|
| |
|
| |
| 21st January 2012 |
| L2CT Day 21: still in Tanzania |
A second good day of tough rallying in Tanzania.
This morning we had a huge World Cup section, really good surfaces winding through the foothills, although with plenty of potential for an "off", indeed we passed one of the Hilux's (#18) on its side roof facing the wrong way eairly early on in the section (crew confidently gave us the thumbs up, so we passed on).
Towards the end of that section Richard hit 140kmh on the gravel track, it really was great fun.
Following that was a rough & tightly timed hillclimb on the switchbacks: about 15km in 10' if you cleaned it. We didn't, we picked our route carefully to avoid damage and suffered 10' penalties.
Why? You ask
Alastair's Porsche is still about an hour ahead of us (due to our missed control in Addis Ababa you may recall), so realistically we need him to miss a control to be able to compete. At the same time 3rd in class is comfortably behind us - therefore we are now driving a defensive event until circumstances dictate a change in philosophy.
Incidentally, Jane/Gill started 2' after Alastair's Porsche on that rough hiillclimb - and passed him in their Maestro. What a delight that must have been, and testimony to their abilities!
We fitted the unused spare wheels tonight, so a bit of fresh rubber on the back. Not really necessary, but feels good anway! Other than that we had no work to do, the Camel really is in good shape.
Saddest news of the day was at breakfast: car #10 lost its fanbelt on stage yesterday, discovered his spare (from Nairobi) was the wrong one, and dropped two controls (ie 2hrs of penalties).
That means he is no longer in a position to push the front runners, and he is now driving a "touring" rally to preserve the car. I had hoped that Mark had changed his mind today when he entered the first WC - but no. That's a loss to the rally, since he & Dave were great to watch.
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
