Day 37 - The very last day

Today is a short 200 km run to Place Vendome in Paris.  For some this is the greatest excitement.  For others, it is the deflating realisation that a marvellous adventure is about to finish.   For yet others, it is a huge relief to have travelled 16,000 kms over a bewildering array of countries in a car that is generally older than the occupants.

For Clive and Ces, we get the impression that the feelings are a complete mishmash of the above.  Sometimes, they seem truly amazed that they have accomplished such a feat.   Other times, Clive seems bitterly disappointed that such small mishaps (the coil and the choke) could have robbed him of a 3rd place trophy.   But mostly, they seem to be genuinely pleased to be home (or nearly home).

Chris, Fern, Marian, Karen and I were in Place Vendome (as well as squillions of others) to welcome the dynamic duo onto the finish ramp.   As usual, there were some unsuspecting local passers by who wondered if they'd inadertently stumbled onto a period film set.

There were many flags from many countries ... mostly English, French, German, Swiss, Australian, American, Portugese, New Zealand, Dutch ... but also Turkish, Russian, etc.   And there were many people with hankerchiefs to their faces ... but they were not mopping up tears of of joy or sadness ... rather they were treating the red eyes caused by the fumes of so many thundering great classic engines.

Here are some images from those final moments in Paris ....

The clown already precedes the main act ...

Fugly thunders google-eyed into Paris ...

C&C a're scared of the big crowds ... one grabs onto the passenger door

Oi ... where'd he come from ... but Ces seems typically unperturbed!!

Clive is hanging on ... he's next to be unseated!!!

Finally, they get to the finish ramp ... just Clive, Ces and Fugly

The happy couple ... with Fugly

Day 36 - Even for someone as eccentric as me ...

that's a bit much" ... commented Tim Scott when someone made a new suggestion.  Tim is the bloke on the motorcyle and sidecar.

Clive worked on Fugly till midnight last night ... in an effort to make it stop as well as go.  Unfortunately, different gremlins took hold today ... relating to the motor as well as to the brakes.   First the fuel pump ... but then 3 cylinders kept disappearing.   It was another late finish for Car no 72 ... and as a consequence a considerable penalty at the final control of the final day of the rally.   As a consequence, they dropped some places on the leadership board.  Drat and double drat.

The failure of the 3 cylinders turned out to be a stuck choke on one of the 2 enormous carburettors ... the one feeding the rear 3 cylinders of the straight six.   Once diagnosed, it was dealt with quite smarktly just after the final control ... by means of a plastic cable tie and a change of 3 plugs.  

Hopefully, Fugly will make it to Place Vendome in Paris without futher issue ... provided, that is, that the French protestors do not get in the way ... they have been making a habit of burning cars in their protest against upping the retirement age from 60 to 62.

As we were awaiting Clive and Ces this evening, the other cars were arriving every few minutes to Troyes ... and being ushered into the underground carpark ... which was filling with really noxious fumes.

A little selection the car park attendants follow:

The hero (ie. lunatic) of the rally must be Tim Scott who rode a motorcyle and sidecar from Beijing to Paris without a navigator ... the sidecar was for spare fuel and water only.   Because his bike was so slow, he regularly arose at 3-4am and rode (and repaired) until late into the evening (often well past midnight) just to stay in the event.

Tim Scott being welcomed by Steve Hyde

Never throw away the wrappers from your beer

Home for 16,000 kms and 6 weeks

Nice graphics

work continues ....

I hope it's not St Valentine's Day!!!

While the event finishes at Place Vendome tomorrow, each of the cars needs to get back to its original home after that.   As you might have heard, the French have just kicked off a new season of countrywide strikes, including blockading the petrol distribution depots.    Getting petrol might become difficult for anybody who has not already topped up their long-range tanks and is not ready to leave Paris immediately after the prize-giving ceremony ... and while the strikers are still loading up on Pastis overnight.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

Late update:  The 12 hour penalty for late arrival today has demoted Clive and Ces to 14th overall and 7th in class ... while still a decent position, it was a bitter blow after such a long haul back up the leaderboard.  

Day 35 - How steep is it ... going down the other side?

To get into character, we woke early today.   We didn't want to get too into character, so we skipped the Soviet style hotel and the sewage-burbling shower.  Instead, we headed up to the Col de Cenis at 2,000 metres to await the various cars arriving about midday.

