Table of contents
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13th pictures
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1/13
Report on the Tuareg rally: PS editor Robert Gluck in the sand hell.
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2/13
The sand pulls in every crack.
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3/13
Even the god of mechanics, Thorsten Kaiser, cursed, who helped the PS enthusiast with the engine repairs.
happiness
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The powdered sugar-soft sand is hell – it devours front wheels at full speed, pulls itself through air filters, clogs carburetors and kills engines.
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5/13
The desert teaches humility – complete physical exhaustion is normal.
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6/13
Report on the Tuareg rally.
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7/13
Unfortunately, the jumping camel also perished.
happiness
8/13
The hard truth of the Sahara: While one desert ship (# 15) is still sailing, the other is already lazy around.
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9/13
Clogged carburetor.
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10/13
Winning the start of the sixth stage brought nothing – after 37 km, engine failure number two occurred.
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11/13
The “Silles Pass” claimed many victims.
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12/13
The “Silles Pass” claimed many victims.
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13/13
The arrival at the finish was a pleasure for those who experienced it.
Sports & scene
Motorsport
PS editor Robert Gluck in the sand hell
Report on the Tuareg rally
PS editor Robert Gluck in the sand hell
Content of
If it gets too tight on the race, it helps to escape into the terrain. PS editor Robert Gluck left paved roads and took on a sandpit.
Robert luck
04/17/2013
At 9.2 km on the Tripmaster, the engine cuts out without warning. Suddenly there is silence in the deep Tunisian sea of dunes – not a good start to the first of seven stages of the 2013 Tuareg rally. “It doesn’t exist,” it flashes through my head. “The rally isn’t even really rolling, that’s when the technical problems start again for me!”
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Instead of burying my head in the abundant sand, I analyze the situation, go through the possible causes of the defect in my head: Broken candle? Ignition coil over? Pick-up defective? First dismantle the bench and tank, clear the replacement candle and then, in the midst of this pure emery sand, pull the candle. I hear the noise of the engine coming towards me from behind the dune. A fellow two-wheeler shoots over the edge, sees me, is startled, evades and pulls the tap open. Obviously he followed my lead and is now throwing sand at me as a thank you. I’m glad I haven’t unscrewed the spark plug yet.
Although, that wouldn’t have mattered, because I can’t go any further in the Tunisian sandpit near Douz. The candle sparked bravely, but the stove remained silent. I call the rescue team, which will bring me back to the bivouac hours later – but thank God in good time that I can immediately attempt another repair. This also makes sense with the Tuareg rally, because while you simply drop out of a World Cup rally or the Dakar after a technical defect, you can re-enter the competition here after repairs with a penalty time. And that is surely one reason why the Tuareg is so popular with amateur pilots.
That doesn’t help me at first, because the wounds have to be repaired before I can continue my journey KTM EXC 525 on. In the bivouac it quickly becomes clear that the orange’s electrical system is OK. So, according to the analysis, there must be a lack of fuel. When dismantling the air filter and the carburetor, the shock: The single cylinder has drawn so much sand through the air filter that a) all secondary air bores are blocked and b) the compression could also be gone. Since hope dies last, as is well known, the carburetor was first dismantled with a full bath. After the installation of the petrol processor, disillusionment: the stove still does not start. Even if the brake cleaner is sprayed directly into the carburetor – a method that usually revives even dead engines for a short time – nothing happens.
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Unfortunately, the jumping camel also perished.
Frustration spreads until buddy Mike steps up to the depressed author with the Dakar-proven mechanic Thorsten Kaiser by the hand. Thorsten, a very professional, examines the air filter, casually pats down the Kickstarter and shakes his head: “It feels like a 250, it has far too little compression for a 525 …” My death sentence has been pronounced. Exactly 9.2 kilometers after the start, the rally is over for me with a piston seizure. Thoughts race. Howling or cursing, knocking the cart down with a hammer, or rather slamming your big toe with a tire iron?
But a rally lives from its spirit, its participants and its organization. And a rally would not be a rally if Thorsten Kaiser, who has just confirmed my retirement, didn’t find a badly damaged but functional piston and cylinder of an EXC 525 in his crumple box a day later! What is wear and tear, what is oil consumption – bring it on, as long as the KTM is running with it again. On the evening of the third stage, the pistons and cylinders are replaced within four hours and nine minutes, the oil is changed and the furnace roars again!
And how he roars! With all the penalty time I will tackle the fourth stage from the end of the field. The day is designed as a circuit race around the original “Star Wars” backdrop near the city of Nefta. A mixture of fast slopes, soft dunes, deep sandy and slow slopes as well as camel grass hills is on the agenda. I give the KTM the spurs, catapult myself through the first belt of dunes and spot some participants who started earlier on the horizon. A quick look at the road book is all it takes and I look for my colleagues’ dust plumes. And fall into the trap. Since I don’t exactly follow the route described in the road book, I miss a “SC”, a secret checkpoint, and only five minutes after the start I’m already penalized for two hours. So the day is messed up, frustrated I tear the cable and spend all my strength in these damn camel grass hills that don’t want to let a proper driving rhythm come up.
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The desert teaches humility – complete physical exhaustion is normal.
The fifth day brings the rally back towards Douz, the starting point of the action. To get there, you have to climb a rocky ridge. “Silles Pass”, as the name is in the road book, will be burned into the memory of all those who have struggled through it as a material-killing section. For me, however, it’s going well. Dave, the photographer, shows me the way, I’m up the pass in no time and am looking forward to my best result of the day on the high plateau. After all, a 15th place, which could even have become fourth in the daily standings if I hadn’t dropped a gas line…
I’m slowly realizing that luck, the Tuareg rally and the KTM EXC 525 don’t work together. The karma or whatever doesn’t fit. Otherwise, at least on my third participation in the event, I would have been reasonably carefree. But as always, the hammer comes at the end. Hopefully I can start the sixth stage in the fourth wave of starts. That said, 14 fast guys who are good at navigating are in front of me. I win the start, hide the road book and follow the tracks in front of me. It runs brilliantly, the KTM burns through the powdered sugar-like sand. But unfortunately we have a strong tailwind, my EXC sucks in a lot of its own dust. And at 37.8 kilometers the engine cuts out without warning.
This time I stick my head in the sand and call the rescue. Karlheinz will come with the truck, but that’s a different story.
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