Dear all, Just to let you know that, if you are thinking of coming to Paris to see the finish (hopefully!)
then you should be at the Palace Vendome by 1.00pm on Saturday 30th June
where the Finish Ramp will be situated.
Thanks, Best wishes, Pamela and Nicola

Dear All, If anyone would kindly like to sponsor me in my Peking to Paris Rally entry, here are the account details if you wish to transfer money electronically:

Account Name: Team Enersol - Save The Children
Account No: 51605301
Sortcode: 30-13-93

I have also attached a sponsorship form that you can print off if you like too. I would like to reassure everyone that, thanks to the sponsorship by the Enersol Corporation, every single penny that is donated by good folks such as yourself will be going to Save the Children.
None will go towards the cost of my rally entry.
I hope to get all the monies in by my return to the UK on 4th July please so that I can send off a cheque to Save the Children as soon as possible. Many thanks for this - much appreciated.
Pamela and Nicola

Team ENERSOL wallpaper now available for you to download, click on the image to open the full size wallpaper and then right click and select as background image.

Enersol Announce Sponsorship of Team in Peking to Paris Rally 2007

The Enersol Corporation are delighted to announce that they will be sole sponsors of an intrepid British all-female team in the Peking to Paris Rally which starts in May 2007.

Pamela Reid, from Sussex, and Nicola Wainwright, from Oxfordshire, will be one of only 2 all-female teams from a cohort of 134 from across the world taking part in a gruelling endurance rally through 11 countries, including places such as Mongolia, Siberia and the Russian Steppes, Latvia and Lithuania - clocking up approximately 11,000 miles.

This is an inspiring celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the first-ever transcontinental motor-marathon: The Great Race of 1907. The duo will be following the original route, braving the extreme geography of the Gobi desert, crossing remote mountain ranges and wild rivers, and overcoming the harsh climates of Siberia. They will be driving literally halfway round the world and finishing in Paris on 30th June.

Their mode of transport will be a traditional British car from the Rootes factory: a restored 1960 Sunbeam Rapier. The car will be remarkably close to the original spec, except for a pair of Recaro seats and the use of Enersol’s vehicle efficiency regime: a standard 12 volt CVE unit, Melior enzyme fuel treatment and Techtonic - Enersol’s hi-grade lubricant additive which provides unparalleled levels of protection for moving parts and eliminates dry start-up.

As ‘Team Enersol’, Pamela and Nicola will be using the unique opportunity of the Peking to Paris Rally to raise funds for Save the Children.

Enersol spokesman Steve Grant said, “The pioneers of the Great Race of 1907 set out to prove a new technology – that of the motor vehicle. They could not possibly have realised the repercussions! Now here we are, 100 years later, and we too are using the Great Race in the same pioneering spirit – by combining technology from the Enersol range which will reduce fuel use, emissions and component wear. “

Pamela Reid said, “This is a historic event, and one that will enable us to raise significant funds for Save the Children. However, we're only too aware of the fact that an 11,000 mile drive will leave a significant carbon ‘tyreprint’. Enersol’s products will reduce that markedly whilst extending the range of the vehicle – something that might prove crucial in a place like the Gobi Desert! The trip is also being offset by Enersol through CarbonClear. This is the kind of pioneering sponsorship deal we need to pave the way for greener and more responsible motorsport.”

Team Member change for the Peking to Paris Rally

Recently a decision was made by Angela and Pamela that they would no longer be doing the Peking to Paris Rally together. Angela says "It is with much regret that I have had to give up my entry to the 2007 Peking to Paris rally following circumstances that gave me no alternative. It is a big disappointment after two and a half years of planning and with so much passion for this remarkable event."

Pamela will now be doing the Peking to Paris Rally, with Nicola Wainwright, a trusted friend with whom she has previously successfully competed in some Classic Trials, using a classic VW Beetle. When Pamela invited Nicola to join her on the adventure, Nicola did not hesitate: she immediately accepted this "offer of a lifetime" as Roland, her husband, put it. Indeed, Nicola was at Blenheim in 2005 to support Pamela and Angela when 700 GAF first appeared as the Rally car to be entered for this "remarkable event".

The experience thus far has been a expensive one for Pamela, who has personally invested more than £100,000 in this venture in order to raise monies for Save the Children, but one from which she says she has already learned a great deal. You will be able to read more about it in the book which will be published later this year - all being well!

Update on The Build

Since this team member change, there has been a mad dash in a convoy up to Pamela's previous workshop in Northamptonshire to retrieve her cars and two van loads of spares. The rally car (700 GAF) is now in a secure place and being worked on by some great guys - thanks to Harry Butcher, John White and Paul Bartleman. Needless to say, there is a great deal of work to be done and very little time to do it in but everyone is committed to the cause. Harry says it is "like making a giant three dimensional jigsaw puzzle".

