Syd Stelvio, Pearl of India Day 2 – Nashik to Vadodara – 402km
There had been some chat before this rally that the Pearl of India was going to be a bit of a tour, with plenty of rest days and the nice hotels, as well as a lack of sporting time control sections and tests. Well, tests and STC’s aren’t needed when you’ve India’s highways to drive on, and the concentration levels required over today’s 402km leg put it up there with some of the most challenging rally day’s I’ve experienced. Mind you, we should have seen it coming, after all when one of the route instructions reads “Fight your way across this junction”, you can expect to be in for a bit of a day…
Not that it was a bad day behind the wheel, entertainment and endurance are not mutually exclusive. It’s also not like the driving standards on the road are terrible, either. Well, the behaviour of the motorists wouldn’t pass muster in Europe, but you know what you are getting and it’s all relative right? It’s just that there is an endless stream of Tuk-Tuks to negotiate, or goods vehicles to dodge, that often swap horsepower for cow power, and most prominently small motorcycles to pass.
The quietest part of the day on the roads was actually the drive out of Nashik, down the small city streets bathed in the glorious morning sunshine. You could even hear the birdsong, as tropical birds called to one another and the heady scent of Verbena filled the air. As cities in India go, it was a bit of an idyll, and it took far less effort to escape the urban environment than it had done to breach the sprawling reaches of Mumbai the previous day.
Regularity one took place on country roads that tracked across the undulations of the hills in this area and would finish with quite a climb to the final timing point. Along the way there were small settlements and rural industry; farming and brick making, and plenty of interested locals excited to see the cars coming through. The land was lush and green and the reg passed without too much discrepancy in performance between the crews.
The 80km or so run after this to the midday time control was through more mixed scenery, with a long run through the hills on various road surfaces, all the while passing motorcycles coming travelling in both directions. I’ve no idea where this constant trickle of tiny bikes was going to, after all there wasn’t much in either direction, and so no real clue as to the cause for the constant migration, but by the time the TC was reached I daresay most of us had overtaken more bikes than Valentino Rossi ever did.
We were into the national park now, with warning signs to not get down from vehicles due to big cats and monkeys, but as far as I know, no marshals were consumed by the wildlife. One of our travelling band of clock-watchers almost didn’t make the regularities at all, after misplacing their little black folder of marshal information. I won’t name names, but Kev Blackmore would like to say thank you to whoever found it. Oops, sorry Kev, your name just sort of slipped out.
Anyone eagle eyed enough would also have spotted the beach ball sized spiders webs that littered the undergrowth, arachnophobes need not apply, and perhaps it was the sight of these large webs that caused Martin Dippie to make a wrong slot on the section, ruining the excellent start that he and Fran had made to reg 2, and in a Mercedes that is running beautifully as well.
From here on in the level of chaos on the roads clicked up a notch, for the remainder of the journey into Vadodara. The final regularity of the day had to be cancelled, as it was just too busy to run safely or fairly and instead, we could all enjoy the sights, sounds and smells over the long run in. There were endless lines of Oxen, transporting towering carts of sugar cane to factories, alongside lorries doing the same. There were towns full of people, on roads lined with market stalls and street food vendors, with the noise and hubbub matched by the colours displayed across the roadside arcades. There were also plenty of roadworks, with a pipeline installation in particular causing more than its fair share of disruption and destruction, quite literally ploughing through the front of people’s homes.
Then, there was the final long run along the highway to the MTC, that was akin to something out of a computer game. Vehicles of all types were everywhere, occupying whichever lane they wished and travelling at a variety of different speeds, from fast all the way down to stationary – and indeed some were even going in reverse, and that’s without mentioning the constant threat of oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the highway and the incredible bravery, or perhaps ignorance, of those making U-Turns across the central reservation. On this road if you weren’t making progress somebody else was, and was filling the gap you wanted to occupy. Eat or be eaten, that seemed to be the only rule, and yet, somehow, nobody was doing this with any aggression or impatience. It was, in fact, sensational fun albeit incredibly intense and when the hotel finally came into view, after a run through the streets of Vadodara fending off yet another constant swarm of motorcycles, I’m sure everyone was ready to park up for the night.
There were a few late comers into the hotel, including Richard Clark and Jonathan Round, in the immaculate black Ford V8, after a wheel bearing had failed on the highway. Luckily, this occurred after the final time control and so they continue to occupy a podium position on the early leaderboard, sitting in second place, ahead of another Ford, the exuberantly driven Escort Mexico of Jim Grayson and Simon Spinks. The field is headed by yet another Ford, the bright white Coupe of Andy and Roy Buchan, roaring into top spot with their best on day performance of 39 seconds of penalties.
Tomorrow, there are 430km’s to negotiate on the way to Udaipur and the events first rest day, which based on the evidence of today’s drive, may be much needed.
Syd