In May 2000, 24 British drivers in classic and modern motorcars drove a 3,000-mile course from London to
Jerusalem. Their goal? To raise money to complete and maintain the Middle East's largest manmade reservoir.
By Wendy Elliman
You're driving through the and wastes of a burning desert when, with a hoarse cough and splutter, your car dies beneath your hands. No matter. You reach for your cell-phone and five minutes later, a skilled mechanic pulls up, necessary tools and parts in hand. Fifteen minutes after that, you're on your way again. A wild fantasy? After a send- off by the Lord Mayor of Westminster, dinner with Prince Albert of Monaco, a spin round Monaco's Grand Prix Circuit with champions Stirling Moss and Bruno Giacaneli, a Jordanian police motorcade escort through central Amman, and meetings with Britain's Opposition leader William Haig and Israel Knesset Speaker Avraham. Burg still to come, it's pretty much par for the course.
This particular course, the third London-Jerusalem Car Rally, runs 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers), and behind the wheels of the Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Chryslers, Chevrolets, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Subarus and Toyotas were British and Irish heart surgeons, entrepreneurs, former policemen and financiers. The rally was sponsored by Grafix, a London-based producer of children's paper goods and stationery, whose chairman Martin Abramson drove a Bentley 1996 convertible. The participants raised an impressive $400,000 for the completion and upkeep of the Besor Reservoir located in Israel's Negev Desert.
"We've held the rally every two years since it was launched in 1996," says Gail Seal, president of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Britain and Ireland, which organized the rally. "When we approached the Royal Automobil Club of Britain to help us plan it, they referred us to former racing car driver Martin Hone, who's been with us ever since."
Hone, whose first Middle East experience was a motor rally in Dubai in 1981, enjoys working with the JNF, whom he calls "a charity-hearted band of adventurers". His role in the rally is central. "I set up the timetable, see the drivers off each morning, tell them the route, the mileage and where the next meeting-place is. The truck containing spare parts for every car in the rally, which we loaded before we left London, follows us along the route," he explains. The gas however, sometimes presented problems.
"As concerned environmentalists, we naturally use unleaded gas," says Simon Winters, chief executive of JNF of Britain and Ireland. "But in Jordan, we found only one pump that supplied it. I filled up my 1999 Chevrolet Cainaro there, and then followed the route south to Petra and Aqaba. By the time we crossed into Israel at Eilat, I had only half a liter left in my tank!"
The older cars included a 1975 Morgan, a 1970 Lancia Fulvia Zagato and a 1964 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. Also present was a 1973 Rover Pb5, the pride and joy of the late Asher Hyman, former director of Shell Oil; he bequeathed his beloved vehicle to the JNF, which restored and renovated it especially for the rally.
The most noteworthy of the drivers was Judy Woolfendon, of Stratford-upon-Avon. Afflicted with spinal muscular atrophy and breathing difficulties, she needed frequent stops and lots of support, but nonetheless kept to the timetable and completed the route. "It was my dream to come to Israel in the year 2000 and do something for the environment at the same time," she explains. "I'm not Jewish, but that hasn't made any difference. We've been a close-knit group, encouraged all along the way. In Jordan, people even came into the streets to cheer us on."
Even though they spent the days inside their cars, the British drivers sensed the changing cultures of the countries through which they drove. "In Europe, people would ask us how fast our cars go, and how many kilometers we get to the liter," recalls Winters. "In Israel, they asked us how much we'd sell them for!"
So popular has the biennial rally become, that the JNF is now considering a smaller-scale version during the interim year. Will Judy Woolfendon join in? "Yes," she says, "I'd like to do it again. But next time, on the back of a Harley Davidson."