The beginning of the thirties of the last century was marked by the conquest of deserts by road. And this was not an assault for the sake of an assault, fixing records for the operation of engines in the most difficult conditions of scorching heat, but the need to organize reliable passenger and freight traffic in countries where sands occupied most of the territory.
But since the experience of such enterprises never existed, the states that are rapidly developing the automotive industry chose the Sahara as a testing ground, especially its southern part, replete with a disorderly heap of stones. French firms Citroën and Renault, for example, tested tracked and six-wheeled buses here in order to find out what was more suitable in the terrifying conditions of complete off-road conditions, severe water shortages, lack of service points and gas stations.
Today, it is difficult to imagine how pioneers - drivers, engineers, mechanics - dealt with emergencies by safely driving vehicles to their destinations. They did it, and how masterly! Not thinking to hide what hardships they had to endure, not too rarely incurring losses of people and equipment. The French, we must admit, became the example they followed. Germany, as of July 1, 1930, had a fleet of 1 million 419 thousand 870 cars, for this very reason, as the newspapers wrote, "set off in a race, hoping to snatch leadership." Did not work out. The French have already managed to "plow the Sahara" and organize uninterrupted commercial flights. So far, however, on individual orders of rich thrill-seekers, geologists, doctors, missionaries, scientists. Even this more than covered the considerable costs of designers and testers of special vehicles.
Such tests were then called somewhat frivolously - runs or jogging. The participants, having taken a full dare, aptly called the overcome paths black miles. How not to recall one of the tragic-colored bus raids?
WITH A SIGHT TO THE FUTURE
On the eve of the storming of the Sahara Desert, the managers of Renault and Citroen at a joint press conference announced that conquering the sands is not an end in itself, but preparation of a breakthrough into the future, in a technological and moral sense. The managers did not dwell on concrete steps in this direction, only slightly opening the curtain over the design intricacies of the machines.
What a participant in this meeting, Soviet expert Alexander Rubakin wrote in the magazine "Behind the wheel": “You can roughly predict the type of car in the near future. Eight-cylinder, silent flexible motor and gears, all on rubber silent fasteners, with stainless steel parts. For such a machine, a minimum of maintenance will be needed, since both lubrication and oil filling of the motor will be done automatically."
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The bewilderment of Rubakin and his fellow journalists can be imagined when they learned that this future has already been invested in the Citroen and Renault buses, which successfully conquer the sands. Moreover, the drivers and passengers were provided with maximum comfort. Shock-damping spring berths, kitchen, filters for air purification in cabins and saloons. The designers also introduced such unprecedented innovations as the automatic tire inflation and bio-toilets. The Germans helped with chemical waste disposal and compact refrigerators. Everything else was French.
WANDERERS OF THE SANDS
That was the name of the collective work - a beautifully illustrated book by three expedition members - two drivers and an engineer from Renault and Citroen, Joe Bousquet, Pierre Sushan, Noel Coypel, published in 1936 in Paris.
Renault test driver Joe Busquet writes: “Desperately struggling not to be buried or toasted by sands, for which there seemed to be no tightness, we looked for and found ways to somehow move forward. At least somehow. For the wanderings of snails on green leaves did not so much resemble our floundering as they gave hope to survive for our followers, who will undoubtedly have to exploit and revive the motors in the hell of military operations."
Commendable candor. The French did not even think to hide the dual purpose of their cars, as well as the fact that they are participants in a unique experiment of work and life in the sands. Joe Busquet in the final chapter of the book "Wanderers of the Sands" even sings a hymn to his force, indestructible in courage and resilience: "Glory to all of us, simple, even physically not strong guys, cars who managed to walk and come."
ADD OF THREE FORCES
In total, the expeditionary party consisted of three vehicles. Two are Renault wheeled vehicles and one Citroen crawler vehicle. The task took a total of 36 hours to complete. At first glance, not much. But only at first glance, because, as Pierre Sushan recalled in 1947, "the sand on which they were moving had truly fantastic properties - underneath there were layers of unsteadiness, literally swallowing machines." Sushan even compared this "flooring" with swampy soil: it got stuck and disappeared.
If it were not for the tracked bus that rescues the wheelers from the unsteady fluid traps, both equipment and people would die. “And so, - writes Sushan, - we in overalls now and then hooked the cables to the tracked car, and pulled out the wheelers at the limit of the engine's capabilities”. This is in the early hours, before the heat, at sunset, and at night when it was cool. During the day, the members of the expedition rested in the bus cabins, neglecting the beds, lying side by side on the floor. Sushan, “burdened by this experience,” concluded that passenger transportation in the absence of intensive air cooling in buses is unrealistic.
Sushan, however, admits that it is harmful even for testers to relax. Sandstorms that buried the buses so that they had to be dug out for a long time, came up with an unshakable rule: when the visibility is almost zero due to the "walking sand", it is not worth even three meters away from cars and comrades. An experienced driver, Victor Tardieu died, moving away from his comrades by only one and a half or two "unacceptable" meters. It was "cleaned up" by a sand pit, one of many formed after a night tornado.
BLOOD, DEATH AND VICTORY
Parallel to the trio of cars from Renault and Citroen, there was a single car from the English company Crossley, the bus body of which could accommodate eleven berths. The "Crossley", in which the volunteer passengers traveled, several times on the Colombo-Reston-Bao section of the route fell into terrifying tornadoes, leaving no chance of survival. The French always came to the aid of the British. As a result, four buses finished at the same time.
Summing up this story, it is appropriate to quote the words of Pierre Sushan: “Not only were our souls and flesh bloody, the cars also turned into rubbish, not suitable for repeated use. Nevertheless, our experience has shown that it is possible to establish regular freight and passenger traffic across the deserts. You just need to slightly tweak the technique and learn the art of preserving human dignity in unfit conditions. Sushan was not wrong. Today, cars and trucks rush through the deserts with their beautiful autobahns.