Already there was one of the P2P mechanics (apologies for not remembering his name) and his wife.   He had been the mechanic for the 1st half of the P2P and then had to return home for business reasons, but drove back down to meet the P2P for the final few days.   He brought his wife down also, so that she could man the passage control that was established at the top of the Col.

P2P cars arrived erratically all through the afternoon ... until well after the sun had disappeared behind the nearby peaks ... after which the temperature plummeted.

The 78-year-old Aussie

The Bentley Boys

Fester, who is Fugly's "never puts a foot wrong" brother.

The German folks' wagon

The only all girls entry

Not sure this was an original factory colour

Now and again, Mr Mechanic would help some participants to fix mechanical issues ... mostly a very hi-tech sequence of actions ...

How to fix an old style bent wheel

... from this car

Finally, about 4:30-ish, Car 72 arrived over the crest.  

By now it was getting quite cold, but there was plenty of heat and steam within Fugly.   We soon discovered that the cause was plain old terror.   You see, the brakes on Fugly had been playing up all day ... and were now virtually useless.   Clive and Ces knew that what goes up must also go down.   Once they saw the passage control, they knew that the descent was about to begin ... and they wondered how fast it would drop from 2,000m to 300m.   

Clive nervously shook my hand, and promptly asked "Is it steep going down that side?".    "Yes" I said "same as what you just climbed  ... a quick drop from 2,000 to 1,400m ... and then a more gradual descent to 300m".   This did not please him, so he and Mr Mechanic started figuring out what, if anything, they could do.

a serious man concerned with a serious issue

Ces, of course, stayed calm and under control as usual.   While the blokes were all flapping about under the car, Ces enjoyed a cappuccino inside ... occasionally stabbing on the brake pedal as one or other of the blokes shouted "pump the pedal", "foot off" or "hold pedal all the way down"

Ces drinking and driving

Meanwhile, as we readied to depart, we realised that the window-sticker that we had made was badly worded ... instead, it should have said "Stop!   Fugly, stop!!"

Groupies waiting for Fugly ...

As I write, Clive is replacing the brakes on Fugly, so that he can have one last carefree blast around the Circuit de Bresse tomorrow.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

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Late update (actually very early the next day):

Fugly features in the official rally update for Thursday, complete with honourable mention and photo.   The official report also confirms that Clive and Ces moved up yet another place to 9th overall and 5th in class.   Just as well those critical timed stages took place early in the day while the brakes had some function in them.   By the time Clive reached the Col de Cenis, his standing in the event had been banished from his priorities ... getting off the mountain alive had become the competitive priority.

Day 34 - I've had enough!!

A night sleeping on a ferry is bad enough.   But a day without competitive stages is worse.  All three stages today were cancelled.    Hence the SMS that said "I've had enough!!"

The official reason is that the ferry was late arriving in Ancona.  But that is right up there with London Underground's excuse of "leaves on the track".  

Even someone who just likes to participate would be really disgruntled at this point ... having had so few competitive stages over a period of 6 weeks.  But someone who is seriously competitive (not to mention the financial outlay) would not have participated in the world's greatest race just to tootle around the globe in an old car.

This evening there will be lots of grumbling in the bar in Viareggio.   At least there will be lots of wine and beer to numb the senses.

Tomorrow, we will be up at Lac Cenis to wave at Car 72 ... and to offer our encouragement.   However, given the mood in the car ... the normal risk of spectators throwing missiles at the car ... might be reversed  ...  :-)

At least on Friday, there is a special stage at the Circuit de Bresse.   This can not have a 3-legged donkey timing constraint and is very unlikely to be cancelled, so all fury can be vented onto the bitumen that day.   We will be in the grandstands with our camera ... ready to capture the moments!!!

Day 33 - coming ashore in Italy under cover of darkness

Today was the 2nd part of the run across Greece ... complete with 3 more timed stages ... followed by an overnight ferry to Ancona which is halfway up the Adriatic coast of Italy.

We have no information on the events of today, either from Clive or from P2P Central Command, other than an SMS earlier this evening that Car 72 had just boarded the ferry.   Since the ferry would have left Greece over 2 hours ago ... and doesn't dock in Ancona until 10:30 am tomorrow ... we will remain in the dark (excuse the pun) at least until then.

Meanwhile, the official P2P site has a nice clip of Fugly motoring along a wet dirt track toward Erzurum in Turkey.   You can access the video by going to their Video Journal (click here Video Journal) ... and then selecting the video named Erzurum.   First you'll see Fester (the yellow Fangio Coupe) and, then a few cars later, you'll see Fugly.  You can't miss it with that wheel bolted onto the roof.

