Miguel Angel Menendez
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Stage 1: Tangier - Ifrane (9-3-2014)
The approximately 150 registered teams were taking positions early in the morning in the port of Algeciras, to depart for the port of Tangier-Med. Of the two hours that the crossing lasts, we spent one queuing inside the ship to pass the corresponding customs procedures. Afterwards, the participants began to relax, get to know each other and chat with each other, and study the roadbook for the first stage.
Once in Tangier and after more customs procedures, we had the briefing and the beginning of the first stage that would take us by highway, where some already had mechanical problems, until the first and desired stretch of land at kilometer 230. There About 30 kilometers of regularity test awaited us, along sand and track routes between cork oaks, crossing the Mamora forest.
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Here we began to notice the utility of the sump guard, the stones hit the underside of the car incessantly and sometimes we brushed against the ridges that the trucks and larger vehicles drew on the tracks and that forced the Pandas to circulate with a wheel outside the path and another above the central ridge.
We also began to feel the tension of the regularity stages, where driver and co-driver stop, for a moment, being “friends”. At the end there was a path of soft sand that the cars tried to navigate through the trees; some had to be rescued.
The rest of the stage passed without incident on the asphalt track to the hotel in Ifrane, where the truck-workshop was waiting for us, which accompanied us throughout the trip and collaborated in the repair of a large part of the Pandas.
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Cocktail of snowy mountains and desert, towards Ifrane
Stage 2: Ifrane - Maadid (10-3-2014)
The second stage, of more than 380 kilometers, had two different track sectors: To get to the first regularity section we had to cross a cedar forest in the Middle Atlas and after about 100 kilometers on asphalt the regularity test by gravel began. . We left with a difference of 30 seconds and immediately some participants began to group.
Suddenly we see a car stopped and we ask him if he needs anything. "Do you have a windshield?" was the answer. Some stone jumped on the front glass making it literally a thousand pieces. We offered them some surgical masks that, together with the sunglasses they were wearing, allowed them to continue; We did not hear from them again, but surely they were able to put another glass thanks to the truck-workshop.
When trying to restart the car the car would not start. The starter simply didn't show any signs of life. The battery: We thought that it had been discharged or damaged due to the 220-volt converter that we carried to power the mobiles that told us where we were and where we were going. We tested with the one we had as a spare and it started perfectly, so we put the worn one back in place and continued on our way, accumulating delay and losing points in the regularity section.
Later the problems continued, something brushed against something causing a high and shrill sound that could be heard throughout the valley. What if the front wheel, what if the rear, what if the gearbox ... Anyway, we stopped, removed the front wheel, tested and nothing, we no longer heard the sound. At that, some colleagues who were passing by stopped and told us that they had no idea about mechanics, but that they had some very cold beers. We stopped and tasted the millenary drink in the middle of the desert, which encouraged us a lot.
As we were the last of the caravan, we were hunted by the broom car in charge of solving the problems of the participants. "What happen to you?" An awful noise. "We go for a walk." Hiiiiiii. To. Mohammed "El Gordito" team lifts the car and gets under it. They put the 4-wheel drive. The wheels turn and the sound plays, now yes; a stone is housed between the transmission bar to the rear wheels and the protection of said bar. If you think about it, it is logical, around here there are only stones and dust.
We finished the dirt section and we got back to the asphalt track that would take us to the city of Midelt; behind us, only the organization's cars are coming. On the way we passed a Panda that had stopped to rest. In one of those, when I touch the horn to say hello I notice that it does not work, battery discharges again ...
The fault was not in the old battery but in the alternator, which was not charging. I still do not know if the indicator light did not work or if due to the low power of the lamps I did not see it, the fact is that the car was going to stop at any moment - these cars with an ECU stop if they do not receive enough power .
Indeed, upon reaching the town of Midelt, the brake lights at a Stop have finished draining the battery. We stood still and pushed the car aside to get it out of the bustling traffic in this town. If you have to choose a town in Morocco to stay in, the truth is that Midelt is the best, since it is full of mechanical workshops; in other words, within our bad luck we were lucky. We saw a couple of Pandas that had already started repairs at one of these establishments.
In about five minutes, the assists arrived and literally got inside the hood of the Panda to remove the alternator. Meanwhile, and with the help of one of the mechanics who spoke a little Spanish, we went to a workshop to look for a replacement alternator, which for another year should not be missing in the luggage. 500 dirhams, about 50 euros for a second-hand alternator that worked but with a suspicious noise in the bearing. In the end it stayed at 450.
The assists changed it in a jiffy, but when removing the bad one they loaded a cable from the fuel pump relay. One splice and voila. In the end we had lost two hours and the next obligatory section of passage was about 170 kilometers from Midelt. The time was very tight but since we were in the game, we would continue to play.
The checkpoint closed at 16:30 p.m. and we arrived at 16:40 p.m. Penalty. And they let us pass, but at our own risk and expense. Without support and as the day had gone, we'd better go by road to the camp. As we had gone very fast and we had not stopped to refuel at the gas stations indicated in the roadbook, we used a 5-liter jerrycan that we had until we reached the next service station.
At this point in the raid, the car could hardly be seen from the dust it accumulated, and it was precisely the dust that prevented us from opening the gas tank cap. We worked for a while with a pair of pliers and in the end a third operator from the gas station succeeded. Luckily for this he did have a spare.
We arrived at the camp and set up the tent as it got dark. As a precaution, I took the broken alternator to the staff of the workshop truck, who in an hour changed the brushes for those of another that had become blocked, so we would take a replacement.
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One of the objectives of the Panda raid is to supply school supplies to schools like Blaghma's
