Our Progress

9 December

We were donated a very substantial Land Rover roof rack from Freecycle last week so this morning was spent cutting it down to size to fit a vehicle somewhat smaller than a Landy. The rest of the morning was taken up with some rather slapdash branding of the car with cut vinyl and logos. Suitably liveried the car then made an appearance at the Heeley City Farm Christmas Fair where the folks of Sheffield continued to be very generous with their cash. With Gift Aid we are very near to £2,000 raised for our charities.

7 December

We have been worrying about the affect that the desert is likely to take on our less than substantial disposable paper air filters. After a chat with Bob at Technical Services UK we have become convinced that the best solution is to fit a KN filter. Bob gave us a contact to speak to at KN and we are now the proud owners of the only Trabant sized filter they had in stock. KN sponsor all manner of motorsport teams and we qualified for a 50% motorsport discount. Hurrah.

5 December

There are many questions we get asked about the trip and the charities, hopefully this website answers most of them. However there is one recurring question that we should have answered ages ago, "why are you called Team Sunspots?" When we applied to take part in the Challenge we had to submit a team name and despite thinking about it for nearly six months we left it to the last minute. We are both big fans of the Fall and toyed with many Fall song titles and lyrics as our team name with the most likely being Kurious Oranj but we just couldn t bring ourselves to have a picture of Mark E Smith on the car. The back up artiste had to be Julian Cope, the great man has a huge back catalogue of suitable songs to plunder  No Hard Shoulder to Cry On, Highway to the Sun and Drive, She Said but without a doubt it had to be Sunspots if only for it's lyric 'Sunspots changing gear, driving round with my very best friend'.

3 December

We had our launch party at the Old Crown last night. The Dakar and Bust DVD was on heavy rotation on the plasma screen and many a Pink Trabi and Two Stroke cocktail were drunk. Suddenly we feel really excited about the trip especially given the excellent support we have been getting from everyone.

1 December

We've been very remiss in keeping you up to date on the press we've been getting. Given that we're on the front of the Sheffield Telegraph today it's probably giving you a bit of an update. We had a full page feature in Knight Rider the IFA owners' club magazine in the summer, Heeley Voice magazine featured us and Exposed magazine gave us a mention in the November issue. A couple of student journalists at Sheffield University have also interviewed us, we hope to have their pieces on here shortly.

28 November

Despite less than promising weather first thing we had a very good day outside Sainsbury's on The Moor today. Chris had a pre-expedition dental appointment to have a crown fitted but still managed to speak to plenty of people despite a numb face. The car caused a bit of a stir, hundreds of people stopped to talk to us and we had a visit from a photographer from the Sheffield Telegraph.

25 November

We are getting used to comments from the people of Sheffield but last night we had our best so far. Dominic was in the back of the car fiddling with speaker cables when a pizza delivery bike pulled up, the rider got off his moped and started muttering to himself, "what have we got here? It's a crazy pink Trabant" He was soemwhat taken aback when Dominic spoke to him. from inside the car. Much shaking of hands and discussion of the trip the took place whilst the pizza went cold. Apologies to our neighbour who had a slightly cold pizza lat nigh.

15 November

New numberplates and tax disc now proudly displayed, one of the staff at the DVLA office was particularly pleased that the mauve of the disc would go nicely with the car.

14 November

We had our DVLA inspection for our Trabi today. The amount of rigour amazed me.
I had a chat with the inspector before we went outside to look at car and apologised for the rather bright pink. He had emailed another branch to find out what to look out for as he'd never done a Trabi before, the only response he'd had was 'Pink! Make sure you get a photo!' He asked me all sorts of questions about availability of parts, how it is to drive, how long we'd had it etc basically lots of chat.
The only thing he did that was anything like an inspection was ask me where the chassis number was and take a photo of the VIN plate. I returned a couple of hours later to pick up the completed paperwork, tax disc and number plate authorisation.
Whilst I'd been waiting for the inspector all the front desk staff had gone to the window to look at the car in the car park, I was impressed how many knew it was a Trabi.
The rest of the day was spent sorting out car items. I had some box section cut and drilled for fitting the Peugeot seats (French comfort instead of German utility) their purple covers go nicely with the pink paintwork. The stereo from the terrible Citroen we had has been fitted and miraculously the radio now works. Other stray bits of dodgy wiring have also been fixed so we now have fog lamps. We can now also adjust direction of airflow thanks to some WD40 and a hammer, we'll now be toasty warm in France and Spain and toasted in Africa!

