Thomas Rundle and Juan Mohr are made of stern stuff and can handle things when the going gets tough. That’s why they are among the leading contenders in the Absa Off Road Championship for Production Vehicles. They subscribe to the notion that cowboys don’t cry, but after yet another setback in their first season together in the Barden Tyre Services Racing Nissan Navara, they can be forgiven for squeezing out a tear or two of sheer frustration.
This time it was the daunting Big Daddy of off road races, the mother of all marathons, that gave them a hot and dusty backhander. The annual Toyota Kalahari Botswana 1000 Desert Race is the longest and arguably the most treacherous of the eight rounds that make up the South African championship, considered to be among the toughest national off road series in the world.
Of the 55 entrants who lined up for Friday’s 72-km prologue, a time trial that determines the start order of Saturday’s first leg of the 1 000-km race, just 10 of the 29 Production Vehicles (mostly pickups) and 16 of the 26 Special Vehicles (open wheeled spaceframes) made it to the finish on Sunday afternoon at Kumakwane, 25 km west of the Botswana capital of Gaborone.
Among the casualties was the Barden Tyres’ combination of Rundle and Mohr, side-lined by a failed engine 30 km into the second half of Saturday’s 500-km route. They had successfully negotiated the challenge of a tough prologue, finishing in fifth place among the Production Vehicles and ahead of all the Special Vehicles. “We were happy with this result,” said Rundle. “It gave us a good start position for the race, up at the front of a big field. The Nissan performed well and there was no indication of what was to come.”
They lost a position to current championship leaders Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst, whose Hilux had started the race right behind them, when they picked up a puncture about 60 km into the first of the two 250-km loops that made up Saturday’s route.
“We reached the compulsory service stop halfway through the day’s route in sixth place after some four hours of hard and fast driving. The pace was as hot as the air temperature and we were pleased to find that we were not far off the front runners. It was a close fight and we looked forward to the next round.
“Without any warning we lost the engine after only 30 km of the second loop. It was a shock and it brought to an abrupt and unexpected end what was turning out to be a good run which we were both enjoying.
“The whole Barden Tyre Services team has worked very hard throughout the season and it’s frustrating for all of us when we fail to complete an event. It’s happened too many times this year and I don’t believe it’s a poor reflection on our preparation or our performance in the car. We’ve shown that when things don’t go wrong we can be right up there with the best (third overall on the Sun City 400 in July after a late puncture robbed them of a chance to win).
“So it’s back to the workshops to strip the car down again, find out what went wrong and ready ourselves for the next challenge,” said a determined Rundle. There are just two rounds of the championship remaining with the next the Bloemfontein 400 in the Free State on October 22 and 23.
While Barden Tyre Services is the principal sponsor, the team also enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with other partners and suppliers like Dunlop tyres, Autozone, Hausberger and Associates, Maxwell Design and Advertising, Willard batteries and Cedar Chem.
– Credit: Peter Burroughes Communications.