Day 12 - "Please show our positions on the blog"

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Late update on leaderboard:  
(WARNING:  Before you draw any conclusions, please read the footnote at the end of the blog on the interpretation of positions)

According to official results, Car 72 is still 15th overall and 9th in class.   The ghost's re-interpretation of the results suggests that Car 72 has moved from 24th overall to 23rd overall.  Now go and read the classifications footnote..
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In today's satellite link, Clive remarked (again) that the mornings are incredibly cold ... that all of the cars are iced over ... and that one of the more challenging aspects (presumably to his manhood) was that the showers, while good and hot, are outdoor!!!  

Tonight is their last night in a tent for a few days, which would have cheered them up if they'd realised it.   It seems, however, that their time-window is limited to the previous hour and the next hour because Clive was not sure of his accommodation for Wednesday night, other than that it would be in Russia.

Fugly seemed to be running well today and the only reported issue was with a rear wheel bearing.  

Clive  wasn't sure of their competitive positions but felt that he was still moving up the pack.  Then Clive asked if I could report their class and overall positions each day on the blog ... and that he'd telephone through the precise positions when he got them later.

Now, does that sound like the request of a man who is cruising to the finish in Paris!!   Nope, I didn't think so either.   But it did sound like our man Clive.   If you'd like to know their leaderboard positions, just continue reading ... there's a little essay on the scoring at the foot of this Update.

Tomorrow, Day 13, they have a short 18 kms to the Russian Border, an unknown duration at the border itself, and then over 550 kms before they reach their hotel tomorrow evening in a place called Belokurikha.   Looking at GoogleEarth, that 550 kms will not be pleasant, but at least they can look forward the comforts of a Russian resort hotel.  

I'm sure that you know this already, but Belokuikha is at the foot of the Altai mountains and is famous in Russia for its thermal springs.   I quote from their marketing material:

Altai is the habital of maral - the animal which is considered to be the symbol of health and sexual strength. Panto hematogenic substance is actively used at the Belokurikha resort in the treatment of various diseases. Effective technologies are created on the basis of applying panto extract.

Therapeutic muds are also widely used at the resort. Medical use mud tampons and applications shows successful results in the treatment of internal diseases, genital and musculoskeletal systems. Herbal teas made from vital Altai herbs are used in the complex treatment of different diseases and give sufficient results during rehabilitation programmes. We also apply herbal decoction and tincture microclysters, phytobathes and mini phytosaunas.

Clive's closing remarks today were "it's going well mate, but it's bloody hard work!"   I look forward to his closing remarks after he's had his herbal decoction tomorrow evening!

Signing off for CD and Ces.


Overall and Category Position of Car No 72

Bear with me on this because I'm still trying to unravel the scoring process.   On the official sites, there appears to be a 1st, 2nd, 3rd Overall Position within each Category, rather than across all cars.   Then, even more puzzling, there are 2x 1sts, 2x 2nds, 2x 3rds under Class Position within each Category.  Perhaps there are secret classes within the 3 listed Categories.

Have a look for yourself ....  http://www.pekingparis.com/results.php  ... you will see, for example, that in yesterday's results, Clive was listed as
          Overall Position - 15 and Class Position - 9 (Vintageants). 
But then Car No 27, also in Vintageants, was listed as
          Overall Position - 26 and Class Position - 9.  
Not too big a deal, I hear you say, but then the Irish crew in Car No 104 (who are in Classics, not in Vintageants) were also listed
          Overall Position - 15 and Class Position - 9
that is, the very same as Clive and Ces.   Hmmm ...

Getting to the bottom of this from the other side of the world is not easy.   But I did download the times from the official site into Excel and re-sorted them ... firstly using total cumulative times across the entire field ... and then using cumulative times within Vintageants Category.   On this basis, Car No 72 would be 24th Overall and 15th in Vintageants Category.   But I'll await confirmation from Clive before going to the FIA.