Citroen 2CVs take part in the Marrakech Express rally, a ten day rally across the mountains and deserts of Morocco


Citroen 2CVs take part in the Marrakech Express rally, a ten day rally across the mountains and deserts of Morocco between 29th March -- 9th April 2014. McLaren's Team Manager Alastair Caldwell helped James Hunt to F1 victory in 1976. The motor racing legend has just completed another challenge of similar magnitude. Winning a 2000 mile rally around Morocco, driving a French classic that boasts a measly 29 brake horse power - a Citroen 2CV. Driving one of 16 2CVs recently rebuilt from the ground-up with roll cages and rally equipment by 2CV Adventures, Alistair joined other drivers in a rally named The Marrakech Express that saw the little cars, once the butt of motoring jokes, take in the mountains and deserts of Northern Africa. Special regularities, or stages, tested the tin snails' ability to maintain an average speed over a given distance. Often these dizzying average speeds were over 30 mph and tested the mettle of drivers, navigators and the cars to the limit. A support crew kept all the cars on the road and kept Alistair and the other drivers stocked-up with spare wheel-rims - 102 in total - tyres, engines and gearboxes. Alistair who claimed to have only let ten cars pass him over the whole ten days, said: "You have to keep momentum, if you slow down you're finished for hours. "You wouldn't say the handling was that good but it's certainly funny". The Marrakech Express was the first of many rallies planned for the 2CVs across Europe and northern Africa over the next few years. They are targeted at rally enthusiasts who can just turn and pay to drive a ready-prepared car in a fully supported event.


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Photo credit: © F Stop Press / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 2cv, adventures, alistair, caldwell, chevaux, citroen, classic, deux, express, marrakech, marrakesh, morocco, rally, rallying