London - Cape Town 5 Days to Go

Just last minute jobs left now with 5 days left to the Big Off. The car looks great in its new African Revival livery so I've included some more pics below.

Final jobs included changing to more compliant spring rates, testing some different tyres, beefing up the under-guarding and protection, changing my seat to something more comfortable, bigger radiator and improved stowage. Bob and I also had an intensive day pulling the car to bits and putting it back together - practicing fitting strut inserts, changing shafts and basically going through any job that might need doing on the event. The frightening bit is the electrics - so bloody complicated on a more modern car. I can see the big advantage of a simple classic. We've fitted an ECU monitoring system which will tell us of any fault. This is of course no guarantee that we'll be able to do anything about it but at least we'll know why we've broken down!

We've also fitted a snorkel arrangement for river crossings. A pipe connects into the filter box and up to just under the wipers. If we need to cross water, we blank off the usual intake in the filter box and air is drawn in only from the snorkel pipe which can be extended up the windscreen pillar. There's also one for the exhaust as otherwise water will be pulled in if the car stalls mid-river. This would be a big (at least plugs out) problem. We're also told that getting out of the car mid-river is not a good idea given the various carnivorous inhabitants. Maybe better to wait and get towed across any deeper crossings.

The only battle now is with the weight of spares, tools, spare wheels and the various odds and sods including luggage - about 100kg. Bob and I each have one flight carry-on holdall bag - to last 4 weeks. Looks like we'll be doing the weekly wash or keeping the windows open.

A word on in-car entertainment for the long road daily sections; that is besides playing 'eye-spy'. We removed the radio and speakers (way too heavy) and the space is taken up with with our switch panel so music on the longer days will either be Bob singing or (no disrespect Bob) ipod and ear phones.

Next stop scrutineering at Brooklands on 1 Jan. After that, I will try to provide a regular update via the Blackberry while Bob is driving.

S