T4F Rallyteam - Africa Eco Race

Never before in his career had Gerard van Lieshout experienced a day as tough as the 8th stage in the 2018 edition of the Africa Eco Race. He needed more than ten hours to complete the 439 kilometer stage through Mauretania. The dunes that Van Lieshout and his navigator Guido Slaats needed to cross with their Toyoata Landcruiser were so soft and loose that they needed special ramps to get through them.

“Ramp by ramp we climbed to the top”, Van Lieshout explains at the bivouac close to Atar, where he arrive hours after sunset. “The sand was so loose and soft that i couldn’t even get to the top by foot, imagine what happened when we tried it with the heavy Toyota. Therefore we used the ramps, meter by meter. And every time we had to dig those ramps that got buried one meter deep under the sand. It was an agony.” 
It was a 60 kilometers stretch of dunes with camel grass that have costed Van Lieshout and Slaats hours and hours. “ I never knew about dunes being so soft and difficult to get through. Today was incredibly hard on our equipment. The clutch and gearbox have become far too hot. I have always hated riding through dunes and however I have gained lots of experience during this rally, I am definitely not looking forward to anymore of them. I am glad that the finish line is within reach now. ”
Unfortunately for Van Lieshout there are even more dunes to come during the 9th stage, a 340 kilometer stage.

The first week of the Africa Eco Race went surprisingly well for Gerard van Lieshout and Guido Slaats. The T4F-duo is really positive during the rest day in Dakhla. They and their Toyota Landcruiser are on top of the leaderbord in their ‘standard car class’, T2, and on 30th position overall. 

“I wasn’t expecting this”, says Van Lieshout. “We chose not to drive on our limits. Yes of course, during the 5th stage the throttle pedal sometimes went completely down to the floor. We had a decent speed but we never demanded the maximum from the car. We drive very carefully.”
Probably that’s the secret. The Russian competitor, Alexey Titov, who previously held the number one spot on the T2-class leaderboard with his Ford, received a 5hrs penalty during the 5th stage which sent him down 20 places in the rankings. Van Lieshout and Slaats are among a small group of competitors that didn’t receive any time penalties so far. By driving carefully they were able to finish all the 5 stages with hardly any damage to the car. 

“You don’t gain any advantage by driving faster. We didn’t have to change any tyre so far during the race, we saw a lot of ‘different stories’ during the stages until now. We are driving on different tyres during this rally, until now a well-proven choice. They survived really well on the ‘rocky tracks’ and are now perfectly worn down for the dunes and the sandy tracks we will endure within the next week.
The only part that broke down, two days in a row, was the shock absorber (both sides once). Therefore the car received some extra maintenance on the suspensions from the mechanics during the rest day in Dakhla. “Furthermore there are no issues. The car operates good and we ourselves are not performing bad either. The co-operation inside the car is really good. Guido is a well-experienced navigator and that brings peace inside the cockpit. We have fun along the way but keep each other ‘on edge’ as well.”
“A good co-operation will be crucial during the second week. On Monday the Africa Eco Race will cross borders with Mauretania, where the dunes and sandy tracks are waiting for us. I am looking forward to the sandy tracks, the dunes I am less excited about. Actually our car is a little bit too heavy for that. It will take us longer than the others, because we will have to drive more carefully. This can also be an advantage for us again. It would be great if we could maintain our number 1 position in our class, but the finish in Dakar is still our main goal.”

Guido Slaats thought it was a positive signal: The Toyota entered the bivouac at Fort Chacal earlier then the maintenance truck did. “This was only confirming the positive feeling about the fourth stage of the Africa Eco Race” said the navigator of Gerard van Lieshout. The 500 kilometer journey took the T4F duo 7 hours and 17 minutes.

Van Lieshout and Slaats are not concerned by the rankings. They aren’t in this race for the podium. Maybe in the T2 class (standard cars), in which they possess a decent second place at the moment. "We just have to drive with care and control and shouldn’t do any crazy things", Slaats states. "This is how we survived the dunes without any issues in the last part of the stage today, while we endured a major struggle with them during the second stage. I went out of the car a few times, just to see how soft and how steep the dunes were and where could pass them in the easiest way. That worked out incredibly well."
Before the arrival at the dunes however, Van Lieshout and Slaats had developed a disability. During the third stage it was the rear-right shock absorber that broke, today it was the rear-left one. Extra caution was certainly required.
"After about 280 kilometers into the stage we didn’t have any rear ‘shock absorbing’ anymore," says Slaats. "Without that the car starts to dance and jump over the rocks. Very difficult, because it was again a massive challenge today. Heaps of rocks and boulders, demolishing people and material. Passing the riverbeds, we saw such enormous boulders that some people already started talking about them as ‘dolmens’, which is really not exaggerated. "
Despite that, Van Lieshout and Slaats were very satisfied with the course of the stage. "The only downside is that we have caused another ‘all-nighter’ for our mechanics again. They are starting to feel the fatigue now. "

Gerard van Lieshout could not remember ever seeing so many stones as during the third stage of the Africa Eco Race. "Almost unbelievable, nothing but stones, rocks and even more stones for 400 kilometers, Van Lieshout said on arrival at the bivouac in Assa, where the T4F-Toyota arrived with the 35th time of the day. 

The many stones made the third stage an incredibly difficult one. "The car and ourselves as well have suffered quite a lot", Van Lieshout observed. "It was a tough day, but we were able withstand the conditions pretty good. No ripped tires, only a broken rear shock absorber. But that is an easy fix, so the car will be fresh and ready again for the fourth stage tomorrow morning. "

Today it was a lot better than the second stage yesterday, where Van Lieshout and navigator Guido Slaats literally lost track and got stuck in the dunes a few times. No sand dunes during the third stage. "It was a pretty nice stage and compared to the problematic day we had yesterday we arrived well and early at the bivouac. Which provided extra time for the mechanics to prepare the car for tomorrow and for us to catch some extra sleep, to make sure we arrive fit and well-rested at the start tomorrow, we will need it because it will be a long day tomorrow with a 500 kilometer stage."