Day 26 - Namibian Heat

A tough day with 300 miles, mostly on ranch gravel roads. These are mostly well graded and fast. 

After a 100km run-out it was into the first test, a fast section of long straights and the odd twisty bit. We dropped a few seconds from the target and Andy beat us by one second, so much of a muchness. I suspect we were faster on the twist bits and he on the straights with the benefit of his turbo. As were at 2000 metres and with temperatures already mid-20s by 8am and rising to 35, the Impreza was feeling a bit asthmatic on any climb. 

There followed 2 fast road sections (gravel roads) with fast average speeds to maintain which all the front-runners cleaned. 

After a spot of lunch and re-fill of petrol, it was off for more gravel tests. These were to an even tighter time and over twistier and hilly terrain. This usually is not our forte and we tend to get hammered on any hill-climb due to relatively high weight and modest power. In some parts, it was painful slugging up hills, by now in 35 degree heat. In order to get up the hills at any decent speed, it was essential to fly down the preceding downhill stretch as fast as possible to gain momentum and keep going flat out whatever was in the dip before the next rise began. Sometimes this was a sharp dip and sometimes a large muddy puddle a foot or so deep. There were also cattle grids at regular intervals and these had to be taken flat out whatever their state to keep momentum. Flat out in our struggling 2 litre meant no more than 80mph (fast enough for grid), though we might have hit 90 downhill. Still, we were airborne at regular intervals over the grids. 

We also had some overheating problems as did others in the relentless afternoon heat. Heat, altitude and hills don't mix well with small engined cars carrying too much weight. On further exploration, and pooling views from Grant and Simon in the Datsun, we decided to take out the air-con rad which had started to get blocked with mud and insects of a very colourful variety. Also, damage from small stones had blocked air-flow to the main cooling rad which sits directly behind it. At normal road speeds, there is no problem but in competitive sections when revs are higher, it always seemed to struggle and we often had to put the cabin heater on full to keep the engine temperature down. This meant running with the windows open, and we would get covered in dust, as we did today.  

The mod means, we no longer have aircon for the road sections, but we can live with that if we reduce the chances of engine damage. 

I was sure Andy must have been faster in his turbo diesel but seemingly he suffered as much as we did and we probably picked a little time up on the twisty sections in between the hills. That left us some 40 seconds closer to him, the gap now being 1min 24 with 3 days to go and all cars feeling the pressure and carrying the scars of 26 days of hard driving, including some of the roughest roads in the world.   

At the end of the day we arrived at Windhoek. We were so grubby and covered in dust as was everything in the car that we just had to get the car cleaned. Car washes here start the cleaning process with someone with a high pressure air hose blowing dust out of the car - and did it fly. It took several sessions to disperse it but worked a treat and a vacuum gets rid of the rest. Just a 3 hour spanner check of the car to look forward to and a few jobs to complete before dinner at 10.  

Tomorrow is perhaps the hardest day of the rally, starting at 6.30 with 850km, nearly all on gravel roads and some very tightly timed sections.