Competitors in the Dakar Rally can count on support trucks, planes and even helicopters to back them as they steer their state-of-the-art vehicles across the Sahara desert. David Kirkpatrickhad only his ancient Mini and his wits.
The financial analyst took time out to compete in the Ultimate Banger Challenge, an alternative amateur rally where beat-up cars try to survive a three-week road-trip from southern England to the west coast of Africa.
"I wanted to have a crack at something a bit different," explained the 30-year-old during a lightning refuelling stop on the penultimate leg in northern Senegal.
This year marks the fifth alternative rally, conceived as a spoof version of the better-known Dakar Rally. The Ultimate Banger Challenge is the brainchild of a frustrated London stockbroker, Julian Nowill. Devoid of the glitzy commercialisation that surrounds the Dakar Rally, there are just five rules in the amateur race.
Drivers are not supposed to spend more than £100 to buy their cars, and no more than £15 on improvements. Vehicles must be left-hand drive and must be auctioned off in the Gambian capital, Banjul, the final destination, with the proceeds going to local charities.
But the regulation ringing in Kirkpatrick's ears as his Mini battled its way across the Sahara was this one: "Once the Rally is under way . . . teams are on their own".
"We had to keep up a speed of at least 80km/h otherwise we'd be swallowed up by the dunes and we couldn't see more than 100 metres beyond our noses because we were stuck in a sandstorm," Kirkpatrick recalls. "So we were bumping off rocks and basically driving blind, just hoping not to get separated from the pack."
The Dukes of Hazzard team, taking their name from the hit US TV series, had to abandon their orange car in the sand dunes after its chip blew. Others had to call on all their powers of ingenuity.
After one vehicle's fuel pump packed in, its crew had to construct a gravity-fed fuel system from a hosepipe and a can mounted on the roof. This year 400 teams applied for 200 places in the Ultimate Banger Challenge and the organiser admits to purposefully picking "the unsuitable and inexperienced".
While the founder and many of the participants may be British, the 2007 rally includes drivers from around the world, from the United States to New Zealand, from Bulgaria to Wales. The amateur race is about participation not prizes and organisers are proud of the fact nothing except the cars gets imported so local communities reap more benefits - with drivers using local accommodation, restaurants and fuel suppliers.
This contrasts with the publicity-fuelled frenzy that surrounds the Dakar Rally, which has claimed 49 lives in its 29-year existence, 24 of them competitors.