In 2022 Project Dakar will be riding under the MotoJoe colours and flying the banner for all things adventure.

Tim only started riding off-road 2 years ago and set himself the challenge of racing to Dakar. Over the last 2 years he has gone from total novice to competing in Scottish Championship Enduro and Hare and Hound events.

In October 2021 he managed to finish the gruelling Rally Du Maroc which is a round of the FIM World Cross Country Rally Championships. To provide some context he raced the equivalent of riding from London to Edinburgh 5 times off road whilst navigating!

2021 / 2022 proved to be a very challenging period with Tim. His home was broken into, and all their bikes and equipment stolen, then he lost his father shortly after he returned from Morocco. In early 2022 the outbreak of war in Ukraine saw the team change its focus to a very different type of adventure.

The team race trailers were reconfigured to carry emergency aid and the whole team stepped up to run their first emergency aid mission to Ukraine. Every member of the rally team played their part in making this happen. Having helped refugees across the border and delivered aid into Ukraine itself the team decided they couldn’t stop there.

To date they have run 3 x aid missions and delivered over 12 000 meals, 500 sleeping bags and 500 trauma first aid kits. The 4th mission is already being planned.

The aid missions meant that Tim and the team put aside their own ambitions and missed the first half of the Scottish Championship and the first round of the British rally championship. Somethings are just more important!

Right now though they are back on it and competed in a round of the Scottish Enduro Championships all be it on the 500cc bike!

British Rally Championship. In a few weeks’ time Tim will be back in action on the MotoJoe factory rally bike in Brecon taking part in a British Rally Championship round. Unlike the tight and twisty nature of an enduro the rally will see riders flat out on gravel tracks and riding 40-mile stages.

The Africa Eco Race

The world is changing at speed and it is becoming increasingly important to raise awareness for climate change and wherever possible to take steps to play our part.

As a result, the MotoJoe team have decided to make some changes. The focus will switch to the Africa Eco Race. This event sees the competitors race along the Dakar stages of old. The race starts in France and finishes alongside the famous Rose Lake in Dakar.

Usually when we discuss climate change, we are drawn to melting ice caps and rising sea temperatures. However, on the other end of the spectrum rising global temperatures are having an immediate effect on the world’s hottest regions. Desertification is increasing and temperatures are rising to annual averages in excess of 50 degrees centigrade making life almost impossible. The Africa Eco Race is taking great steps to raise awareness and provide education and support to all of the regions that it passes through.

Extreme by Motul – The Malle Moto class.

Whilst motor sport is unlikely to be an entirely “green” sport we can do our bit to take sensible steps in the right direction.

In order to do this Tim is going to attempt to race in the Malle Motto class. This means that rather than having a support team and all its associated vehicles he will race alone and unsupported. After each days riding he will have to fix / service the bike and set up camp before going through the whole process again day after day for 12 days.

He will be allowed to take nothing with him other than the bike his riding kit and a single box containing tools, spares, and survival equipment.

The #BecauseICan Schools program

Working in partnership with the Scottish Auto Cycle Union and Sandstone Communications the team are continuing to focus on the free schools workshops.

The sessions take two forms. First, they provide practical tips and strategies for dealing with stress and being resilient. Second, they join the dots between STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) and future careers and adventures.

Wherever possible the team take the Rally bike into the sessions and use it to inspire and motivate.