Overland Yeti

Author
Discussion

Fishy Dave

1,031 posts

246 months

Sunday 10th December 2023
quotequote all
A good read already, will look out for more updates.
I bought a Yeti last month, to replace a T5 Kombi camper (yes, not remotely similar). The rear seat versatility was the clincher. I went for a 140bhp Elegance with sunroofs.


It has a towbar and may occasionally get used for Corvette towing duties (2000kg limit). 🙂

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
Day 2 of the event started at 6am at breakfast, about 4.5 hours since we had made it to bed, but we both felt fresh as a daisy. Adrenaline, or trepidation, or a bit of both I think...

We had left the coolant cap off over night and were relieved when we got to the car to see that the level had dropped only slightly, meaning that most of the air had hopefully had a good chance to escape. Being a wet intercooler on this car, it was actually a real pain in the arse to bleed it properly and had to resort to running the engine up late the night before with one of the hoses off the intercooler matrix and wasting a bunch of coolant, but we got there in the end and got it all back together.

The route and plan for the day:





235KM all in all, not including the route to the briefing at Mos Espa. Starting with a 10 metre dune bank and then heavily sanded tracks on and off through the day, this would certainly put our cooling system to good test...!!



Sunrise over a drastically different landscape from what we had left behind the day before.



The vast and open expanses of world you get on road trips that most of us europeans rarely get to experience - other than in choice parts of Spain I find..



Arrived at the briefing without a hitch (and the air con still working which we were impressed by given we had properly jostled the rads around the night before) and the camel checking out the competition. From here on in (not that it hadn't been the case yesterday) we would be watching that temp gauge like an absolute hawk. Thats something i'm used to anyway - having driven 4,000 miles round Europe in a 1981 Lancia Beta with the radiator fan wired into a bathroom light switch on the dashboard, and limped my round the world Mondeo across Australia with no fan in mid summer earlier this year - it just becomes part of the routine...!





I do admire camels, stubborn beasts. We keep horses and for the most part they are relatively compliant in most scenarios but these bad boys will decide when they want to work. And if it's a no, it's a no. Not uncommon to see these being lifted into the back of Hilux or L200s round these parts when they've decided that's their day over with. biglaughbiglaughbiglaugh



Right star wars nerds - I have to admit, I have never watched any Star Wars and I am not a fan! However, today we started here in Mos Espa and would take in Luke Skywalkers house. That;s all I can offer.... feel free to fill in the gaps!!



A pointy thing. Wil was interested, being a star wars nerd himself, but I was more preoccupied with our first challenge of the day



This.





It's hard to put a scale on it in photos, but it was 12 metres high and at what felt like quite a scary angle. Just walking up it was hard so the nerves were beginning to set in for sure. A quick chat with big Nath and he thought we "would piss it" - his words not ours. Gun it in 2nd and hit it at 30-40kph on boost and we would be fine - he said. There was also the chickens route up a shallower bank if we didn't fancy it. We decided to watch the first few vehicles head up and see how they got on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE51vAv24-c

Our friends in their £1500 Shogun Sport - second attempt. Honestly a lot of vehicles were struggling - and I realised why afterwards - heading straight at what appears like a wall is disconcerting, you naturally wash off speed and then get stuck. Plenty of the bigger cars were going at it with some trepidation and immediately getting stuck, power was definitely the answer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV2zlTe3760

Other vehicles did it with out much effort at all.... biglaughbiglaughbiglaugh

Once again we patiently waited our turn to attack the Dune, mulling over whether to take the easy route or not. We had dropped the pressure to 8PSI to give us as much surface area as possible and agreed second gear on boost was probably the best option. Sadly we were just about to discover yet another "benefit" of the safety systems of modern cars.

We set off through the timing trap and picked a path of what we thought would be least resistance, picking up speed in second we held the revs at 2.5k RPM with the turbo ready to work, heading straight towards the sand wall and just before our front wheels hit the lip of the dune I gunned it and the Yeti shot up the dune like you wouldn't believe. Losing only marginal speed we continued flying up the 12metre wave of sand only to be bitterly disappointed as we reached the crest of the hill. As the front wheels touched the top lip/overhang, the engine died. Weird. Roleld back down, tried again, faster this time. Same impressive progress, same disappointing result.

What we discovered later was there is some form of tip angle sensor on the block that prevents it from attacking inclines like this, whether that be oil related or just anti-roll over - who knows. Sadly for us it meant the easy route was the only option and a penalty of 50 points !



Anyhow, after that slight disappointment we got onto some easier stuff and soon came across the only other competitors in our class - a 1994 Audi Quattro who had some issues. With no English between them and no Spanish between us we broke out the google translate and established soon enough that their gearbox had failed. They urged us to get going and we did so, up here was a bit of a motorway of tourist cruisers and other vehicles, a perpetual dust cloud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRhczoAK0KY

A movie set or a gateway to the dunes? Maybe a bit of both.

