Syd Stelvio, Pearl of India Day 3 – Vadodara to Udaipur – 430km

Travel seems to be a way of life in India, there is a continual passage of people, no matter what the time of day or night, using whatever means they have to facilitate their movement, whether that be by the power of the internal combustion engine, or simply their bare feet. We too, are now part of this organism, pursuing our own travelling goals daily, but whilst you may be forgiven for thinking there is a tedious repetition about this, if there is one thing I’ve learned in India so far, it is that there is a surprise around almost every corner.

There are patterns to our movements, such as escaping whatever metropolis we depart from in the mornings, which on the third day of this odyssey was Vadodara, which with a population of just 3.1 million is a mere village compared to some of the cities here, although it is the third largest by area in the state of Gujarat. It was of course teeming with life, life that temporarily paused to gawk at the unusual cars passing through their streets. These places have their own sort of beauty, but you need to look past the cows sifting through piles of rubbish in the street, and the smog-stained buildings. The beauty here is found in the centuries old Banyan trees, or the red blossom of the Delonix Regia, all finding a place in amongst the crowded city streets. There are brightly painted buildings and street furniture, and the multi-coloured wares of the street markets that line the sides of the road with their tropical fruits and vegetables. Last, but not least, there are the wonderful people.

There was plenty of examples of all of this on the long mornings transport section, that took us to Nikol on a variety of urban thoroughfares, highway and tiny country roads. The roads seemed to be a little bit quieter, or perhaps we are now just getting used to them, they were certainly smoother, and progress was positive and enjoyable. There was still plenty of madness, and tricky situations to negotiate, just ask Roy Buchan, with his brother Andy using Roy’s outstretched elbow as a feeler gauge to slot between the trucks on the highway. Back in the rally and out on the road was car number 7, after their wheel bearing dramas the previous evening, a fix enacted by the ever-resourceful sweep mechanics, with the Ford V8 now wearing some new components fashioned from scrap metal found in a skip in China during last year’s P2P.

The sweeps were needed again during the morning, as Mike Dreelan and Bob Pybus suffered coil problems in the Alvis 25, echoing the issues experienced by Mike’s brother Tommy on day one of the rally. Nick Brayshaw and Vikki Lang also needed the mechanical maestros at the midday halt, with fuel pump issues, but with a new pump plumbed and connected the big Merc ran sweetly for the rest of the day.

Of course, if anyone was in the market for a new car, then they may have eyed the exhibits at our lunch spot greedily, as we were sensationally hosted by the Auto World Vintage Car Museum. The break in driving here was extended to a generous hour and a half, to allow everyone to view the extensive personal collection of machines from all over the world, assembled by Pranlal Bhogilal in his Dastan Estate. The only thing more impressive than the 300 plus cars and motorcycles was the hospitality lavished on the crews, with a ceremonial entrance and exit and a tremendous brunch laid on.

I daresay everyone could have done with a ‘bhaat ghum’ after the exquisite lunch, but there was no time for resting, with the road beckoning. It was quite the contrast to leave the quiet confines of the lavish estate, where the sound of tropical birdsong lilted on the breeze, to immediately being thrown into the cut and thrust of the afternoon traffic. It was akin to removing ear plugs, as the atmosphere changed instantly upon passing through the estate gates.

After another 100km or so of transport section, the route directed the cars onto quieter roads, and the first regularity of the day beckoned. This was only short but would need concentration as there were plenty of opportunities to wrong slot as the regularity ran through the girded roads of a small settlement. The Buchans in car 6 would fall victim to this, perhaps overthinking the route through and then costing themselves 54 seconds in the process. They didn’t let it spoil their fun though, as they fully embraced the descending hairpin bends that finished the reg off, putting on a show for the locals that had appeared from nowhere to watch the finish.

The roads on the reg were actually tremendous fun, and for the rest of the afternoon we were treated to a lot more of these rural pieces of tarmac, although this is India and the line between rural and urban will always be somewhat blurred. The final regularity of the day was another short one and caused no real issues for anybody as it ran on some twisting roads up through the hills, with the tarmac following the topography exactly, offering up some unusual undulations and cambers to deal with.