Badawi Trail to the Last Oasis 2026, Syd Stelvio Day 5 – Yanbu to Al Ula – 495km
Day five of the Badawi Trail wasn’t the longest day, but it was certainly the most intense and indeed may have been the peak day of offroad driving. The desert would collect its debts today, with multiple punctures, suspension failures and worse, on the day when the ‘Trail kicked back.
Two STC sections were the sum total of the days competitive action, the first appropriately called The Lost World, and taking place in a vast area of the desert that had seen fairly recent tectonic activity. A long offroad track had to be navigated even before the competitive fun could begin, on a selection of rocky trails that were flanked by hostile boulder fields of basalt. The inimical igneous rock offered a glimpse of what might be to come, and a warning of what could occur should drivers stray offline whilst attempting to keep the timekeeper at bay.
After successfully negotiating the 18km drive to the departure time control, the games could begin over 15km of rock filled, rollercoaster fun. With a plethora of parallel tracks available at various points, it was a case of drive your own line as best you could against the GPS and drive on sight to prevent any mishaps. A wrong move in here could be catastrophic, particularly as the paths followed the steep topography of the landscape, with blind crests plentiful, often followed by fearful descents full of braking bumps.
As has been the pattern on this rally, the first car into the section was the black Ford Coupe of rally leaders Richard Clark and Jonathan Round, coasting over the rocks and bumps with the usual poise of a machine that is beautifully balanced. But 5km into the section the so far steadfast Ford had a clutch problem, forcing the crew into a roadside repair that cost them a five-minute penalty, as they fixed the fault.
At least the crew were able to enact repairs on the only tarmac part of the section, though this brief bit of asphalt was merely a bridge from one part of the desert to another, though from here the imposing rock hills spread outwards, and the rocky desert floor opened up. Now, with an even greater choice of tracks the level of difficulty had perhaps increased, certainly the opportunity for indecision. This newfound space didn’t last for long, as soon the road was flanked again by black basalt, hemming the cars back into a defined trajectory. As the Mustang of Xavier and Lucas de Sarrau passed through, it appeared to be making a slightly different noise than usual, and anyone eagle eyed would have seen that their anti-roll bar had broken free from one of its mountings and was dragging in the dirt and would eventually jettison completely.
Another car that was making even more noise was the number 27 Peugeot 504, that had managed to destroy another tyre, though the crew were refusing to say die and pushed on as far as they could, until eventually they had to pull over. After so many tyre deflations, this latest blowout was the last straw, and they were forced to await recovery but will at least have the rest day to source new rubber.
More trouble awaited after the final time control, as even after the competitive section was dealt with the desert continued to bite. The final victim of this particular set of rocks was the Mercedes 450 SLC of Kurt Deklerck and Patrick Debusseré, who were driving along with the front wheels pointing in opposite directions. Luckily for them the stopwatch had stopped, though they would still need to try and fix the stricken Merc and get to the following Time-Control before their due time. They went about the fix with their usual good humour, and eyewitness reports stated that they were listening to Queens ‘Another one Bites the Dust’ as they jacked the car up to get on with the repair. There’s was not the only German machine needing some TLC, as further down the road Arthur Monschein and Kai Wunderlich had found a local garage to help beat some of the Porsche 911’s underbody protection back into shape, as the bemused shop mechanics looked on, offering encouragement as the hammer blows fell upon the twisted metal.
It had been a somewhat breathless first half of the day, so a good job then that the rally was running well ahead of schedule and those who had made it through the first section unscathed had plenty of time to relax at a rare lunch stop, next to what is left of one of the viaducts on the long defunct Hejaz Railway and apparently the scene of one of Lawrence of Arabia’s famous battles.
Freshly filled with coffee and delectable treats from ‘Sue’s Café’ we had our own desert battle to get on with, though this time on sand rather than rock. In fact, 18km of sand, lots of it soft, had to be traversed. The colours had changed from the morning, and the scenery was more reminiscent of a stereotypical desert, complete with herds of Camels. Golden grains of sand stretched out to the hills and mountains that soared into the distance and whilst navigationally this section was not a challenge, momentum would need to be maintained over the unpredictable drifts. Some of the more powerful cars were spectacular through here, leaping and jumping between tracks and throwing great handfuls of sand into the air. The pair of Toyota Landcruiser’s in matching liveries looked completely at home in this rally raid terrain, and Ned Bacon was also having fun in the orange 911, putting all of his Baja experience into action.
Things got a little trickier after the timed section had finished, with 30km of offroad tracks still to drive before the route returned to tarmac. These required plenty of care, as recent rains had left many of the tracks in a poor state, with some very steep wadies to climb and the regular tracks strewn with large rocks that had not yet been cleared by traffic. Whilst it was non-comp it required full concentration, and even then, the desert could still bite. David and Matthew Leblanc were to suffer the worst of it, in the Volvo that had already been on the wrong end a desert rock thumping on day two of the rally. This time their sump guard was ripped clean off and pushed the sump up into the engine, leaving them needing the sweeps to tow them almost 30km to the road, so they could be properly recovered. The mammoth tow would see two tow ropes snap, but worse than that the car is out of the rally, and the father and son crew will continue in a hire car. Nothing could dampen their spirits though, as they have had a blast and learned a lot on their road to the 2028 Peking to Paris.
The sun was dropping as the historic town of Al Ula came into view, and beyond it the towering sandstone Mono and Multiliths that are the main geological feature of an area steeped in history. The day had certainly been one filled with challenges, and no doubt many will be delighted that tomorrow’s non-driving day will offer an opportunity to give the cars some much needed tlc. Despite the days mechanical mayhem, the leaderboard remains largely unchanged, with the leaders in both the overall and classic category remaining in situ. Only four crews managed to escape the day with no additional penalties, including Xavier and Lucas de Sarrau in the leading Mustang, and second placed classic crew Alonso and Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon. The other two perfect performers, and the day’s biggest climbers were Yang Zhan and Jason Zhe Ren in the Toyota Landcruiser and our resident Vikings Bo Stærmose and Jens Odgaard Olsson, competing in a Volvo 242.
No doubt tomorrow all the crews will be busy in the makeshift bivouac, fettling cars and tending to machines to either fix current problems, or prevent future ones, before we head back out onto the road on day 7 for the second half of our adventure.
Syd.