In 1998 Mano and I spent two weeks running the first of our two off road challenges in Morocco: They were called the Atlas Challenges even though some of the time was spent in the sands of the Sahara.

Our competitors for both events came from all walks of life: the American who turned up with a Jeep had starred in one of the Star Wars films where he said something like “who are you” or “where do you think that you are going” to Princess Leia before getting shot and we also had two cravat equipped Italian’s who drove a G-Wagen, owned a bar in Milan and had raced in the Paris Dakar. In between were farmers and lawyers and people who just wanted to challenge themselves and their Land Rover’s in the beauty of the mountains and the Sahara.

The stages used the natural lie of the land to test skills and teamwork and I remember that Mano and I were up well before dawn racing across the desert and mountain landscapes setting up the special stages for the day. We pushed our Range Rover hard, and at one point I misremembered a section of track that I had travelled many times before and we found ourselves airborne as the springs compressed to the stops and rebounded us up into the air. We flew three times before all four wheels were on the ground again at the same time and I can still remember our conversation well:

“Don’t crash it Bruv” Mano said as we leapt into the air for the first time,

“I’ve got her“I replied, keeping my foot in as the front right hit the ground first.

“Keep it together” was Mano’s response as we leapt into the air for the second time

“No probs Bro” was my reply as things stabilised and normality was restored.

We pulled up quickly, doors opening in unison and checked underneath our car. The damage was slight, we had sheared four of the bolts holding the swivel Hub to the axle and as we always carry a selection of bolts with us we soon had our Range Rover “ship-shape” again. For the rest of this cars life with us the swivel had a bend at its top edge.

Even though my brother is some 6 years younger than me he gave me a good telling off, which I of course accepted with good grace as I was and do get a little carried away sometimes!!!