back at rear and under, Done!
Both Vehicles were essentially 100% stock. Our total prepartion for rally was Getting rollcages built (they are compulsory now), extra pair of air filters (because of dust), Helmets for driver and navigators and finally fire-extinguishers.
So will we see you there next year!!!
