Team Saluki - live updates

[BajaTaco]

Team Saluki is posting daily updates on their current bid to win the UAE Desert Challenge which is happening right now. The news so far is pretty exciting stuff. They started out on Day 1 placed at 28th out of 42 vehicles. By the start the 2nd day they had worked their way up to 14th place. The 2nd day was hairy with Tim suffering from dehydration and needing emergency med. assistance. Mark still completed that day, but the penalties were stiff, and it put them back to 30th place (!) for the start of Day 3 (today). Tim is back in the game today, and they kicked some major butt - working their way all the way back up to 12th place!



Here is a pic from today... (hopefully they don't mind me linking to it)



Land Rover Defender 110 w/4.8L injected V8

[Jonathan Hanson]

Wow . . . nice site and a beautiful 110. Thanks for the link, Chris.

Edit: Now I see their old paint job and remember the team. Glad to be reminded of them.

[bigreen505]

Whoa. That is cool.

[FourByLand]

Kinda makes me wonder what the other guys where driving in order for them to get ahead in such a timely manner!

Thanks for the link Chris!

[BajaTaco]

Yea, good stuff guys!

Kinda makes me wonder what the other guys where driving in order for them to get ahead in such a timely manner!

Well, with the V8 they claim to be getting 285 hp (34mm restrictor) 325 hp unrestricted, which isn't so shabby.

HERE is the list of their competitors

[FourByLand]

Any news on the Freelander or the Bowler?

Very impressive list of competitors... I saw the build up of the X5, and it looks like a well built machine.

[BajaTaco]

Any news on the Freelander or the Bowler?

Louis, you can follow the real-time position of the racers on Iritrack HERE

I see that Team Saluki finished stage 3 in 12th place, but when they started stage 4 this morning, they were dropped to 14th for some reason. It looks like the finished the day out in 17th place for the cars.

Unfortunately, there are no listings for the Bowler or Freelander, so they may have dropped out.

NEWS - it looks like Luc Alphand (Mitsubishi) is leading overall.

Side note: USA moto rider Chris Blais is 5th overall (had his first stage win yesterday).

[FourByLand]

That sucks!

The freelander lookied like it actually had a chance!

Thanks for the links Chris!

[BajaTaco]

It looks like Saluki placed 21st for the cars.

1st - Luc Alphand
2nd - Stéphane Peterhansel
3rd - Jean-Louis Schlesser

Side notes: KTM USA's Chris Blais earned a respectable 5th place for the bikes. And David Casteu (KTM France) became the current FIM Cross Country Rallies world champion.

HERE's a cool pic of Team Saluki at the finish