Hopefully, the official classifications will be updated tomorrow morning ... and we can see whether or not the Greek timed stages were further 3-legged donkey stages ... or seriously competitive stages that would have enabled Clive and Ces to move further up the leaderboard.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

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Early morning update on Wednesday:

Official classifications for yesterday have now been posted.   Car 72 is now 10th overall and 6th in class.

The day's stages were again of the three-legged donkey variety, with most of the able-bodied competitors receiving the same elapsed time.   Presumably somebody who was in the first 10 on Monday had an off or a breakdown on Tuesday ... enabling Clive and Ces to move up a spot.   As any seriously competitive person will tell you, it doesn't matter how you move up the leaderboard, so long as you get there.  

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PS: 

Fingers crossed for Wednesday evening's blog update ... or more specifically for access to the internet tomorrow evening.   Karen and I will be motoring across Italy today... and staying overnight in a little village at 2,000 metres in the French Alps ... so that we can intercept the P2P as it blatts through on Thursday morning.

We'll be freezing our various extremities ... on the shores of Lac Cenis in the Parc National de la Venoise ... but we'll be waving encouragement to Car 72 as it passes. 

Day 32 - what a waste!!

It's just after 11:00pm in Greece and the telex machine has been silent all day.   However, we can tell from the official despatches that Car 72 has been through the 3 timed stages as well as the finish control.

We also know from the P2P command centre that the maximum times for today's timed stages could be easily achieved by anything faster than a 3-legged donkey.  Hence the first umpteen participants have been accredited with the same time/position on each stage.   More importantly for the competitive drivers, any hope that they might move up the leadership table has been scuppered ... at least for today.

Therefore my theory (for Clive's silence this evening) is that he's blowing off steam in the bar ... and in no mood to be reporting on the waste of a day's competition.

For the sake of the global recovery, let's hope that the time windows on the remaining stages are a little more difficult ... actually a lot more difficult.

For and on behalf of CD and Ces

Day 31 - Moving on up ...

This morning we woke to a heavy frost and snow all around the car.   Luckily it was the start of a transport day during which we were only required to drive from the Abant Lake Hotel to our next overnight stop just North West of Istanbul.

We had set the alarm for 6.00am to ensure that we'd miss the worst of the legendary Istanbul traffic ... but I was awoken at 5.30am by some P2P competitors who were already pulling out of the car.   Now that is dedication.

The journey to Istanbul was uneventful and I drove deliberately slowly (100kph) giving Fugly a day off as well.   The snow turned to rain once we were off the mountain and, as usual, the water poured through the dashboard and soaked my feet, but c'est la vie!   As we moved west, the rain stopped and the sun began to shine.   As a result, the temperature rose to 19C ... not bad for a day that started off in snow.  

Once we realised that we were driving onto an enormous suspension bridge, we knew that we were crossing the famous Bosphorous.   So after several weeks, we had finally left Asia behind ... and we had arrived back in Europe .... fantastic!

Our hotel room has a magnificent view the of the Eastern Mediterranean.   Not that we've had time to enjoy it because, once checked in, we started the routine of work on Fugly.  This included removing the kilos of mud that had accumulated over from the previous days' timed stages.  

In total we spent 5 hours working on the car, whilst other competitors went sight seeing.   Perhaps some of this obsessiveness has contributed to us moving up another slot on the leaderboard ... we're now 11th overall and 6th in class.    I am still chasing a trophy but time is running out.   I spend more and more time thinking about how those 2 coils could have failed us on the 2nd stage on day one!!!!!!!     Oh well, I suppose that's motorsport.

Tomorrow we head into Greece and there are 3 more timed stages, so I hope that the time spent on Fugly today will pay dividents yet again.

There is a cocktail party tonight courtesy of the local car club, so Chin, Chin .... update tomorrow.

CD & Ces

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PS from Peter:  Istanbul is one of my favourite cities, so I'm very envious.   Shame they didn't get to see the sights, but then that's why they're competing in the P2P and I'm at home in my armchair.  Maybe they'll be able to stock up at the Spice Market...

... the spices are very practical ... they could even be used for sealing that leaking windscreen.


As you all know, Istanbul used to be known as Constantinople ... as explained in the short historical clip below: