Ewan McGregor (Long Way Down), lightweight!

Two blokes on motorbikes, two 4X4's, an on-board medic, a film crew, and a 'mission control' back in Blighty handling all the paperwork etc. Very cosy. Worse still its taking them nearly two months to get from JOG to Cape Town! What's that all about, call that progress.
I recall back in early nineties being involved in a failed attempt (not our fault, just something to do with a war in the area) to drive a Herald, and a Morris 1800 to Cape Town. Just two cars, no service crew, medical back-up, mobile phones (or Satellite phones!), and no minders to get us across any borders. We got as far as the Western Sahara (pictured above), which is right in the middle of the west side of Africa before our progress was halted. We waited a full week in some god forsaken hole called Dakhla for a UN guarded convoy to take us through one of the Worlds longest running disputed areas. It had only taken us just over a week to get to this place from the UK, and we were fairly confident that if we had got across that border the whole trip could have been done and dusted in under three weeks. As it happens we turned around and headed home. After dropping John Kipping off at Casablanca airport on the way back I drove the whole way back to Blighty including the two ferry crossings in three days of virtually none stop driving.
Ewan, and Charlie need to invest in some faster motorbikes!

Countdown is progressing

2007 will be seen in the future as a watershed in the availability (or otherwise) of Triumph core (old mechanical units) . These units are the basis of future major mechanical unit supply.
In the space of a few months I have had two major Triumph specialists, and a few smaller outfits offering me large amounts of engines, gearboxes, brake calipers, differentials, etc. Most have come to the conclusion that the projected market will not support storing many tons of oily, greasy, rusty tat for year after year ad infinitum. Factor in the rising costs of storing this stuff, rent, and rates etc, and it's not surprising that it's been given the critical eye. In every case we have had to decline adding to our own pile as it was already larger than most as a result of a certain Mr J Kippings veracious collecting strategy throughout the 80's, and 90's. Indeed a few years back when we tidied up our engine core (removed heads and sumps so they would stack) we counted very nearly a 1,000 units of various types. I have tried where possible to point traders in the direction of others who might still be in the market, but it seems that every case they had been there, done that. So with the spiraling cost of scrap metals the inevitable is happening, a lot of it is getting weighed in. We ourselves have been guilty this year of much the same, indeed we bought a snotty Transit solely for the purpose of doing the scrap yard run once a week or so. At least we have looked critically at our pile and worked our way systematically through it only removing stuff that is either damaged beyond economical repair, or vastly over stocked (try 1300/1500 FWD short engines).
So will 2007 be remembered as the year the Triumph trade foreshortened future parts availability, or are we doing the right thing? Is this a critical re-examination of future needs based on current sales? Or is it a short sighted clear out to avoid spiraling rates bill's, and to benefit from a out of control scrap price hike with some nice rollin foldin in the sky rocket?