Paris!!

Well we made it! What a journey and what a joy and a privilege to have completed it with James. We really did face up to some big, big challenges and, looking back from the comfort of Burrough Hall I am astonished that we managed it. We had some enormous blows and some great highs, occasional entirely selfish behaviour from others, massively outstripped by the generosity and kindness of so many. It is the contrasts which make such a journey so interesting. I think the psychology of it all was by far the fascinating thing, both our own and others. We had some great laughs and almost a few tears, but we remain great friends.

 

The final day was incident free, perhaps the first since we left Beijing. We had only 200km to go and motored through the beautiful French countryside through Fountainbleu and into Paris. Everyone was so delighted to be arriving at the finish. 97 cars started and I think 83 qualified as successful finishers. Finishing the rally in Place de Vendome was a truly fantastic experience. We came around the corner to be met by a banner saying “Car 66 we love you!” and a team of “66” tee-shirt wearing family and friends. All the family climbed on the car (which began to make some unfortunate creaks), Coco burst into tears, and we crossed the line. What a moment. We hung around and saw some other teams finish and then set off to the Intercontiental for lunch – it was without doubt the most delicious cheeseburger I have ever eaten in my life.

 

The car, bless her, looks a complete wreck. The whole of the back end is held together with ropes and straps. The front headlight support has been welded three times. The bonnet is held down with bungees. But she got us there!

 

Here’s a quick summary of what we dealt with;

 

Beijing: piston seized just after the start, in a tunnel with enormous volumes of fast moving trucks and cars. The chances of us being clouted straight up the back end were sizeable but we got out and pushed the car, uphill, and out of the tunnel. We were then given a tow to the nearest filling station which got us off the road. The Chinese needed all the cars out of China on the same day, so we had no option we had to truck to the border and then arrange for a truck to get us to Ulan Baatar in Mongolia which we did. So day 1 we spent in the car with our Chinese “minders”, day 2 we spent in a taxi to the border (by which time 7 cars were needing transport), day 3 we spent in a mini bus to Ulan Baatar and day 4 we arrived at the hotel.

 

Ulan Baatar: although the car was meant to arrive before all the others the driver disappeared and it arrived about 24 hours late, meaning that when we got to the garage there were no mechanics available. James and I helped push another car off the truck which gave him an enormous nose bleed which simply didn’t stop. We started work at about 1pm with the rally leaving the next morning. At this stage we had a completely seized engine. James, bleeding profusely, and I started to take the head off the engine. The garage was so worried that a nurse arrived and insisted he go to hospital! I eventually got some help from a mechanic called Ronaldo who was fantastic and we continued to get the head off. Just at the point when we could lift the head, David Ayre, turned up to give advice which was absolutely critical to the outcome. He knew exactly what the problem was and more importantly, if we had the replacement parts, how to fix it. We did have the parts and he very kindly prepared them and fitted them. The it was engine and sump back together, new oil, 45 minutes running in, oil change and 9 hours later we were back in the rally. We had however gone from gold to bronze without a days rallying!

 

Mongolia: about 10km from the end of our first days rallying in Monolia and we managed to run out of petrol! Bit of a panic until we realised what the problem was. First lesson in not panicking! We spent the night in a Yurt and set off in the morning to the start. Unfortunately we weren’t absolutely sure where the start was and panicked that we had missed it. Second lesson in not panicking! James did a 3 point turn and reversed straight into the side of a minibus! The minibus owner was unfazed and grateful for the amount of dollars he was offered, sadly the frame of the car on the rear right boot was completely broken. We strapped it together as best we could and moved off. In addition all the vibration the previous day had destroyed the internal fitting of one of the headlights, so we were down to one.

 

Mongolia: driving in the desert puts untold pressure on these old cars and we found ourselves driving along as if the brakes were permanently on. One of the other Lagindas had the same problem which is that the servo was completely clogged up. Not only would we use enormous amounts of fuel if we continued but we would knacker the brakes. David Ayre said that he would clean it up if we got it out and James and I spent the best part of 3 hours getti8ng the servo out and another 2 putting it back in. We were back up and running again.

