(Survey Team in Jafr Desert)

1. Track Work:The laying of the white lines as track markers for driver Andy Green to follow has been proceeding. All kinds of problems as usual - one night a sandstorm abraded all the previous day’s lines. Several drivers including the SSC Team’s advance rep proved incapable of steering straight, the vital eye patch for the driver disappointed one day and our trusty twin-cab pickup had to go back to Amman "for checking". Most afternoons are too windy for line laying, so our team of ten assemble in the dark at 5.00am. Somehow everyone gets aboard the pickup and set off on the ½-hour trip to the desert track. There the mixture is made, double strength now, in a 44-gallon drum, the men are visually aligned on a ½ mile section and move aside as the pickup approaches trailing the white mixture through a pipe. The men move smartly to the next line and on the system goes. This morning they achieved 50 ½-mile lines, beating their previous record. Best driver is Major Nawraz Durak, the SSC Team’s Liasion Officer and the only man in Jordan who speaks perfect English with a Geordie accent, and nearly as good is Lieutenant Omran, a fantastically hard worker who really inspires his men at this task. Including re-doing the obliterated lines, this job is expected to finish midweek.
2. F.O.D. Removal:This mammoth task involves walking the 17x10 mile tracks picking up all foreign objects which could be sucked into Thrust SSC’s engines or damage its aluminium wheels. So far only the team rep is working on this... 5 or 6 hours morning fodding achieves about 1½ miles of one track. To walk all over the 50ft tracks is the equivalent of 320 miles... The team will all work at this on arrival and General Mamoun, the Base Commander, will volunteer himself and encourage his men to volunteer.
3. Local Interest:Last Wednesday, 17th July, a Press Briefing was held at the R.A.C. Club, a magnificent complex, in Amman. A good cross-section of radio, TV, news and magazine representatives turned up. The SSC Team Rep gave a detailed briefing on progress and schedule and then the film "For Britain And The Hell Of It", the story of the 1983 record attempt was shown to give an idea of what will be seen at Al Jafr.
4. b>TV Coverage:Jordan TV’s "News At 10" reporter Samer Ferraj came out yesterday to give a report from the desert, showing Jordanian viewers the "gha", or pan, for many for the first time. He filmed the lane lines - an Andy Green view of the white line at speed - as well as the pits area being laid out and the area in general. Scheduled for tonight’s show, Jordan TV are keen to show "For Britain And The Hell Of It" in the coming days.
5. Jordanian Companies:Several major Jordanian companies are showing interest in sponsoring Thrust SSC or advertising in the spectator area. Special terms and rates are available for these trials in Jordan and we hope that these companies will go ahead.

(Richard Noble marking out the track in Jafr Desert)

Previous reports:

• 15th July 1996
• 6th July 1996
• 29th June 1996

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