Group » Team Saluki : Blogposts

Team Saluki

Based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the Castrol EDGE supported Team Saluki is named after the legendary Arabian hunting dog which is bred for speed and endurance in the desert - very apt considering that the Team competes in desert racing events in the Middle East. www.teamsaluki.com

Group » Team Saluki : Blogposts

Team Saluki Summer has arrived.
posted by Desert Dog, 06-May-08
Summer in the UAE can be blistering hot and a few hardy souls venture out into the desert during this time. The rally season has come to an end and it is time to prepare the car in readiness for the next big event, the UAE Desert Challenge. At present the engine is being rebuilt (Honda J35 VTEC 3.5L), a new aluminium radiator is being installed and the eight Fox shocks will also be stripped down, revalved and dialled in. It's a slow process but we mean to get it right.


Team Saluki The beast fires up
posted by Desert Dog, 27-May-08
Finally we have come to the day to fire up the newly built engine. It has taken quite a bit of time to get to this stage - mainly because we've had to modify various bits and pieces and source items which are 'specials' such as throttle cables, etc. Needless to say everything is working fine and now we need to complete the rebuild of the shocks. Fine tuning of these will take place in the desert - unfortunately we're now in summer and it's really beginning to heat up - just what we need when...


Team Saluki 6 weeks to go!
posted by Desert Dog, 15-Sep-08
It has been a long hot summer and the rebuild of the car has taken quite a bit longer than we expected. Suffice to say we have been finding numerous little things that could effect our performance which have been corrected. One issue that we did have was the fact that the 30 amp breakers for the cooling fans were tripping constantly. The fans were changed and a set of temperature compensated aircraft circuit breakers were sourced. As we have a high ambient temperature in the UAE (50 degC) we...


Team Saluki 1st October 2008
posted by JamesThomas, 01-Oct-08
1st October 2008 The Saluki was back out in the desert for another test. Mark and I met at Mark's to take advantage of an extra day off due to the Eid break. The plan was to take the same route to Fossil Rock, and push the Saluki a bit harder. The Saluki was obviously enjoying its day off, as it did not want to go out and refused to start. A quick bump start later and we were running all 6 cylinders. On to the trailer and it was my turn to drive the Duellie and tow the Saluki. This...


Team Saluki 3rd October 2008
posted by JamesThomas, 20-Oct-08
Time for another test. Mark and I headed out to the test route to see what effect the changes had made. The first disappointment was the Saluki's lack of willingness to start. Eventually we were up and running, and running well. The changes to the cooling meant that the water didn't get above 95 degrees no matter how hard Mark pushed - so that is one issue solved! I have recorded some footage from the navigators seat - apologies for the shakey image, but it was very hard to keep the...


Team Saluki 10th October
posted by JamesThomas, 20-Oct-08
Another Friday, another test. Having met at Mark's we headed out to the usual test route. We thought it was about time Paul, the navigator, got to ride in the car, so I followed in my car to act as support. We were also joined by Richard who wanted to see the car in action. The Saluki was fresh out of another week of fettling by Rick and Leno, with the oil cooler being moved into the nose with extra vents cut into the bodywork. This proved to work really well, with the oil keeping well...


Team Saluki 14th October
posted by JamesThomas, 20-Oct-08
If you would like to see some more in-car footage, Mark had the chase cam set up on Friday, and he has now posted the vidoes on youtube, which can be found here -http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamSaluki  


Team Saluki 17th October
posted by JamesThomas, 20-Oct-08
Today was spent in the kennel working on the Saluki. Nothing major, just lots of small things like cleaning off the old stickers and putting stickers on, fixing the new oil lines and adding a couple of vents, fitting the new fire extinguisher system, and tidying up the chase cam. We had some visiters, Streaky and Malcolm popped in to check where to best to mount the irritrack and cabling for Malcolm's race car. We also had some Russian visitors, who want to feature the car in Russian...


Team Saluki 18th October
posted by JamesThomas, 20-Oct-08
This morning started by going to Satwa to get a tow hook for my car. Having visited 6 or so shops to be told 'no problem sir, 1 7/8" or 2" will be fine', I left and went another shop that actually stocked the 50mm ball that I needed. Then over to Marks to make the duellie look pretty, pictures attached. We also sorted out the spares in the back, organised the trailer and fitted the tow hook to my car. All is looking good for next week, the support and service are the best...


Team Saluki D-Day -1 : Look out, Look out there's a Saluki about.
posted by Team Saluki, 25-Oct-08
Yes folks,  It's been a year since you last heard about the ups, downs and roll-overs of Team Saluki in last years Desert Challenge.  Well the time has come again to keep you informed on how the team performs in this years, our eleventh UAE Desert Challenge which is the final round of the FIA World Cup for cross country rallies. For those that don't know;  We're competing in a two wheel drive, 3.5 Litre V6 VTEC Honda powered buggy built by Fast & Speed based in...