Day 5 Rest Day

Whilst for the crew it might be a rest day the service crew had 8 hours of working under tropical sunshine to look forward to. The Ambroseli Ol'Tukai Lodge was the service location and provided accommodation for many of the crews the rest being at Salt Lick about 10 k's away. The plan was to do a full check on the car plus address the problems encountered so far. We all know how the best laid plans often don't always work out and day 5 was to be no different. During a routine service we had replaced a rear x-member mounting and in the course of changing had found a crack in the actual mounting bracket. Cracks had also appeared on the strut top mounts and although they were double skinned the African roads had taken their toll. These bits were all duly welded and returned to the car. An alarming amount of play had appeared in the steering rack which turned out to be an easy to solve problem courtesy of a grease gun. Both engine mounts were replaced. Our aluminium radiator mounting .had suffered metal fatigue and had to be replaced. The by now properly repaired Proflex front unit was refitted with some beefed up track rods, although the modified 205 one had not caused any problems we were told that the second half of the event was going to be even rougher. My God How?

By 5 o'clock the car was back in parc ferme Andy was on a game drive, Paul was in the pool & our driver & I tidied up the van & service area.

Really early start tomorrow so thats something to look forward to. Oh yes at this time the Ti service crew had managed to be the last to leave the bar on every single night. a record we were determined to ho;d onto