The challenge
Every year 1,200 cars line up at the start of the 4L Trophy, a race that goes from Biarritz (France) to Morocco. Not just any cars, all the teams, consisting only of students, cover the route with a Renault R4.
The aim of the 4L Trophy rally is to reach as many checkpoints as possible via the shortest possible route to drive to Morocco to provide schools with equipment for charity.
This year 2 adventurous and committed students from the ProDongle team's close circle were eager to take on this challenge. Henri Neyt and Cyrille Cloet are 2 childhood friends who met at boarding school. The 4L Trophy is yet another adventure they are embarking on together as a team, and with other friends. And ProDongle also wanted to do its bit.
The trajectory
After many months of preparation, it is finally here. The teams are ready for the race of their lives. After everyone had passed the mandatory technical inspection, the participants left Biarritz for Algeciras (southern Spain), where a boat was taken to Tangier (Morocco). There, the real race of six stages begins in the Great Moroccan South, with Marrakech as the final destination. The aim is to reach that final destination in as few kilometres as possible.
The race is entirely dedicated to charity. Through the association 'Enfants du Désert', all participants will donate school materials to make education possible for children in the Moroccan desert. This can range from pencils and colouring pens to notebooks and courses. But in addition, other charities are also financially supported.
After arriving in Marrakech, there will be time to explore the region and the rally will end with a party for all participants. But of course the car has to get back to Belgium. Most participants put the car on a truck in Algeciras and take the plane home, but Henri wanted to do the full drive back home with a few other friends. This results in a total route of more than 8,000 km.
The contribution of ProDongle
One of the most difficult aspects for the students is financing this project. The registration fee amounts to several thousand euros, part of which will be donated to charities. In addition, the car also needs to be put in order for the conditions in the desert and the right insurances need to be taken out. ProDongle made a financial and in-kind contribution to the Enfants du Désert charity on the one hand.
In addition, our applications also came in handy for this adventure. To start with, a Standalone tracker was installed in the car. This was hidden behind a door panel. The boys' Renault R4 had been bought with their own savings, so they were keen to bring it back home too. But besides that, the car also had no locks, making theft a possibility. Through the standalone tracker, the car could be easily traced after theft. As soon as the tracker leaves the set radius, an alert is sent out.
In addition, a Blackbox Light was also installed to record the route. Through this solution, family and friends could follow the 2 young men's adventures from thousands of kilometres away. Thus, they could perfectly see in the app how many kilometres and which route they travelled each day, including breakdown moments... Thanks to the built-in mobile connection, the Blackbox Light was connected to the cloud and the vehicle could be tracked in real time.
Finally, Henri & Cyrille's adventure also became a good endurance test of the ProDongle equipment in extreme conditions (such as heat, snow & frost as well as dust and shock) with poor mobile and GPS coverage. Mission accomplished, as it turned out. We can look back with pride on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure!
Solutions used:
Do you also want a complete product without surprises?
- Easy to use
- Pan-European operation with professional maps
- Unlimited positions, kms & users
- Helpdesk, software & map updates included
- Accessible via any PC, smartphone and tablet
- Own software, integration via API possible