 

Mongolia: at the same time we managed to get a temporary repair done on the boot and the frame which supports the headlights welded for the first time.

 

Mongolia: the final day in Mongolia we awoke when it was -8C to discover that the car would not start. There was no electrics to the fuel pump! The fuse box which contains only 5 fuses, was clearly damaged and we only had power to 2 circuits. With help we managed to connect a wire to the fuel pumps and were running again. We had no lights. We then conked out again in no-mans land between Mongolia and Russia! I was not a happy bunny with visions of being left there without a clue what to do!  Luckily with help from others we got going again and finally crossed into Russia. We had no lights and 400km to go with about 2 hours of sun light left. When the light ran out we had to stop.

 

Russia: Stopped in a lay-by in the pitch dark with no lights, suddenly a transporter and about 3 cars screech to a halt alongside. The transporter is taking another car to the hotel and the other cars are occupied by enthusiasts. They get the one light working in 10 minutes and we set off following to transporter to the hotel. 2 hours later we stop at a garage to discover that our roof is hanging on by only 2 screws. So we have to take it off and hope that we don’t get stuck in the rain. We arrive at the hotel at  04.30am Another drama addressed.

 

Kazakhstan: towards the end of our first day in Kazakhstan, heading into camp the boot finally gave way. The wheel had to be taken off to reduce the weight and the strapping made far more secure. Half an hour later the car filled with smoke which clearly dictated that we stopped to review the problem. There was oil everywhere in the engine and it was pouring from a copper oil pipe which had snapped with the vibrations. I thought we were definitely out, but Peter Banham, one of the support mechanics arrived 10 minutes later and with some hose, a drill and some solder had the thing repaired and we were off again.

 

Kazakhstan: we had some running repairs carried out in Almaty meaning that we had two headlights working, the roof back on and we had reduced the amount of oil that was leaking from the engine. We were consuming an enormous amount of oil, most of which seemed to be leaking from various points. The consumption of oil continued throughout the rally.

 

Uzbekistan:  We started slipping out of 4^th gear which meant some wear on the gear box. We took advice and were told that this was not repairable easily and that it would continue to wear and get worse, eventually meaning that 4^th gear was unusable. The only solution was to bungee strap 4^th gear in place and hope that it survived until we get to Paris. This was a problem which we had to fight against all the way home. It got worse and worse but somehow we got to Paris, for the last week or so holding the gear in place manually. Fine, as long as you concentrate, but as soon as one stopped she was out of gear.

 

Iran: we managed to repair the headlight again which had fallen to pieces. This repair lasted through to the end and is a masterclass in what can be achieved with “plastic metal”.

 

Greece: up in the mountains in Greece, crossing across to catch a ferry to Italy, we lost all our oil pressure. Thank God James noticed and stopped immediately, meaning that we didn’t do any damage to the engine. We were back on a truck to the harbour and then in Italy another truck to Via Reggio where we stripped off the sump and discovered that all the new pipework into the new oil filter was shot. We replumbed from the oil pump into the block and after some 7 hours work we were up and running again.

 

France: the penultimate day and we had a massive rearend shunt, having what was left of our boot taken out by another competitor. It shattered the wooden frame, damaged both rear wings and punched a bloody great hole in the boot. Somehow we managed to strap the whole thing back together with ropes and straps. A sheet of aluminium hide the damage to the boot and duck tape hid the rest. We were up and running again.

 

A brief resume of the challenges we faced. Never easy but always addressable for which we were very lucky. Many other cars were shipped home, one burnt out on the side of the road and is, as far as I am aware, still there.

 

A great privilege to have completed the rally, now it’s a question of getting back to normal life and thinking about getting the car repaired.

 

Thank you for all your support, it has been fantastic.

 

RHC