Union Tribune San Diego
RPM SECTION
2 San Diego sisters compete in 9-day event
By Mark Maynard
San Diego sisters Susanah and Jo Hannah Hoehn are seasoned travelers and hikers. Parts of southern Africa have been among their destinations, with Morocco, to the north, on their to-do list. That trip began this week. But they never expected to see the countryside through the windshield of a Range Rover racing across the Sahara Desert.
The Hoehns will be part of the all-women, 24th annual Rallye Aicha des Gazelles. It is billed as the toughest all-women’s event in the world. This nine-day rally is considered to be tougher than the Baja 1000 and more mental than the famed Dakar rally.
There will be 160 two-person teams from 24 countries racing in three vehicle classes, including 4×4 SUV/truck and quad/motorcycle. The Hoehns are among four teams from the United States. Participants range from professional drivers, athletes and celebrities to adventurers.
The teams rely on brains, not brawn to compete. They are not allowed to use GPS navigation or other mapping devices. Cellphones are not allowed, not even binoculars. The only direction is by a hard-copy map from the 1950s, a compass, a course plotter, the navigator’s triangulations and instinct. Teams will find their way through about 50 checkpoints across the Sahara. There is no set course, no markers and no support crew on the trail. But there is an electronic tracker in each vehicle to be sure all are accounted for at the end of the day.
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Accommodations in the desert will be tents and French army food rations. A few portable showers will be available at the major overnight checkpoints, shared among 300 women.
The Gazelles also is a “sustainable” race, with tenets to “Leave no trace.” Even vehicle carbon emissions are tallied for scoring. The team with the fewest penalty points wins.
You may have seen the Hoehn sisters in their humorous car-dealership TV ads. Their day jobs are with the Hoehn Motors group, which has 11 dealerships around Carlsbad. Jo Hannah, 27, is the general manager at the Jaguar Land Rover franchise, and Susanah, 26, is the GM at the Honda store.
The sisters are just 13 months apart in age, went to the same college (Dartmouth) and now live together and work in the family business.
So why see Morocco the hard way?
“We jumped at the chance when we heard about it – no hesitation,” Jo Hannah said, with a hint of red mist rising in her eyes at the anticipation of competition.
“We are hoping our unspoken language will be an advantage,” she said.
The days will begin with a 4 a.m. wakeup, 5 a.m. driver’s meeting and a 6 a.m. start. If all goes well, they will have found the checkpoint by 7 p.m. If not, it could be midnight, said Jo Hannah, who will be the driver.
They are excited and anxious to get there “to find out what we don’t know,” said Susanah, who has the unforgiving job of navigator. “There are certain things you can’t figure out till you get there.”
But today they are in Paris for the ceremonial kickoff of the rally. From there they will drive eight hours south to Casablanca and then cross the Atlas Mountains for the race start on March 20 at Erfoud near the Algerian border. The rally will end March 29 at Essaouira, which is along the coast and a few towns to the south of Casablanca.
The weather in the Sahara this time of year is comparable to San Diego’s deserts – highs in the 70s and 80s and cool at night. It’s about the same latitude as San Diego and the terrain looks similar to our deserts, Jo Hannah said.
Their camel for this run is a Range Rover Sport that has been wrapped in the Hoehn team’s unique mosaic-tile design. Their SUV has a 510-horsepower, supercharged V-8 engine and eight-speed automatic transmission with high- and low-range 4WD system and locking differentials. There is a complete system of electronic driver assistance, including Sand mode for improved traction. The four-corner air suspension can give another 2.6 inches of lift when needed. Fuel economy is sketchy at 14 mpg city, 19 highway, but a 27.7 gallon tank will be an asset in getting from checkpoint to checkpoint.
Rallye Aicha des Gazelles
If the Gazelles rally sounds intriguing, now is the time to begin preparing. It’s an all-inclusive package program that for 2014 cost $18,400 per team. That includes access to mechanics in the evenings (the teams must diagnose problems and request repairs), fuel, hotels, food and safety for two weeks. Trainer Emily Miller says to budget $11,000 to $12,000 per person. And it is possible to rent a vehicle for about $6,000, she said.
If the truck breaks, the women will try to fix it. Susanah’s first job at the Honda dealership was as a lube tech, doing oil changes and tire changes.
The electronic sophistication of the Rover Sport cuts both ways. It is built to handle safari conditions. But if a sensor fails or the suspension can’t inflate, the truck is vulnerable, Jo Hannah said. The women are packing just meager replacement parts: a few tools, two spare tires with wheels, a couple of extra tie rods and a couple of engine belts. It all fits into a foot-by-foot case, she said. The only vehicle modification is a roll bar.
“We are lucky because the Range Rover has so much power,” she said. “We will be able to do things that other vehicles can’t.”
The Hoehns will be on the starting line with 20 other vehicles in their class. “Then you find your own path,” Susanah said. “I’ll have to be running up a lot of dunes to verify what is on the other side.”
They have been practicing in Ocotillo and the Imperial Sand Dunes, near Glamis. But those dunes are mole hills compared to the Sahara, said their trainer Emily Miller.
“These are the biggest dunes in the Morocco. It’s very rough,” she said.
Miller is a three-time Gazelle veteran who learned from off-road-racing legend Rod Hall. Based in Encinitas, Miller, 47, also has raced off-road for General Motors and has been a professional driver for tire company BF Goodrich and Michelin.
While the rally is as tough as the Baja 1000 and Dakar, it’s more like dancing backward in the sand in high heels.
“The Gazelles rally goes against everything an off-road racer does,” Miller said, “because we try to keep our speed up and take the smoothest line. This rally is about slowing down and taking the straightest line.”
It’s also about what your vehicle can handle for nine days – and how much the humans can handle for nine days.
“Participants can’t rest for a minute,” Miller said. “If the navigator rests, you get lost. And if you get lost, how do you get unlost?
Speed depends on terrain, generally between a crawl and up to about 60 mph. Most of the time they won’t be in eyesight of other vehicles, Jo Hannah said. “But during the big dune days we will find another partner team to go through, as vehicles can roll over.”
The key for their success is to not break the vehicle, Miller said. She has been teaching Jo Hannah throttle control, line choice and smoothness.
“Now I watch the tachometer, for engine speed, more than the speedometer,” Jo Hannah said. “It’s scary because on rock crawls you can slow down and pick your route,” she said. “But on dunes you have to commit and accelerate and plan your route just a few steps in advance. We will tackle one dune at a time before attacking the next.”
It is hostile terrain but not a hostile country. Morocco, primarily French-speaking, actually likes Americans and hosting the rally, Miller said. The rally is also a non-profit event that benefits the country. A medical caravan follows the rally to provide treatments to the people. Benefits also include the building of schools, support of orphanages and to provide job training for women. King Mohammed VI lends the Coat of Arms every year for competitor vests showing his support of the women’s initiatives he has championed in Morocco.
Miller will be back at the rally but as a staff and media driver following the U.S. teams. She says the Hoehns are as ready as they will ever be: “They are tough, smart, not pampered and organized. They will learn what it is like to rely on their vehicle for everything. It will be a good professional building tool for them.”
They will make mistakes, she said, but also counsels: “Learn from your mistakes quickly and don’t make them again.”
Among the rally rules, “Leave no trace.” The rally also benefits the people of the Sahara with medical care, schools and more.
