First British Women to Finish the Dakar: Helen, Marcella & Purdy the Land Rover
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In this episode, Michelle sits down with Helen and Marcella, the duo behind the first ever all‑British female team to finish the Dakar Rally – in a Land Rover they built themselves in a shed, affectionately named Purdy.
They share the hilarious, gritty and frankly unbelievable story of how two “normal” women in their 50s went from a chance meeting in rural France to surviving one of the toughest motorsport events in the world.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How it all started
- Moving to France, a chaotic first meeting, and how wine + turning 50 led to saying “yes” to Dakar.
- Building Purdy in a shed
- Buying a rough Defender off eBay, turning it into a Dakar‑spec car, and battling electrics and wiring gremlins.
- Funding the dream
- Selling cars, jewellery and dipping into a pension, plus the reality of chasing sponsorship when no one knows you.
- Life at Dakar
- The moving “town” of the bivouac, zero sleep, mixing with factory teams and legends, and surviving with minimal spares and one young mechanic.
- On‑stage chaos
- Reading road books, driving dunes and rock‑fields, double punctures on the final day, and almost not making the finish.
- The unfiltered reality
- Spider bites, stomach upsets, desert toilet logistics and an escalating obsession with bananas.
- Friendship & being first
- How they avoided falling out, what deep trust in the car looks like, and what it means to be the first all‑British female team to finish Dakar.
Why you should listen
If you’ve ever thought “I’m too old”, “I’m too normal” or “that’s for people with money and connections”, this episode will mess with that narrative in the best way.
It’s about:
- Audacity – deciding to do something wildly beyond your comfort zone
- Graft – building the car, finding the money, fixing it when it catches fire
- Grit and humour – dealing with spiders, sand, sponsors and squits, and still laughing
- Friendship – trusting someone else with your life, your dream and your worst days
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