We were making fantastic progress and the yeti was really coming into its own. We hit a 3km stretch of soft sanded track and whilst the Yeti was riding it like a Range Rover handles the M40, we did notice under boost the temperature was creeping up. Just loosening the pedal and dropping off peak boost sorted it right out. After the section was over and we were heading back onto asphalt for a stretch we checked the car for leaks and levels - no problems at all. I just don't think these cars are really designed to do this. On boost in tricky conditions in high temps, the water cooled intercooler sharing the engine coolant can't keep up and ends up throwing a spanner in the works.



How many British plate Yetis have been to Luke Skywalkers house?



Wil took the wheel here and it was my time to navigate, this is the view and a good overview of all of our kit. That's the Stella unit in the middle. Now I was the navigator, I was fully appreciative of Wil's navy background and his previous navigation to me. It's not easy!

The route at this stage was a mix of salt flats, undulating sandy tracks and rocky lanes, soon to be sandier, rockier and bumpier..!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4HgSn9Zv0

Beautiful salt flats - an easy cruise at nearly 50mph. The limit for the trip was strictly 80kph off road. And road limits on road. Big penalties for exceeding them.



As well as physically navigating and advising the driver what he can expect, the waypoints are also extremely important as quite often there are zones of a few hundred metres or several kilometres with strict speed limits that must be obeyed. We had set up the twonav so that it beeped like crazy 300m before a waypoint, the stella would beep like mad regardless if the waypoint was considered dangerous - of which there were plenty on this day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WlSvrMCo4w



Making fantastic progress on the stage and really happy with the way the Yeti was going. At the 190km mark, we split off onto our Adventure C route, leaving the 4X4 to take a tricker dune track and us taking a flatter route.



Said tricky stage with a photo from Paul, lots of recoveries going on. Mat and Scott in the blue vitara actually had further issues - the gear selector / diff selector is all electronic on buttons and sand got into the electronics, later on in the stage they ended up totally stranded and had to be road towed to a garage near the hotel. I believe someone bodged the electrics to force it into 4 high at all times, which they'd have to make do with for the rest of the trip. Mat got back at around 1am, much to everyones relief.



The last 15km or so of the stage were some loosely marked dunes so don't have any pics other than this one. Wil was doing a great job getting us through them and frankly the Yeti was doing amazing. We passed two stranded Jeep Wranglers which goes to show how capable the Yeti is. You just have to pick what looks like a good line, just so long as you're within 250m of the planned route on the twonav/stella and within 50m of any waypoints. We really were starting to become amazed with the ability of this soft roader.



We made fantastic time in the end and finished the stage with 100 penalty points (for missing the waypoint and a small fine for speeding). The coolant hadn't moved an inch and the car was okay, although we did lose the right hand wheel liner - presumably we didn't secure it well enough and the sand ripped it off.



Another good hotel in the middle of nowhere. I am not sure if I mentioned but we booked all of the hotels directly through the organisation and it was really well organised, all included dinner and breakfast and one of them was all inclusive....!

We grabbed a beer and waited some of our acquaintances to arrive. We could see from the tracking that there were big gaps - some people stuck in places and others closer to the finish, including Vali and Bobby who rolled in shortly afterwards....







Holy st. Yes that’s the top engine mount, power steering pump exploded and I cannot imagine what it must have been like to drive that the last 75km including the dunes with a belt in that state. Fair play to them… Luckily, they had one way of dealing with the stress of the situation:



Bobby is a keen alcohol maker and had brought 3 cases along of various fruit schnapps he has made in Romania. It certainly seemed to take the edge off their stressful situation.

A few to and fro between the local garage that the organisers recommend (each day they provide contact details for garages that can be used) and a visit from a mechanic confirmed they thought they could fix it overnight. Vali wanted it done so they could start the stage at 8am the following morning and requested it to be welded back together but the mechanics were insistent on sending someone to tunis to pick up a Dacia part from a dealer. We would see how this would turn out…



The organisers provide this truck that shadows the entire rally and is included in the fees you pay to get you out of danger. It was dispatched and took Vali and Bobby’s car away to the garage. Whether they would make the stage at 8AM, time would tell…!

So overall an eventful and exhilarating stage 2, onwards to the next stage – a sand only stage ending at the Bivouac in the middle of the desert.

Edited by idealstandard on Thursday 14th December 15:19


Edited by idealstandard on Thursday 14th December 15:41

J4CKO

41,682 posts

201 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
quotequote all
[

Hmm, reminded me of,



Cool thread !

ferret50

972 posts

10 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
My gast is utterly flabbered!

What an adventure, I do hope that you will not leave us all hanging like the Everest thread!

beer

EmBe

7,533 posts

270 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
I shouldn't read threads like this on a Friday, I'll go to the pub tonight and start hatching palns with friends.....

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
Fishy Dave said:
I bought a Yeti last month
I prefer the look of the earlier cars, good buy.

J4CKO said:
Hmm, reminded me of,
One of my favourite sketches from the fast show ha ha ha

ferret50 said:
What an adventure, I do hope that you will not leave us all hanging like the Everest thread!
Will do my best to get the next few stages written up this side of the new year!

