Video: Camel Trophy 1989 Amazon with Land Rover Defender 110s

 

The duel in the jungle - the Camel Trophy's 10th Anniversary - lures teams from 14 teams to the Amazon basin - to struggle 1300 miles through an event that celebrates man's sense of adventure.

 

The competitors, all amateurs, have a once in a lifetime chance to discover their limitations in what is a cross between international sport and a multi-national expedition.

 

The Camel Trophy is getting more popular every year and this year is no exception.  Back in 1980, when the first Camel Trophy was run, there were 1600 applicants or thereabouts.  This year we have well over a million applicants worldwide and uh when you consider that those million are actually after 28 seats - 28 places in the convoy - you can see that we can be fairly selective as to who we actually take to represent their countries.

 

The route, covering jungle swamp and the badlands of the Brazilian goldrush, offers no refuge for the faint-hearted.  The winners of the trophy emerge from 10 special tasks designed to test teamwork, driving skills, and endurance.  The first day and three special tasks -- a time to control pent-up nervous energy.

 

Up over this - go, just go, go, go, go!

Up there up there.

3,2,1 go!

 

Amazonian Route 163 welcomes careful drivers.  A single mistake here means a 50 foot drop to the floor of a washed-out road. 

 

Oh dear.

 

It's hot and airless in the cab - you're cramped and caked in sour smelling red mud. Then, the first major obstacle and the first murmurs of discontent.

 

Its very - you just push here... maybe you should try it, try with a...

 

The real lesson - that is is one for all and all for one - sinks in later.

 

That's it.  Good one. Hold it there, hold it.

 

Non-english talk here.

 

Stop it stop it stop.  Wait, wait!

 

The convoy moves on sustained by dry biscuits, rice, and hope. The men are numb with tiredness - they have an average of four hours of sleep a night upon which to cope with life's little problems.

 

I think it is not just the physical strain it is the mental strain as well. You keep your concentration up - we're driving on roads like this through six to seven hours in darkness -it's really hard to pick out the potholes, you just have to keep your mind on them all the time - and that drains you as much as anything I think.  

 

We thought it would be a bit like this - not that muddy - but we were prepared for a lot of hard work.

 

Mud, mud, inglorious mud.  It waits to trap the unwise or the unwary.  How many cars are sitting in the mud, over?  We're coming up on this sick nasty bog up here and there's about 3-4 cars stuck on the right hand side - they took the wrong line - what you have to do is go to the left and really put the welly to it.  You get up on two wheels but don't worry about you won't go over.

 

He's stuck again.  *&%^, what is the **&^%$ing matter with him?  We told you to go the right and you went to the left and then you got excited and went to the right again.  You get stuck every time all right?  

 

One thing about Will - you can always tell when he's a right side up because the shiny patch is the top.

 

Would you believe we passed a car wash? - it was a Brazilian carwash, but nevertheless it was a car wash.

 

The Amazonian port of Saint Arin? - town everyone feared would be one broken bridge too far - is within reach.  A sudden sense of exhilaration - a secret sense of excitement - the bonds of friendship are strengthened by common problems as much as shared pleasures. Yet even at an event which offers a special prize for sportsmanship - man is a competitive animal - thoughts begin to stray to the resumption of the special tasks and its up to the Turks to defend the trophy.

 

Last year ?? and ?? win the Camel Trophy and that puts lots of pressure on us.

 

Problems are relative - the Spanish team who had rebuilt their vehicle overnight following a road accident, defy logic and share the lead after five tasks.

 

Mosquitos, heat, and humidity have been beaten, but mud must have the final say. Sport, like life, is not fair.  Spain's chance of winning goes with this tire.

 

At the finish there are no losers.  You can't measure a sense of personal satisfaction from a points table.