Pamela says that the amount of progress that has already been made in such a short space of time has been amazing. Hardly a day goes by without parts being couriered from various suppliers to the chaps who are working feverishly in order to make up the time that has been lost in order to get the car ready. Pamela quickly realised, on recovering her car that it is truly going to be a race against time to get it ready, MoT-ed and shipped to China.

The Club's own Gordon Jarvis, who is doing the Himalayan Rally in September, continues to be a much valued source of support, information and advice to the Intrepid Ladies. Indeed, he gave up part of his New Year's Day to meet with the team and for this they are all very grateful.

Autoglazing have fitted the new windscreen as the Regulations state that this must be a laminated one. The old rubber was a bit perished and will be replaced when the Intrepid Ladies return from Paris as they do not have time to do so now. It looks as if the chap has done a good job and fitted sealant between the steel of the body and the chrome wrapped around the screen. It all took him quite a while and he spent some time cleaning it all up with glass cleaner.

At present Matthew (Nicola's brother-in-law) is welding the little boxes for the engine mountings. A friend of Mathew's, Blair, came with him to examine the throttle linkage as this caused a good deal of head scratching and looking under different bonnets (the rally car and the Sunbeam Rapier that Pamela purchased for practising - 721 DXU). Plenty of cups of tea and coffee later and Blair finally managed to sort out the puzzle that was the throttle linkage. He worked out that the boys had fitted the linkage on the wrong side of the carburettors. Oooooops! So now Blair is kindly making a bracket to fix the twin carburettors into the car. This should be finished within 4 days. There is not time for the donor carburettors to be refurbished so Pamela has purchased new ones.

Ordering the clutch was rather entertaining for the supplier sent two clutch plates with the notion that the boys would have to see which one would be needed first and the spare new one would be sent back (and also the old one for reconditioning and an exchange). John advised the Intrepid Ladies that it may not be apparent at first sight which clutch they require until they have tried to engage gear!

Throughout this process, there are the usual glitches, when parts turn out to be missing from the couriered boxes from suppliers. Last week, the boys got stuck when some nuts proved to be missing. Pamela says that she is not going to comment upon this!

Pamela and Nicola spent last weekend visiting the Autosport International Show at the NEC. The main aim of their visit was to decide on seats for the car. Spending so much time in the car for so long means that the ladies must be comfortable. Accordingly, they went round the Show trying out their pert / not-so-pert parts in the various race and rally seats on offer. Eventually Pamela decided to buy the very best (but unfortunately the most expensive) seats that there are on the market on the basis that this was going to be a good investment. These are now being shipped over from Germany.

Having happily decided on the seats, Pamela has now discovered that China has just rushed through a new law to cope with the massive increase in vehicles on their roads and this came into effect on January 1st 2007. They were originally told it would not affect them, but the agent now says they have to comply with the new laws regarding foreign cars coming to China.

Accordingly, the Intrepid Ladies must supply in advance a copy of the Vehicle Inspectorate MOT Test Certificate to prove it is roadworthy. This has to be done for every vehicle entered into the Rally (interestingly, of course, there are many countries who do not have MoT type inspections). If they cannot do this, the car will be taken away to a Chinese Testing station and tested there for several hours. No one wants this to happen as it will take days for every car to be tested! So now their timescale has been shortened dramatically and Pamela only found out about this today (20th January).

Will they get the car finished in time?

In May 2007 the Endurance Rally Association will see years of planning come to fruition when the first car leaves on a historic re-enactment of the Great Race of 1907.

A journey across two continents in historic cars on remote tracks and lanes - a challenge as big now as it was in 1907. We will be the only all female team out of 112 competitors and will be using this unique oppotunity to raise funds for 'Save the Children'.

This is an event of significant interest which will command a lot of media attention throughout the 5 weeks of the trip. The organisers are arranging for a film crew to record the event (their last event in 1997 was shown on the Discovery Channel in 60 countries), and we are currently in negotiations with newspapers and magazines to send back weekly media reports and photos. We are also in the process of putting together a book about our experiences.
This event will appeal to a wide cross section of the public because of its varying and captivating elements - history, culture, geography, sport and adventure.

It is expected that hundreds of thousands of spectators will watch along the route and at the overnight halts. The finale in Paris will generate a huge audience and is followed in the evening by a prestigious Gala Dinner at the 'Continental la Grand Hotel'.

This first class hotel will be a wonderful luxury after the fatigue of 35 days on the road. The Gobi desert alone will take a week to cross and we will be sleeping in Mongolian Yurts and tents. In the larger towns and cities we will have the advantage of hotels but there will be no time for sightseeing as there will be the car to service and clothes to wash.