1988.         Full Drivers Report

This year was Dicks first attempt at the Dakar Rally, and he was partnered by Chris Louis, who is now a well respected performer in World speedway racing. The vehicle chosen was an Isuzu Trooper, which although adequate was, with hindsight, probably not the best choice. It was prepared to the best of everyone’s ability but with no previous experience of the race much of what was done was guesswork! Dick and Chris went out of this event on the first desert stage in Algeria, which was a particularly tough one! This stage took out about 25% of that years entry, and is still acknowledged as one of the toughest yet. It took the pair 26 hours to do the distance which meant that they were excluded through lateness. However the car was still going and to gain African experience they carried on to Dakar anyway!

1989.         Full Drivers Report

For this attempt the car was substantially lightened and modified. Dicks navigator was Andy Davey, an adventurous fellow and very good navigator. After that notorious stage in 1988 Dick was pleasantly surprised at the relative ease of the first couple of stages, this time in Tunisia. None the less this was still a very demanding challenge on both man and machine, and retirement came at around the half-way mark, about 3000 miles into the event. This was caused by rear differential failure, and Dick and Andy spent three days stranded in the Tenere desert before being found by the search and rescue helicopter crew. Dick returned to Africa a few weeks later with spare parts to repair the stricken Isuzu, and it was driven home to be prepared for the next attempt.

1990.         Full Navigators Report

The car was stripped, repaired and rebuilt with further modifications ready for the 1990 edition. Gearbox and axle coolers were added, and the original Isuzu engine was replaced by a specially built 2.3 litre Ford Pinto unit. This engine was quite a bit more powerful but needed to rev quite hard to deliver that power. The navigator for 1990 was Matt Dickinson, a long time follower of the Dakar and lover of world-wide travel, especially to the more remote corners of the planet. Matts C.V. includes walking across the Namib desert and canoeing down the Yukon in Alaska!

The car was a lot better with the latest mods this time, but front axle failure caused early retirement in Southern Libya. This was the first and only year that Dick had a mechanic following on the support aircraft, and that mechanic was his present co-driver Keith Parker. Dick and Keith fixed the vehicle well enough to drive it back to England, and Matt took Keith’s place on the plane to follow the rest of the race to Dakar.

1991.

Following his 1990 sortie into Africa Keith had well and truly got the Dakar bug, and jumped at the chance of competing in 1991. The now ageing Trooper was re-prepared for another attempt, but problems struck just 150 miles south of Paris! A gear wheel in the gearbox broke, and initially that looked like the end for another year. But Keith removed the gearbox by the roadside, and with the use of a local workshop was able to completely remove second gear from the system and re-fit the gearbox. What had threatened to put the pair out of the rally ended up, following a pretty manic drive after the repair was done, giving them a two minute road penalty on arrival at the finish of that road section!

The net result that year was that after several problems, some caused by the lack of second gear and subsequent thrashing of the engine on the sandier sections, was retirement at around the halfway point finally caused by a blown engine. The car was abandoned on the side of the dune where it stopped, and may well still be there! So the record to date was four starts two early retirements and two half-way breakdowns.

1992-1996.

Due to business commitments no further attempts were made during this period, but around September 1995 Dick was asked in a pub one night ‘What’s so special about that rally and the desert?’ After spending the next two hours responding to this question he quietly said to himself ‘If it’s that good I’d better have another go, and do the distance next time!’ Thus the 1997 project was launched.

1997.         Full Drivers Report

On the tightest budget yet Dick and Keith acquired a written off Isuzu Trooper as a base for the next run. Although they knew that the Isuzu was not the best car for the job they also knew its weaknesses and how to get over them, and it made sense to use all the hard earned experience of previous years. The car was repaired and modified over the early months of 1996, and the result was the best car for the job they had yet managed to put together. That elusive finish was the main target, and a policy of nursing the vehicle was adopted. (Well, it was for most of the time!) Despite this extra care there were still many incidents, including a roll on day three, but this time the goal of finishing was finally achieved. The car was extremely battered, but it got back home in one piece and forms the basis for the Dakar 2000 project.

2000.         Full Drivers Report

Dick and Keith decided to start the new century with another attempt at the rally. The car was completely stripped and carefully repaired and rebuilt. This time the race started from Paris, then went by sea to Dakar for the start of the competitive stages. The finish was in Cairo with the pyramids forming a spectacular backdrop.