The Land That Time Forgot… Day 7 Kharakorin to Tariat

SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2010

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

Chevrolet Fangio Coupe bow wave - Steve Hyde and Janet Lyne leading the Vintageant category

The landscape had regained its clear sharp colours by the time the final crews tumbled down the wooden steps of the old village hall where breakfast had been hastily served. The line up for a cauldron of hot porridge, with salads in the centre, and fried eggs and omelettes coming out of two frying-pans at the far end of the queue had started at 5.30 am.

At this time of the morning, the horizon was nothing more than a brown smudge where the far mountains join the sky, changing gradually to a purple streak as the rising sun climbs over the dark summits, presenting yet another big sky across a vast plain. Like a shoal of iron filings being pulled by a mysterious magnet, we seem compulsively drawn further and further down into Middle Earth. By the time the first car fires into life, the dusting of frost across 500 miles of grass begins to thaw.

Robert Kitchen and Alan Page in one of the mobile-workshops were bracing themselves for another hectic day. Their final job before finding their bed before midnight had been to fix two punctures. Earlier they had sorted out a small electrical fire in Car 81, Jean and Anne Stenhauser’s monster La Salle Cadillac, and rebuilt the valve-gear of the pink Chevrolet Coupe of Toby Kilner, who happened to have a spare rocker arm…just what you need when you’ve just broken one.

Highlight of today has been three river crossings. The first was a real sort-out, as it was wider, and deeper, than anything found on the original route survey due to recent freak rains. The day was shorter than the last two days at a mere 320 kilometres, and contained two Time Trials – sections timed to the second, otherwise known as Selectifs, on dirt tracks.

We continued our way down a vast wide valley fringed with mountains on either side, and ended up pitching our tents beside a large tranquil lake. The final run into camp was an appallingly rough road and it was enough for Daniel Ward’s Lancia Theta to again break a front stub-axle. We hear he has managed to find a local blacksmith to weld the two halves back together again.
Driving the Impossible

Chevrolet Fangio Coupe bow wave - Steve Hyde and Janet Lyne leading the Vintageant category

Others, however, have bigger problems. Car 101, Frank Bird from Australian in a Holden is back in Ulaan Bataar, engine parts have arrived and they hope to catch us up by Sunday. Tim Scott on the motorcycle is on a truck and hopes to meet us at the Russian border. Bruce Washington from New Zealand in a 1929 Chrysler has failed to sort the big-end problems so they hope to buy a local car and catch us up to tour the route, and Roger Allen and Maggie Gray have bought a local car through a local mining company, and also plan to play catch-up having given up on their La Salle. The Stutz of Andrew Bailey and Micky Gabbett ran out of petrol at the end of the day today, succeeded in getting a tow to the petrol station they had missed, only to find that all supplies of petrol had run out. The second Stutz of David Berks and Bob Bradfield hit one of the river crossings with just too much gusto, causing the fan to be pushed through the radiator. This becomes the second incident of a stuffed radiator caused by a fan. The Rolls Royce Phantom of George Howitt arrived at the camp site with a broken front spring and an exhaust downpipe squashed flat – Andy Actman and Ian Langford of Lenham Sportscars are grafting in a section of fresh pipe. The spring can wait, says George, until he finds a village. Leaf-spring repairs by local “trucksmith” are everywhere.

The last half of today has been down appallingly rough roads. It seems to have suited the big La France with its tractor-like tyres on big wooden wheels as it was the 10th car into the camp tonight, arriving ahead of the Porsche 356 of American Steve Harris.

Steve Hyde in the yellow Chevy needed a tow out of a river and dropped a lot of time, but made up for it by setting good times of the two Time Trials to retain his lead in the Vintageants. Michael and Anne Wilkinson in their Alvis SA are second with the Chrysler 75 of Michael Thompson and Andrew Davies in third.

Gerry Crown leads the Classic Category but Garry Staples Junior in the red VW Beetle Cabrio took some time off the Holden, and was ten minutes quicker than his dad – the white VW however arrived at the camp looking immaculate, their only problem being a missing hubcap.

