Farewell Mongolia... Day 12 Khovd to Border

SEPTEMBER 21ST, 2010

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

[[MORE]]

A stunning view for David and Sarah Rayner - BMW 321 Coupe - on the final day in Mongolia

Our final full day in Mongolia, and the scenery has been breathtaking, one of the finest days rallying since we left China. The punishment has been relentless, and the Volvo PV544 of Nicholas Pryor and Lesley Stockwell are limping into camp with axle failure.

Several crews are staggering on to the Russian border as “walking wounded”. We know that Car 6, the big La France, is on a truck, so it car 3, Daniel Ward’s 1919 Lancia Theta, The Shooter’s Ford, Car 29, lost its gears today and is on a truck but spares are lined up later down the route, the Renault 4CV, Car 89, had a temporary fix of its front suspension but it didn’t last long. The Vauxhall Viva GT has suffered electrical problems, diagnosed as a failed condenser.
Driving the Impossible

The handsome lead achieved by Gerry Crown in his Holden was maintained today, despite the fact that Gerry has finally decided that driving one-handed is just too much. He has his left wrist in a splint, and he is on doctor’s orders to give the arm maximum rest... he reckons its just an old war-wound of too much gearchanging in too many past rallies, so today, he handed the steering wheel over to young Matt Bryson, his navigator.

We suspect this meant that Matt had to work the GPS, on top of driving. Matt looked as if he was under pressure when we pulled our tent-pegs out of the frozen grassland first thing this morning. The son of John Bryson, top Australian navigator who sat alongside the likes of Andrew Cowan to win the Southern Cross Rally more than once, Matt was realising he had rather a lot on his shoulders.

Michael Thompson and Andrew Davies - Chrysler 75 Roadster - splash through another river crossing

However, he rose to challenge by setting the best times on all three tests, and delivering an extended lead in the Classics Category for the Holden over the second placed Anadol of Ongun and Tokcan. This unusual car was made in Turkey with the help of Reliant – it has an “over heavy” Reliant chassis, according to its driver, a fibreglass body, with a rear design similar to a Gilbern or Alfa GTV, and a Ford Mexico Kent engine of 1600cc.

Today’s final run to our camp site consisted of several glorious valleys with far reaching views, some horrendous roads, and five river crossings. The final Time Trial had a maze of roads wandering off at angles to the main track, and at times, looked totally confusing, as nothing was very clear which was the main track….the navigators for sure decided the best results on this one, as it took an agile ability to mix trip-meter with Tulip road book and GPS while trying to read the road to chose the best course.

Tomorrow, we are off to the Russian border. Another country, and another stack of adventures in store, now awaits. At 9.0pm, all are accounted for, except that the Rolls Royce of Richard Auchincloss is on a tow-rope with Simon Ayris in attendance, and the Volvo is awaiting a similar rescue. Their dinner is going cold…

The High Plains Drifter... Day 10 Teel River to Khovd

SEPTEMBER 19TH, 2010

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

[[MORE]]

William and Victoria Medcalf currently hold Vintageant Category third place in the 1925 Bentley Super Sports

Gerry Crown retained the lead in the Classics division today. He started the day with a comfortable lead over young Garry Staples Jnr. and Gernold Nisius in the VW Beetle Cabrio. While the sun was making up its mind what sort of day we would get as we broke camp at Teel River, these two were already turning on the heat.

Alas, too much red-mist in the drive west saw the VW sidelined with rear suspension bothers, something the Banhams were unable to fix in the middle of the desert, so it was destined to end the day on a truck.

Gerry Crown with Matt Bryson is a veteran of the first Peking Paris Retrospective of ’97, and Gerry is the only drive on the event to have tackled all three Peking Paris Challenges. He is listed on the entry list as a navigator. The reason for this perhaps needs some explanation. Aged 78, Gerry was considered too incapable, too incompetent, to qualify for a Chinese driving licence, so, he is listed as a navigator with Matt Bryson as driver. That gets round Chinese red-tape and since getting behind the wheel Gerry has clearly enjoyed proving to those in authority that they have got him wrong. He has been rallying since 1963, his first event being Australia’s prestigious BP Rally, driving an 850cc Mini, which ended in something of a disaster as he rolled it down a hillside. A minor diversion: Gerry was rescued by the legendary Gelignite Jack Murray, who towed the Mini for over a hundred miles through a forest, forgetting the Mini was there, and Gerry Crown reckons he is the first person to ever see 100 mph on the clock of a rallying 850cc Mini…certainly at the end of a tow-rope.

Long in the tooth he may be, but he seems to have the measure of the Peking Paris, although he fails to get the measure of this camping lark and reckons he is past playing Swallows and Amazons, so chooses to sleep in his car. He will no doubt sleep soundly tonight in the knowledge that he now has a 13 minute gap over the Turkish Team’s Anadol, now in second spot. Adrian Gosden and Andrew Honeychurch have no rear shocks on their Aston Martin DB5, but they are up to third in the Classics Category now. Greg and Liz Newton in a Holden are fourth, and the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine of David and Jo Roberts are fifth, despite a lot of sand somehow entering the sump.

We have driven another glorious day across tremendous landscapes, with two Time Trials for good measure. It suited William and Victoria Medcalf in their Bentley as they set fourth best time on the first Time Trial and second best on the second timed-to-the-second blast of the day. Top Vintageant on both tests was Steve Hyde and Janet Lyne in their yellow Chevy Fangio Coupe. Rudi Friedrichs and Lennox McNeely also had a good day and the Alvis is now 5th in the Vintageant Category, behind the Wilkinson’s Alvis.

The repair shop in the nearby town of Khovd is going to be busy on our day off tomorrow, David and Sarah Rayner had the subframe off the BMW Coupe this afternoon and trucked into town for welding up, in order to be first in the queue.

The Vauxhall Viva GT is on the back of a truck today, but is not alone, the Peugeot 203 broke its front spring for the third time today. There is welding equipment here at our riverside campsite – everyone is in good spirits.