EmBe said:
I shouldn't read threads like this on a Friday, I'll go to the pub tonight and start hatching palns with friends.....
Do it..!


OMITN

2,201 posts

93 months

Friday 15th December 2023
quotequote all
In for the follow. Makes my road trips look super tame..!

Awesome work…!

jwwbowe

579 posts

173 months

Saturday 16th December 2023
quotequote all
Wow fantastic thread, serious scope creep thumbup

Very impressed with the Yeti btw, obviously didn’t fancy taking your L322?!

Took part in the mongol some years ago but had to jump out early, it wetted my interest in adventure rally’s, life’s got in the way a bit since but something like this looks fab, a must at some point.

Keep the posts rolling clap

Fraser-c3mn0

1 posts

4 months

Friday 5th January
quotequote all
Any updates?

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Monday 8th January
quotequote all
Fraser-c3mn0 said:
Any updates?
Hi mate, sorry for the slow updates... Xmas/new year and also had a robbery at work just before the holidays so been a bit full on!

But I just downloaded some videos from the GoPro we took on Day 3 (which was all off road in the dunes to an off-grid bivouac night), will write up that day and it'll be mainly pics and videos.

Cheers

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Monday 8th January
quotequote all
jwwbowe said:
Very impressed with the Yeti btw, obviously didn’t fancy taking your L322?!
I fancied getting there biggrin

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Sunday 17th March
quotequote all
Sorry for the slow updates all, been a hectic few months at work and doing various other bits and bobs.

So Day three of the Tunisie Challenge was the shortest day of the trip - mainly due to the organisers wanting everyone to have as much time to enjoy at the Bivouac as possible.

The Bivouac is located off grid, about 60 miles from the Algerian border, in quite literally the middle of the Sahara.

The day started with a fuel stop at the only place in town where we bumped into our Italian friends





Burning about 300 litres a day, they needed their twin 250 litre fuel tanks. Still at Tunisian prices, 500 litres of diesel was only around £240.



Arrived in convoy at the start point - a camel racing track to the south of Douze.



Pandas, assemble!

And then it was time for the off. Today was a relatively straightforward easy day as i already explained, I have put together the start of the day and entry into the easy bits into a 3 minute youtube video, and also a view into how each stage starts. take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wasFO9gXt7s



The start for the most part was really a case of maximising forward progress but staying far enough behind whoever was in front so as not to be completely enveloped in a giant dust cloud

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2HerL89ZRvw

And whilst I say it was easy, it wasn't without it's challenges with pockets of fine sand on the roadway that would feel similar to hitting standing water on the motorway, definitely a two hands on the wheel job.



Soon we cleared the first sand stage and found a fast section of tarmac that linked us to the flats that would take us to the dune fields and the overnight stay.



After stopping to check this matey was okay - yet another failed fuel pump - we entered the wide open flats that would lead to the dunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kon3e_O0RCQ







We were making good time and so of course we had to have a little play.


Once we were in the dune fields it was just a case of trying to pick a decent line - as long as we stayed within the allowed metres of the route, we would not get a penalty and it was really good fun. With 5km to go to the Bivouac we found about 10 stranded Pandas blocking the entire route - regrettably I did not have any charge left in the gro pros at this point because the route we forged around the Pandas was epic, sand flying everywhere and the yeti ploughing through some what felt like impossible stuff to get through with ease. Great car.



The Bivouac coming into view...



Like a campsite on Mars. this place was awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TXKtj_xmnJ4

^^ Great short of the view from the top of the dune, and the unspoiled Sahara all around. No mobile phone coverage here either which was great.





Sunset and the playground for the evening coming into view...

What was very cool was the organisers basically allowed anyone that wanted to unlimited attempts to try and get up the Dune, some with more success than others..!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7xot69Hbkg

Dodge RAM up the dune. Great success!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LK8zosnc73g

M57 Patrol up the dune, not a great success although it did make it up shortly afterwards.



Vali and Bobby finally made it at sundown after their mechanics drove to Tunis overnight to get a new engine mount for their Duster.

Of course they gave the dune a go!! Also Yeti acting as a flood light at this point..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28wa_vie8Z4



Overall a fantastic night was had by all. And the field kitchen here turned out probably the best food of the entire trip. Cracking night.

I will write up the remainder of the trip and journey home as one when I get a chance as the next day onwards things didn't go entirely as planned!

Cheers
IS

Bonefish Blues

26,940 posts

224 months

Sunday 17th March
quotequote all
clap

ETA
Worth the wait, thanks. Out of interest why so many fuel pump issues?

Edited by Bonefish Blues on Sunday 17th March 13:01

idealstandard

Original Poster:

650 posts

56 months

Sunday 17th March
quotequote all
Bonefish Blues said:
clap

ETA
Worth the wait, thanks. Out of interest why so many fuel pump issues?

Edited by Bonefish Blues on Sunday 17th March 13:01
No idea - it seems that the mechanical fuel pumps on these Panda 4x4 get gummed or something with the terrible quality fuel possibly. Every support vehicle had at least 5 generic fuel pumps that fit the pandas on board.