Where Eagles Dare… Day 6 Ulaan Baatar to Kharakorin

SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2010

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

Gerry Crown and Matt Bryson - Holden EH - took over the lead of the Classics category today

Rarely are rally-starts as bizarre as this. We all gather in large parade ground in the centre of town, larger than Trafalgar Square, for a grand send off. After months of planning by the town council, what could possibly go wrong?

The brass band lined up and just as cymbals clashed, big base drum banged, clarinets, flutes and trombones adding to the general oompah, the rare Anadol – a fibreglass car once made in Turkey with the help of Reliant, powered by a Ford Cortina engine, made its way down the main street of Ulaan Bataar. It was heading to the main square to be flagged away by the Mayor, crowds lined the roads, with several hundred spectators taking time out from their journey to work to watch the spectacle.

Then there was an added crash. The Anadol ran across a grill in the middle of the street, which promptly cracked underneath the car, and the rear wheels dropped down into the hole. Had this happened to a Bentley, or a Veteran, the big wheels would have laughed it off. But a 13 inch Minilite wheel falling into a 18-inch hole is an easy fit. The car’s rear axle now rested on the tarmac.

Above the sound of the brass band, the sirens of the fire-brigade hurrying through the streets to rescue a startled Amet Ongun, now worried that he might be collecting penalties points for being late for the Start.

Once out of town, we climbed steadily, and the morning sun burnt a large hole in the grey sky. We were heading for a long, dusty Time Trial, over 40 kilometres of bumpy strips of sand with tall grass growing up the middle, crossing a vast plain. The only company once off the main road was a herd of some 100 wild horses, who oblivious to the noise of approaching rallycars, made mobile chicanes by taking it in turns to gallop across the track, with eagles circling overhead. Drivers needed all their wits about them for this one. Several cars beached themselves struggling to traverse the high central mound, with an option of a different tracks suddenly emerging, testing times indeed for the navigator crouched over the Tulip route-book, Garmin GPS, and trip-meter.

Best time among the Classics Category was the Holden of Gerald Crown, the 72-year-old Ozzie Veteran with young Matt Bryson on the clocks put up a steady, consistent run to set a 25m29s time. Making up for its dramatic start back in town, second best was the Turkish Team in the now flying Anadol, with 26:16, pipping the Staples Junior VW Beetle Cabriolet on 26:33. Best in the Vintageants was the Thompson/Davies Chrysler 75 Roadster from New Zealand, who set a fourth-best time of 26:34, with the Clive Dunster Chevy Fangio Coupe 12 seconds behind.
Driving the Impossible

David and Karen Ayre achieve an excellent Time Trial result in their 1907 Itala

Generally smooth, with just the odd washaway to catch out the unwary, with long patches of soft sand, it had sufficient corners to suit the agile Alfa Romeo of Alastair Caldwell and Catriona Rings, who were 6th, with a time of 26:53. Among the pioneers, the 14-litre La France was well up the leaderboard on 37:22, and David Ayre’s Itala was on 37:38, a time good enough to beat a Volvo PV544.

Tonight, we are all in Yurts, the white round portable cabins made of thick layers of horsehair and cashmere carpeting which is wrapped around a basket-weave construction, we all have little log-stoves in the centre and a chimney with a generous hole in the roof. As darkness falls across this vast open plain at Bayanuur, a chilly air is rolling down the hillsides that flank this remarkable valley, and most of us are digging out of sleeping bags for extra covering on the camp beds.

We have dined out on bowls of chicken stew, lamb stew, rice, chips, bean salad, and a choice of two soups for starters. A lack of tables and chairs meant a crowded dining hall, with several crews sitting on the floor… the atmosphere is remarkably good humoured and rare does any rally experience such a united sense of camaraderie as this.

Batten down the hatches, and chuck more yak-dung on the stove. Winter arrives early in Mongolia, and we look like being in for our first freezing night.