Pekin Paris ... c'est parti !

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019


Day 3: Made it into Mongolia! (after a 6 hour border crossing). After a few hours of highway though the Gobe, we had our first opportunity to test our new suspension in the Mongolian dirt. Timing was cancelled due to flooding, but the car handled beautifully, soaking up ruts and bumps with ease.



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019





(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019
Days 6 & 7: Hard to update from the Mongolian Backcountry, but things are going well. Doing a good job balancing speed with keeping the car undamaged. The route is becoming increasingly difficult, knocking more and more cars out. We currently remain in 3rd place, now 1 second off of #2. Will be focusing on preserving the car over the remaining two days of Mongolia, as a single failure can mean a 2 to 24 hour penalty.

Photos will have to wait until we get to a hotel in Russia.



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019





(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019
Day 4 continued...

Day 4 was full on. The starting official told us the first stage wasn't competition, but apparently it was. Cost us a minute. We were pretty close to all the target times but half way through the day, there was no power when going to start at a control. The bloody battery lead nut had loosened off. Cost a couple of minutes to unload stuff, get a spanner and tighten it.

And there really are no roads, just a selection of tracks. So navigating by the GPS to the next waypoint means seeing the pink line (direct to waypoint) vertical and going on a track that best matches it. Easy in the flat country, but more challenging as the country gets hillier. We were a bit off at a couple of controls - maybe 300m to the side - and had to cross country to get to them. Thankfully, no trees, although occasionally lots of rocks. One interesting instruction was 'Find the best way across 1.5 km of dried lake bed'. Naively we thought a dried lake bed would be flat but it was flat like a crater on the moon, with sal pans and trees.

We saw maybe a dozen cars off the side at various timeswith mechanical or tyre problems. At one control I spoke to a bloke who'd had 2 punctures on the sharp rocks. And only 2 spares. He was in an understandable panic. One of the Porsches let the red mist come down and had a bad roll. Car is probably a write-off. Someone at dinner last night said the engine had separated from the body. Crew is ok although the driver has a broken arm. An E-type got lost and bogged in the desert on Day 3 and spent the night there. Fortunately they were found yesterday.

The mighty Volvo survived although running poorly at low revs. I think it's the altitude and will change the jets when I do today's spanner check. Hopefully not bad fuel. It's a rest day today here in beautiful downtown Ulaanbaatar which is why I didn't do it after we got here after 6:30 last night. The traffic getting in was horrendous: took over an hour to get to the car park. The shower was very good as were the local beers.

Some random photos from earlier. I'm relying on Lui for most photos because she's sitting there with both hands free to shoot through the bug splattered windscreen as we fly past interesting things.

The first couple are Camp 1. The camera on a rock is mysterious. It was over 100m from camp, just sitting there watching us. Maybe not a camera, but an alien?



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#paristopekin2019


Good morning from Undurkhangai camp. After the challenges of yesterday, Day 9 is a little easier on tired crews and their battle scared vehicles. Although the overall daily distance totals nearly 450km, over 300km of this is on tarmac roads (a far cry from 2007 when almost all of the Mongolian route was on the type of tracks that crews have been tackling for the past few days). The competition takes the form of three Time Control Sections, a short test straight out of the camp to start and then two longer sections through the hills past Uureg Lake (last visited in 2013) to round off the day's run to Achit Lake.

You can view the latest results and catch up with the story so far over on the ERA website - https://www.endurorally.com/events/t...tor-challenge/

Photos by Gerard Brown



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019


Impression on the roads and scenery.
On our way to Russia!



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[datsun240z]

Vidéo extra en lien

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019
Made it to Russia! Successfully through Mongolia with no major damage! More updates and photos when time permits, but for now we're sitting in a comfortable 2nd place.



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[datsun240z]

Attention à la traversee des ruisseaux en Mongolie !

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019


Update Day 9: An amazing day -several special sections cancelled because of bad weather. Drove an amazing track over a maintain to 2549m. Very steep , mud and rocks and lots of cars stuck. Snowed on and off - then a descent to a saltwater lake - Lake Achit.

We are slowly crawling up the leaderboard from 73 (and second-to-last) after the first day we are now at 49 - all due to attrition - someone called the rally a demolition derby



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019


Days 6-9:
As before, Mongolia provided far too many experiences and photos to share. In short, we had a great run, with only minor issues, and good times on all stages. From camping by gorgeous lakes to muddy hillclimbs in hail, it was an incredible experience. For more details on all the drama and happenings, read Syd Stelvio's reports by going to the link below, and selecting the "Rally Reports" tab.

https://www.endurorally.com/events/t...tor-challenge/



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019





(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019





(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...

[Facebook]

#pekintoparis2019


Good morning from Aya Lake. Day 12 sees the crews breaking new ground for Peking to Paris and heading further east (yes East!) in Russia than ever before as they continue their journey of discovery through the Altai Region to Novokuznetsk. Travelling through vast forests dotted with isolated settlements, the 437 Km route takes in a mix of tarmac and gravel roads and includes a couple of competitive Time Control Sections. The day’s Final Control in Novokuznetsk is located at Retro Park - the largest automobile museum in Siberia. You can view the latest results and catch up on the latest entry from Syd Stelvio on the ERA website - https://www.endurorally.com/events/t...tor-challenge/

Photos by Gerard Brown



(Feed generated with FetchRSS)

Pour en lire plus...