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into third place because she set off in hot pursuit of Chip without even glancing at the map.
    Jimmy slid to a halt and pulled down the window. He grabbed a map and compass and stared at them for a few seconds. He had learned to read maps with Grandpa on one of their camping holidays and, although it had been a long time since he’d tried it, he soon noticed something.
    At the top of the map were some co-ordinates, marked Checkpoint 2 . Jimmy looked at them once more and turned the compass round in his hand.
    “Come on, Jimmy!” said Cabbie. “Let’s get a move on! Monster and Dug will be miles ahead of us at this rate!”
    But Jimmy stayed silent. There was definitely something wrong. He double-checked the co-ordinates. Then he triple-checked them, just to be sure.
    “Chip made a mistake,” he said.
    “Pardon?” Cabbie replied.
    “I’m sure of it. He must have been in such a hurry to stay in first place that he got the bearings wrong on the compass,” said Jimmy, checking the map for a fourth time. “He went east , but the co-ordinates point to the west .”
    “What about Missy?” said Cabbie.
    “She just followed Chip,” said Jimmy.
    “Then what are we waiting for?” said Cabbie with glee in his electronic voice. “Let’s burn rubber!”
    Jimmy put the map down and pulled the steering wheel round to the west, and Cabbie’s tyres spat sand into the air as he sped off in the right direction.
    “Woo-hoo!” cried Cabbie. “That means we’re in first place already! Not bad going, Jimmy, not bad at all.”
    “Thank Grandpa! He taught me to use a map years ago,” Jimmy said, thinking back to the holidays he had spent trekking across the countryside in an anorak and walking boots. They had gone on long walks, using the sun and the stars to navigate their way through bogs and muddy fields, before falling down exhausted in their holey little tent. Grandpa had taught Jimmy the importance of double-checking his map references and it had certainly paid off. He reached for the Cabcom to tell Grandpa about it, but as he tapped the screen he saw only fuzzy static and remembered that he wasn’t allowed to speak to him.
    “We’ll thank him tonight, when we get to the overnight stop in first place!” said Cabbie. “He’ll be watching us on TV anyway, and he’ll know you took the right direction.”
    Jimmy knew he was right. He focused on the sand in front of him. “Come on, Cabbie, we’ve got a race to win. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can see Grandpa.” He put his foot down on the accelerator, and launched them up a dune. They reached the top and sailed into the air, Cabbie’s wheels leaving the ground altogether.
    “Yee-ha!” yelled Cabbie. “Winners’ podium, here we come!”

Chapter 7 - Slippery Sand Dunes
    Sand battered the windscreen and Cabbie’s wipers were almost no use at all. But in his rear-view mirror Jimmy could now see two huge vehicles behind him. Missy and Chip must have realized their mistake and turned round , he thought.
    Behind them, Jimmy could make out more specks on the horizon. He used the rear-view zoom function to magnify the image, so that he could make out Princess Kako and Horace. Horace had the map spread out across Zoom’s windscreen, and a confused expression on his face.
    “Ha!” laughed Jimmy. “No wonder Horace is puzzled. He’s got the map upside down!”
    He reached out to the Cabcom and tapped the screen. Just because he couldn’t contact Grandpa didn’t mean he couldn’t talk to the other racers. The screen fizzed and crackled, and soon Horace’s smarmy face was staring back at him.
    “Hi, Horace! Not so easy without NASA, is it?” he said. “Need any help?”
    Horace didn’t seem glad to see him. “Bog off, Roberts!” he shouted. “I’m surprised you made it this far. Cabbie’s bonnet is so full of rusty holes that the sand must be passing through him like a sieve.”
    Horace’s hand reached out and jabbed the screen hard,