6 November

Well, what a day out we had yesterday at East German Day at Crich Tramway Museum. I drove out of Sheffield with Chris rather nervously taking over once we were out onto the quieter Derbyshire roads and that was the last chance I had to drive. Judging by the grin on her face I think it's safe to safe Chris quite enjoys driving a Trabi. We were amongst the first to arrive at Crich and were set up right by the entrance along with some Ladas and an extremely fine Skoda day van (best in show)and as the first thing the public saw as they arrived we got a lot of interest in the car and the trip. There were quite a few people in costume/uniform, a German tram was running and there was a good mix of vehicles, Barkas, Tatras, Ladas, Skodas, Wartburgs and quite a few Trabis.
I took part in the first procession at 13.00 the movie below is from the car in front of me but you do catch a quick glimpse of pink in the last few seconds. Chris went to the re-enactment of the fall of the Berlin Wall then led the second procession of cars at 15.00. We didn't win a prize but given that it was the car's first day out and we hadn't washed it we weren't expecting to. We met some very nice people, both public and other owners and had nearly £60 in our bucket by the end of the day.

3 November

We are used to people stopping to talk to us when we park our Morris or the camper but we have a feeling we're going to get even more comments in the Trabi. Whilst I had the bonnet open at the garage last night, the car has a gravity fed fuel tank under the bonnet, the passenger in the next car said "what's one of them then?" followed swiftly by "where's it from?", "how old is it?" and "is it warm in there?" Her parting comment as I drove off was "nice colour". I've got the hang of the column gearshift and even remember to switch the fuel on before setting off, unlike when I left the garage the other morning - I only managed about 20 yards before I ran out of fuel.

1 November

It was with a great deal of nerves and trepidation that I set off for Red Lion Garage first thing this morning. Normally I'm nervous about how much the garage bill is going to be but Harry and John have been working on the Trabi for nothing, so no worries there. Was I worried that I'd have forgotten how to use the column gearshift? No, what had set the butterflies a flutterin' in my stomach was the fact that with the car MOTed and driving like a dream there is no reason for us to not go now. John and Harry have done a fantastic job on the car, they have gone way beyond just getting it through the MOT, short of stripping the engine it's had the works. Now we need to get it ready for the desert.

On other matters, we have the ferry booked, we've started our jabs, have three nights booked in the Marrakech Ibis for Christmas and thanks to Morris at Nostell we have a late night lift from Manchester Airport when we get back. We will be having a launch party on 2 December and our departure time is now set at 11.00 on 16 December from outside Heeley City Farm, more details of both will be confirmed shortly.

31 October

Of course the seal turned out to be the wrong size but I managed to find one very deep in a box in a dark shed in Derbyshire last night and we now have an MOT. Hurrah! I'll be picking the car up first thing tomorrow. Lots more new to follow shortly.

27 October

We are just sooo close to an MOT. John at Red Lion Garage has done an absolutely fantastic job on the car After three weeks in the garage, we have a sparkling engine and engine bay, tip top brakes, new tyres, lovely tuning and we're ready to roll...
...or not, the transmission oil has been changed and the engine run for about 20 mins (it sounds sweeter than a sweet thing) but what's this? We have a small pool of oil forming under the car which is clearly coming from the gearbox. A quick rub of the magic lantern and Graham is dropping off a Wellendichtring (radial oil seal) tomorrow, so fingers crossed we'll have an MOT on Monday.

9 October

I always like walking under a car, the excitement of seeing those bits that are normally hidden is usually tempered by the fact that they are in a terrible state and in need of (costly) repair. But not with our lovely Trabi, I called by the garage en route to work this morning and Harry was keen to show me what a good state the car is in. It turns out that we don't need to do the rear brakes but the front ones need new cylinders which means I've had to make a call to Lars at LDM and they are now on their way from Germany. We also have a full set of new tyres thanks to Ken at Selecta Tyre in Buxton. It is looking increasingly likely that we might have an MOT by the end of the week!

6 October

After picking up a bag of bits from Graham out at Youlgreave we did some, mostly electrical, work on the car at the weekend. On Monday morning the Trabi hit the streets of Sheffield in the rush hour traffic as it made its smokey way to Red Lion Garage where it was booked for an MOT. The garage have kindly donated the MOT and some time to get it through. Today we found out what we need to get it through the MOT. Not surprisingly the brakes need a full overhaul, blocks, cylinders etc and those East German remould tyres are as bad as they look. So off to Graham again tomorrow. Unbelievably we only have 70 days before we leave, eeek!

