Embedded Files
The Malaysian state of Sabah, located on the northern most tip of the world's third largest island, Borneo, was the location for Camel Trophy 1993. The 76,600 square kilometre state provided classic Camel Trophy territory in a part of the world where some of the toughest events have been staged.
For the first time in the event's history, the route was completely circular, circumnavigating the state, starting and finishing at Kota Kinabalu, the capital city. The route was partially designed by Malaysian environmentalist and offroad legend Tengku Adlin, first riding on a special train to Tenom, then on muddy tracks through some of the oldest jungles in the world gave the participating teams the opportunity to see some of the world's most spectacular territory.
This included the "Lost World" of the Maliau Basin in the Southeast of the state, which is unquestionably one of Sabah's most dramatic features. Virtually unvisited and completely uninhabited, this almost circular shaped bowl is largely guarded by cliffs and steep escarpments up to 1,500 metres in height. Often shrouded by cloud and totally inaccessible by road, teams led an expedition on foot into the "Lost World", which proved to be a historic adventure for the Camel Trophy pioneers.
Here they constructed a scientific research centre for the Sabah Foundation in less than 24 hours, before the perilous trek off the escarpment back to the vehicles. The subsequent rail journey through the Tenom Gorge to the final special task site added a sting-in-the-tail to a superb event.
"Riding on the roof of a Discovery as the convoy made its way back to Kota Kinabalu for the finale was icing on the cake."
Paul Si, Malaysian journalist
By the end of the event, the French team, for the second consecutive year, had won the Special Task Award and the Canary Islands team collected the Team Spirit Award. The extremely successful team from the USA, Tim Hensley and Michael Hussey, won the overall Camel Trophy.
"And the best, really best part, was the teamwork that got everyone and every car through each seemingly impassable obstacle. Russians working alongside French, helping Japanese and Portuguese, all communicating with some English and a shared love of adventure. When the finale was over and the trophies handed out, what really remained for the participants and fans was not who won or did not win, but the extraordinary experiences they had shared along the way."
Paul Si, Malaysian journalist
Statistics
- Team Vehicles: Land Rover Discovery 200Tdi
- Support Vehicles: Land Rover Defender 110 200Tdi
- Distance: 1240 km by road plus 35 km by train
- Number of Teams: 16
Participating Countries
- Austria - Thomas Beuchel & Anton Gachter
- Belgium - Luc de Rijck & Guy Ivens
- Canary Islands - Ellis Martin & Francisco Zarate (Team Spirit Award)
- France - Paul Gasser & Loup Tournard (Special Task Award)
- Germany - Philipp Naegele & Gerhard Schilling
- Greece - John Yiannis Iatrou & Argyris Zamanakis
- Holland - Paul Terpstra & Joost Wildenberg
- Italy - Giovanni Formica & Matteo Ghiazza
- Japan - Tomoaki Akabane & Nobutaka Endo
- Malaysia - Sabiamad Abdul Ahad & Jensen Loh
- Poland - Ernest Daniszewski & Pawel Orkisz
- Russia - Nikolai Shustrov & Yuri Strofilov
- Spain - Alvaro Bulto & Sergio Valle
- Switzerland - Markus Graf & Martial Mathieu
- Turkey - Hakan Dalokay & Yilmaz Koyuncuoglu
- United States - Tim Hensley & Michael Hussey (Camel Trophy)
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse