Syd Stelvio, Pearl of India Day 9 – Jaipur to Agra – 310km
The smog clung tightly to Jaipur as we left this morning, like the remnants of a party that had gone on too long. Pale fingers of light pushed through the haze, as a paper-lace sun was faintly visible in the sky. The roads were nothing like as busy as when we entered the city some 36 hours earlier, but there were still the usual morning obstacles to clear. A few cows, traffic driving the wrong way down the highway, that sort of thing. We were 16 on the road today, with a couple more heading straight to the hotel and car 21 still on the operating table.
The rest day had afforded others to time to make repairs, Jim and Simon in the Escort had changed the clutch, after spending some days struggling with it slipping after an oil leak. Tommy Dreelan spent the time checking out a leaking crank seal, whilst his brother Mike had found the three teeth missing off of third gear in his box. Others had spent time fettling, and those that were fortunate enough to be in the peak of mechanical condition had enjoyed the sights of Jaipur.
The route today would take the rally to the city of Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal and a hotel within sight of the famous mausoleum, with time built into the schedule to visit. This meant a shorter day on the road, just 310km and an earlier start to allow a timely arrival into Agra.
That meant just one regularity, a 12km route through farmland and tumbledown villages, with the associated traffic and people. There wasn’t a lot to report from the reg, with the majority scoring well and a largely static leaderboard. The highest scorers were Jonathan Turner and James Blackhall, but then they have made a habit of going off like a stabbed rat in most of the timed sections, not that it seems to bother them one iota, these are two Bentley Boys who are most definitely here for a good time.
The majority of the field kept the penalties to single digits across the two-timing points, with Richard Clark and Jonathan Round, and Tomas and Camelia de Vargas Machuca performing the best of all, with a pair of seconds each, with Tomas and Camelia cleaning the second timing point – just one of three cars to achieve zeroes on the day, along with 16 and 19.
A time control followed the regularity, based in the shadow of the Harshat Mata Temple, in the village of Habaneri. The Temple is situated next to the Chand Baori stepwell. The 8th century monument descends 30m into the ground, making it one of the largest stepwells in India, with 3500 steps cascading into an inverted pyramid.
After getting their daily steps in at the historic monuments, a run through the countryside followed, with some nice roads that cut a ribbon through farmland, flanked by rocky hillsides. There were of course plenty of narrow villages to travel through, a pre-requisite of any drive through India, and rough roads as well, with one particularly tricky stretch that had been pulverised to sand by the constant construction traffic that was using it as an access road for delivering aggregate. Of course, when I say construction traffic, I mean classic Mahindra and Massey Ferguson tractors, dragging overloaded trailers full of stone. It made for a bit of fun in any case, especially those caught in a train of cars.
Agra is the very northern most tip of our journey, and tomorrow the adventure will begin the downwind leg of the circuit. The city itself was as busy as we have come to expect, particularly on the run into the hotel on the Taj East Gate Road, rammed with tourists and revellers all intent on seeing the attraction that is synonymous with India. This will no doubt be a highlight for many on this rally, as it would anyone. Time to be savoured then, before a long 443km day on the tools tomorrow.
Syd