25 September

We have had one mighty busy week. Dominic and Paul had a good session with the car on Saturday and we are pleased to announce that it goes and even stops when it is told to. The drive round the block was somewhat interesting for Paul given the passenger seat only reclines but he did do a good impression of a laidback passenger.
What is a bit more exciting, but only just, is the fact that we met Alan Titchmarsh yesterday. He is the Patron of Seeds for Africa and was filming a new BBC1 programme at Nostell. He was very busy but did find time to look us pityingly, somewhat surprised that anyone should want to do something so foolish even if it is for charity. As you can see we managed to find time for a photo.

11 September

Well, all manner of things have happened since the last update. Having got the car going we decided to check it out for general condition. Aided by Paul, who has a wealth of experience of aircooled vehicles, various bits of tinwork were removed and rubber hoses checked. We were sure that we put everything back as we found it but what do you know, it looks like we broke it. But we do have a shopping list of parts that need replacing.


Chris' new job at Nostell Priory is causing more problems than the car. As House and Collections Manager she has to work Christmas Day so cannot do the first leg of the trip. After much pondering we have decided to carry on with the project with Dominic driving to Morocco and Chris flying out to Marrakech on Boxing Day.

Three fools have jumped at the chance to drive to Marrakech. At the moment it looks most likely to be Dominic's brother Graham who will be squeezing into the co-driver's seat.

30 July

It's alive, it's alive(ish)! We took a bucket, some Autoglym, T Cut and elbow grease down to the Trabi and sure enough a bit of polishing summoned up the 2 stoke Genie, there was a huge cloud of smoke and the pink beauty sprang into life. Strictly speaking I think it might have been less of the polish and more the rocking the car in gear to free the starter motor and a new battery that got it going but that's not such a good story is it?

The engine ran for a while and than died but at least we have action. We also have an idiosyncratic electric system, hazards but no indicators, washer but no wipers etc.

28 July

You'd think that a month after the last progress update that we'd be reporting that the car is running and that and MOT is imminent. But unfortunately we can report nothing of the sort. We haven't been sitting around but neither have we been working on the car. The poor thing looks very forlorn when I walk past it twice a day (to and from work) but it is locked behind steel gates and we have only limited access time. To compound matters much of that limited time has been swallowed up over the past few weeks with all manner of other activities.
We went to the PDC launch in a field in Devon early in July, we met some great people but we were definitely one of the quieter teams there. We are told by PDC veterans that the groups shake themselves down and likeminded teams gravitate together.


Our most notable news has to be that Chris has a new job near Pontefract. She starts on 14 August and we have to furnish a flat by then so even less time to work on the Trabi. At the moment it is also highly likely that she will have to work at Christmas if she does we are looking at ways for her to join the trip in Marrakech rather than miss the whole thing. So watch this space for an advert for a co-driver for the trip from Sheffield to Morocco. We hope it doesn't come to that.

Website happenings: the Build your own Trabi kits are proving popular, we've given away about 200 and they are being downloaded but we've only had a few photos sent in for the People's Car Park. Send us yours. The big news is that we now have a Pin the Tail on the Camel Flash interactive for you to play on the site. It has been developed for us by DESQ and we'll be using for a viral email campaign sometime soon. We've also added a few links to nice things on the links page.

By the way, we are not complaining that it is 32^oC in the office, we see it as good training.

26 June

Despite less than promising weather first thing we headed to Graves Park for the Festival of Transport. The camper was shown in the 'light commercials' section and the Trabi alongside and immaculate Cortina and a Scimitar. We had people around us all day (even long after the football had started) giving us advice, cash, offers of assistance and many a shake of the head and a wry smile. At last we also had a chance to get some photos of the car not in a storage yard.

19 June

A couple of hours were spent under the bonnet on Sunday afternoon, it would have been more but people keep stopping to talk. A fully charged battery and fresh fuel resulted in... nothing whatsoever. The electrics seem to be working but not a single sign of life from the starter motor. Looks like a project for next weekend.

18 June

Thanks to everyone who was at Heeley Festival on Saturday. The response we got from talking to so many people about what we are planning on doing was really encouraging. We hadn't really expected to raise much money on the day, we saw it more as the first step in raising our profile, so to have come away with nearly £100 for our causes is fantastic. Not only did we get cash (and pledges for more) but all manner of offers of support in kind as well.

People are obviously spreading the word as we met people on Sunday who said that they'd already heard of the pink Trabi. If you left us your email address we'll keep you posted on what we're up to, if you didn't email us and we'll add you to the list.

14 June

We have a car and a very busy summer ahead of us. The website is beginning to come together but still has a long way to go.




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