Arrival in Alexandria

Awaiting desert stages in Egypt

Day 6 - Acropolis Stages

Today was always going to be one of the most challenging days short of Africa. An early start and straight into the competitive sections - 6 in total spread between Kamenavourla and Athens; several being stages from the famous Acropolis rally, famed for its hard rocky gravel roads. 

We awoke to torrential rain and this remained for most of the day. We were third car through the first section and set the fastest time (our first). Later, a car got stuck on a muddy uphill section and blocked the road. Crews waded around in knee high mud to get their cars around or out. We were quite happy with our high seeding when we heard of the problems behind us. 

Only one of the 6 competitive sections was on tarmac and most of it in Greece is extremely slippy when wet. In fact everything in Greece is slippy when wet. The pavement, the floor in the motorway services, the hotel lobbies and the mud. Bored health and safety officials should travel here  when rain is forecast - they would have a field day. Car sized gaps in the walls on slippy bends seemed commonplace and are probably not worth repairing. The locals build a little shrine instead. 

The rain meant that the 300 miles of country roads between the sections were often as challenging as the competitive sections and the timing to get from one to the other was tight so time penalties could be incurred. It was necessary to crack on. The added difficulty in doing this was our one dimensional white van special tyres.  They either turn, brake or accelerate but not one with another. I got into the habit of braking hard in more or less a straight line, turning (with fingers crossed) and feeding in the power about half way round as the car started to slide round. This disconcerted a few locals coming the other way who perhaps didn't quite understand why a rally car should be appearing round a corner of their local public road sliding sideways. 

Our efforts at the end of the day earned us a place on the ferry from Piraeus to Alexandria from which I'm tapping out this note. We are still in 3rd placed I think (no confirmed results issued yet) but dropped about 10 mins in total today (all dropped some) as we backed off in the later sections to avoid damaging the car and ensure we made the ferry. 

The stages were great but bumpy and very rocky in places. I could feel the car taking some sizeable hits underneath (making me wince on occasion and we noted later a sizeable dent in our front guard caused by a rock). As we are carrying a load of extra weight to add to the stress on the rear - better to back off. The rally for real starts in Africa. 

A few words on our car; the only Subaru on the event. I've mentioned before that's its an 'ebay car', bought for just over £3k as an insurance write off and built to a budget of £10k. It's a 2 litre non-turbo car running on van tyres and its designed to be low cost and reliable (as we are pretty useless mechanics). 

Despite this, because the car has a nice paint job and a cooling vent in the bonnet, it has caused some concern amongst the guys driving classics (ooh a full rally Impreza, that's a bit unfair). 

We must have answered the question a dozen times - "this is a turbo, yes? Must be great with all that power?". Arghh. We have to explain that turbo petrol cars are not allowed on this event. Our car has 160hp with the downside of all the weight of the 4x4 system and our spares and kit (enough to sink a ship). On top of that, we are on van tyres. They really needn't worry that I can just put my foot down and leave them standing. 

This is really an experiment in producing a low-cost rally car for an event like this. It is one of the most inexpensive here. I hope the organisers take note of that. 

Our next competitive action is on Monday in the Egyption desert which should be quite a contrast.

Some pictures from Greece

Into Greece - the Ups and Downs

Landed in Greece this morning of Day 5 on the west side of Greece. And off we set into the hills past heaps of snow for a tarmac World Cup section. These are special timed sections and we've had a few already. Generally, they are split into sections. You are given a time to be at each control and if you are late at the first, you carry that lateness to the second etc - so it all adds up. 

This means you have to drive hard. Some are tarmac sections and some gravel. Today we had 2 tarmac and one gravel totalling 35km and timed to the second: in the sense that very few will match the target time so it is a question of how many seconds you lose. 

The tarmac sections were through snow and slush - up in them thar hills again. Most of it was piled 2 feet high at each side with about a 10 foot channel down the centre and slush thrown onto the road - strangely sometimes near sharp bends. On one side of the road was a drop and on the other a rock face. Our van tyres worked OK now I've worked out how to drive on them on semi-dry tarmac. On gravel, is a different story. The third section was just that. 

This was an 11km hilly track - rutted and muddy in places. Half way along was a fork left but 50m before just before was another junction not mentioned in the book. Bob spotted the discrepancy as he follows the junctions coming up in the book and compares them to the special rally tripmeter he uses. 

As we approached the first junction he hesitated but said ignore left 'its not right' which duly came up round the next corner. Unfortunately (for them) half the field went up the first left and rally cars were flying about everywhere trying to find the right road. Some went for miles up the wrong track. Bob felt very smug having called it correctly and we picked up a chunk of time. 

This made up though for a timing error earlier in the day which cost us a couple of minutes but everyone can make a mistake and it tends to even out. 

So, still 3rd but 4th has dropped 10 minutes back - still nothing in Africa where hours are dropped rather than minutes. But watch out for that Belgian 911 - up to 10th and no expense spared to catch us minnows after they messed up on the first day in Kent. 

Off to Athens tomorrow after 6 World Cup sections, some from the  Acropolis rally. Suspect most will be careful to make sure they catch the ferry tomorrow night.

Steve Blunt

Day 4 - into Italy and onto Greece

A welcome sight greeted us as we left the hotel at 5.30 - the Merc Coupe having been recovered from the Ligurian Hills and brought back to the hotel in Firenza. Some new wheel studs and and a bit of  TLC  and they should be fine. Shame to see anyone drop out.  

