Syd Stelvio, Pearl of India - Day 7 – Jodhpur to Jaipur – 379km
The competitive element of the seventh day of the Pearl of India would actually end at the Jagat Palace, a restored 700-year-old fort that was the location for the days main time control at 194km. Anyone who had visions of a short day though would have their illusions smashed, but that would come later.
For now, there was a 100 km or so run to the days only regularity, a journey of a couple of hours on a mixture of highway and small towns and villages, fairly typical of what we have come to expect now. Some of the towns were a touch more ramshackle than we had seen so far, but contained all the elements we have seen previously, but with the added addition of a few Pigs complimenting the seemingly endless Cows.
Whilst the highway on the route for day 7 was largely wonderfully smooth, there were plenty of other roads that were in need of a little bit of attention, in fact some of them looked like the Indian Army had been using them for artillery practice. This meant slow going at times, and like everything on the roads over here, a little bit of patience goes a long way. The potholed roads continued for the regularity, the reg itself was largely straight, save for a couple of opportunities to wrong slot on junctions. The challenge was found in maintaining an average speed on a road that was modelled on the lunar surface.
There were some excellent performances though, with plenty of clean sections, it’s almost like the crews are getting the hang of this regularity malarky after 7 days in the saddle. Nobody could best the 1 second of penalty attributed to car number 7 though, with Richard Clark and Jonathan Round clawing a few seconds back in the fight at the top of the table. This placed them best on the day, with it being the only regularity, with the boys in the Escort also doing well, shedding just a second to the black Ford.
It was a good day to be a Volvo driver as well. Alain Lejeune and Herve Collette also dropped just two seconds on the reg, closely followed by Aussies Warren Henrick and Glenda Lawrence, perhaps buoyed by the fact that Warren’s air horns are now working, an essential accessory in this part of the world. Sadly, they’re only monotone, and don’t belt out Advance Australia Fair, or Click go the Shears, that would certainly give India’s musical busses a run for their money. Even so, it was a good day at the office for the pair that sit in tenth place overall, and second in class.
The run to the MTC at Pushkar followed, with a fair chunk of gravel driving, and a slot through the swamp like roadworks of another rural village, coating the cars in thick brown slurry. There were also plenty of speedbumps, which are commonplace over here, almost as common as the Cows. Their installation appears to be a bit of a cottage industry, but they are everywhere. They range from tiny minor inconveniences, to large take off ramps, with more in common with Evel Knievel than traffic calming. What all of them have in common though, is that they are pretty much camouflaged and I daresay we have all been caught by surprise over the past week.
Unfortunately, today one of the monstrous mounds would gain a victim, as it severed the sump of the number 21 Mercedes Benz of Nick Brayshaw and Vikki Lang, who had been doing so well in recent days. This meant that their final part of the day, post MTC, was spent with the car on a recovery truck, as they fight to find a garage to fix the smashed sump on the day 8 rest day in Jaipur.
Pushkar itself represented a return to busier roads, a theme that would only increase during the rest of the day. It was market day (when isn’t it), and the cars passed through the mayhem of the busy centre and its plethora of roadside stalls, before turning into a side street and the oasis of calm provided by the Jagat Palace, and its beautiful architecture and gardens.
A short pitstop later and the cars went back into the fray for the nearly 200km run to Jaipur, and the Oberoi Rajvilas, awarded the best hotel in the world by Travel and Leisure, USA last year. It would need to be something special, as the drive into Jaipur was one of the toughest yet, with solid traffic for the last 10km as thousands of cars jostled for space on the heaving arterial roads into the city. It meant many arrived after dark, which is a whole other driving experience over here. Lights are optional, and the typical obstacles we have come to expect (think animals and humans) are more numerous, and even more difficult to see. Still, everyone made it in and was treated to another tremendous welcome from the hotel, which should provide an opulent sanctuary for those who have the time to relax, ahead of a six-day stint in the cars. Though, for quite a few of the field, the car park will become a temporary workshop, to fix ailments that have been niggling away over the past few days, ensuring the vehicles are fighting fit for the next leg of the rally.
Syd
