In Fields of Gold... Day 15 Semey to Usharal

SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2010

Peking to Paris Motor Challenge update. More about the race here

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Rhys Timms and John Hastie - MG SA

Another day of bright sunshine – nobody has yet to use their windscreen wipers since leaving the Great Wall of China – and 500 kms of tarmac takes us to a vast open field of axle-high parched grass.

We are 500 kms from Almaty, the capital city of Kazakstan, and it’s here that we are camping the night. According to the rally schedule this is the final night that we have to resort to our tents. From here on, it’s hotels every night.

The run today was not without its patches of broken tar and bumpy stretches, requiring a driving technique that resorts to sweeping from side to side to incorporate both sides, made all the more interesting with the oncoming locals doing the same thing. First car to the campsite this afternoon was the bellowing exhaust of the yellow Chevy Coupe of Steve Hyde.

The day was an transport-section sort of day with four passage controls set up in local truck-stop cafes along the road, Steve is not one for hanging about, however, the temptation of burger and chips, or a bowl of potato soup and mug of coffee, is something he insists is for the end of the day. His whole approach to this event is one of “get going as soon as possible, knock off the day, and then use what daylight is left to fettle the car…. I can’t understand those who want to mess around half the morning and then want to keep stopping.”

Steve admits he is no mechanic and his routine of spanner checks and general servicing as he moves around the car is something that he says doesn’t come easy. He has a list of what to check over, tightening suspension bolts, checking for play here and there, and today he found several bolts that needed a good half-turn in the suspension, and was most concerned that the big front drum brakes of the Chevy had gone right off during the morning, and it seems that the slack needs tightening up now on a very regular basis.

Steve hacked down the hard-shoulder for most of today’s run to avoid the deep tarmac tram-lines caused by the heavy trucks pounding the road that has rippled badly under the constant baking sun. There is no doubt that leading the Vintageants Category is a pressure that is beginning to tell, and Steve looks more worried than most.
Driving the Impossible

Bill and Biddy Bolsover - Chevrolet Coupe

Clive Dunster, also in a Chevy Coupe, reports a similar problem with the front brakes, “your foot goes flat to the floor with nothing there, one moment, and then its rock hard, difficult to fathom.” He has made a steady recovery after losing his Gold-medal on day one due to a duff coil, and has set about climbing back up the leaderboard ever since.

Our campsite is just off a junction of a main road and close to three petrol stations. Toilets have been dug in the ground and set up in square canvas cubicles complete with flushing china loos. A large marquee has been erected for our dining room this evening, food is being cooked in large bowls, heated on fires glowing in trenches dug into the ground.

Mark Winkleman in the blue Plymouth Coupe was among the first to arrive this afternoon, and reports that “simply nothing has gone wrong” with his rallycar since the start. He says he considered the temptation of a four speed gearbox but decided in the end for total originality, and runs a three-speeder, with the original low axle-ratio, which he says gave him a benefit on the gravel climbs in Mongolia. He is running light, with minimal spares and equipment that fills less than half the boot which slopes over the rear axle.

William Medcalf’s four-cylinder Bentley arrived this afternoon with oil all over the rear of the car, the vibration has finally split a gallon can of Castrol 60-grade.

First of the Classic Category cars to arrive at the camp site was car 104, the Mercedes Coupe of Stephen Fitzgerald and Paddy Judge, the 280E two-door Merc is one of the lowest-riding cars of the whole rally, and Paddy Judge was in reflective mood when he pulled up this afternoon. “We had a lively discussion within the car and decided that after we cracked the exhaust manifold, and felt a lot of rocks banging and crashing under the car, that we simply had to either chuck out a load of weight, or, go back. It was a make or break type of discussion. I threw out Stephen’s five-man tent, and even his sleeping bag. It was cold at times, we borrowed some blankets off the Nomad support-crew. We even threw out three sets of springs. Others have been breaking springs, and coil springs are much harder to get made than those with snapped leaves, but we simply had to be a lot more ruthless to avoid grounding the back of the car. We have had a good run today but there is now a bit of a blow in the exhaust so it might seem that while we have had fewer issues than most – we had some electrical bothers, including a trip-meter than packed up – getting shod of a load of weight early on must have been the prudent decision.”

The leader of the Classics Category is still the Holden of Gerry Crown and Matt Bryson, who have a commanding lead now that the challenge of the VW Beetles has faded. For Garry Staples Jnr, it was his first ever timed event, and to challenge for the lead is something he says will be memories he won’t ever forget.

The leader of the Pioneers Category, Max Stephenson, was also in early this afternoon, the Vauxhall has lost its starter-motor, and it needed a push-start twice today… Max says he can get it rebuilt when we have a day off after tomorrow.