We travelled into central Italy early today (Wed) to compete on what we thought would be a similar section to last night - twisty tarmac. 100 miles before breakfast. Getting out of the Firenza road system was bad enough but in a 'pea-souper' fog with about 25 yds visibility in places, it was a problem for several crews with a couple of minor scrapes. 

The competitive section was actually a brilliant but slippy hilly earth road; not really gravel. It wound its way for 11km through the hills - roughly 50m between hairpin bends. Those on offroad tyres had a field day being able to get grip out of the corners where we struggled, spinning all 4 wheels on our Ford Transit specials. Weight is not on our side on the tight and twisties as we can't seem to build momentum to carry through the corners and braking can't be left late with so little grip.  

Still, we remain 3rd though with some serious cars coming up who are light (their weight carried by others), are well supplied and are experienced in African conditions - where the rally proper really starts. 

Looking at some of the other cars and their support arrangements over the first 4 days, we are really going to struggle to compete when we are carrying everything we need and running on van tyres. I was hoping our 'steady-Eddy' long game approach would be the right one but I have a feeling we are about to be blitzed. If fast purpose-built and powerful cars (who would usually chew up rally gravel tyres in, at most, a few hundred miles), can keep re-supplied with the right kit at the right time and travel light, we simply can't compete in our £3k ebay special in the longer term when carrying the weight of 2 additional bulky passengers and with 75hp less. Still, we plan to enjoy it but I'll be surprised if we finish in the top 10 after a few days of seeing what we are up against when the going gets tough in a few more days. 

A word on Owen Turner and Matt Fowle in their MG ZR which they built themselves and which is currently leading. You really have to applaud these guys. They are on a very tight budget but are very focused and slick as a team - and quick: how Owen can peddle that little MG so fast sometimes defies belief. They have a plan of changing between van and gravel front tyres between road and off road sections and it is working brilliantly (though will be more problematic in Africa if they have punctures). They carry everything they need themselves and have the skills to repair almost any semi-serious problem and quite rightly attract the highest respect as a team when you look at the money surrounding other entries. Good on'em. 

Making the best of it for now though, we are in Greece tomorrow to start a couple of days of Acropolis Rally sections. 

Into Italy

Into Italy

Day 3 was a long day indeed. A long slog through France with a sting in the tail of 40km of the tightest, twistiest mountain roads I've ever encountered. These have to be driven hard to meet the time set and the brakes take a hammering on the downhill sections of hairpin after hairpin. We had to backoff after our brakes started to fade - not altogether surprising as the car is carrying so much weight and these are standard Impreza brakes.

Anyway, up to third after tonight. We caught up the crew in the Maestro after they were delayed by a local and we travelled in convoy for a while, Jane being faster downhill and me uphill. The delay cost them though and we swopped places 3rd/4th.

This has all the hallmarks of a true classic event organised by Philip Young. The amount of organisation almost defies belief from in-car location tracking, competition timing, marshalling competitive sections in the back and beyond, road books, ferries, hotels, food and daily results. The next day, the rally organising team moves on to the next base - relentless.

The daily programme is set to be just about achievable with a sound car. But, if you experience any problems, the time penalties rapidly accumulate. The crew of the Mercedes Coupe were the latest victims. They were up most of the night on day 2 looking for a solution to a broken transmission mount - vital if they were to continue to drive hard. They arranged for a part to be delivered from the UK and managed to get it fitted just before the night sections. The last I heard, they had gone off the road and lost a wheel and may be the latest victim of an already punishing event - on day 3 of 28.

Not back to the hotel till 10, an hour repairing a rad leak and checking, bite to eat and up at 4.30 for a 100 mile trip to a morning set of stages before catching the ferry for Greece.

Jan 2nd Through France to Beaune.

Now in Baune near Dijon after day 2 - Monday. Just one competitive section on the Somme today. Again, very wet and muddy and not only did we have to overtake another competitor losing yet more time but also a Frenchman in a white van who had turned onto a farmtrack just before us and then stopped dead forcing us into a field of turnips to get round. 

Long day tomorrow to Forenza in Italy with night stages starting at 6 after a 7hr drive. We're still 4th which is slighter higher then we were planning on being at this stage but it is so easy to lose a lot of time on one day so plenty of scope for snakes and ladders yet. 

Oh - What a Night!

And a test it certainly was. As we arrived in Dover at around 1.30 there some ashen faces around with one car (blue Triumph 2000) already out, wrapped around a tree. Some had penalties of hours. 

The first 2 forest sections near Brands Hatch were lethal - mostly slimy mud. Just the thing for our Ford Transit tyres. Not surprisingly, the top 2 were those with proper rally tyres and we, amazingly, came in third; just about managing to stay on the road by travelling mostly sideways through the mud to slow us down. 

The 50km road rally that followed in the tight and twisty lanes of Kent was mostly on tarmac but equally treacherous, hopping through fields between roads. These are essentially blats round the lanes with regular controls to very tight timing. Everyone lost time to some degree against the target but we were unlucky to be baulked by some of the heavy 4x4 field which cost us 3 mins of lateness as we had to pass 6 cars. We ended up with 5 mins lateness in 4th overall which we would happily have settled for at Brooklands.

This is a long event so the first night is a matter of survival. To stay in the rally is good enough and everything else a bonus. The real rally starts in Africa when hours can be lost each day rather than minutes and seconds so our plan is just to try and stay on the road, plod along and see what happens.