Syd Stelvio Peking to Paris 25 - Day 20 – Beyneu Camp to Aktau – 530km

Day 20 was a significant one in this year’s P2P, geographically and in terms of the competition. Today the rally would reach the shores of the Caspian Sea, signalling an end to our time in Kazakhstan, and whilst we aren’t quite in Europe yet, the rally has travelled the width of China and Kazakh and in doing so broken the back of the adventure, and for those that have made it this far it is a significant milestone.

There had been plenty of celebrating in camp on the evening of day 19, the field gathered together to watch a beautiful sunset, and then enjoyed plenty of sundowners. The sunrise seemed to follow all too soon the next morning, as it always does when camping. The first light piercing the thin canvas of our tents, natures alarm clock unconcerned with the time any of us wished to sleep until. There followed the ritual of breaking camp for the final time, a process many would no doubt be happy to put behind them, and as sand and salt was wiped from tired eyes many would be looking forward to a comfy bed that evening.

The final camp though meant that the toughest of miles were perhaps now behind us all, and there was a certain sadness to that. It had certainly been a tough few weeks, with various cars leaving camp on flatbeds and others nursing mechanical ailments, but this is why we come, this is what binds us to driving the impossible.

We aren’t at the finish yet though, in fact not even out of the desert. There was still a 500km day ahead, but with the promise of some tarmac miles, a few hours of acquiescence before the days competitive section, that would mark the final STC in this country. First though, we needed to get back to civilisation, of sorts. There were still 20km or so on dirt to the town of Beyneu, a foreboding industrious outpost on the frontier of the Steppe, and the route to it was across a rutted mess of wasteland, torn to shreds by heavy freight that used the route to transit in and out of the desert. The wind from the previous evening had disappeared, and so the sand that was thrown into the air by our passage simply hung in the atmosphere, making it impossible to see further than a few feet and early progress was slow.

Once Beyneu was reached though, we had miles of glorious tarmac stretching out ahead of us, expediting progress through the last of the flatlands. Some made hay, careering off into the distance at a canter, perhaps feeling the pull of the destination and determined to reach the port as quickly as possible. One car not heading off like the proverbial Hare was the stricken Fangio of Scowcroft and Gilmour, the nearest challenger to the leaders was using more and more oil and would end up on a flat bed at the first passage control of the day. They would drive into the MTC at the port under their own steam, with a new engine arriving in Baku, but after missing the days STC they accrued 30 minutes of penalty and are effectively out of the hunt for the win.

It was a shame, but for everyone else the competition continues and the last STC was a cracker, with nearly 30km of tough driving in a section that had been labelled by the organisers as being more about navigation than speed. There were plenty of places to wrong slot, with tricky instructions navigating the cars on near virgin tracks through what were ostensibly fields. Sometimes the path ahead was obvious, with deep grooves cut by years of passage, whilst other paths could be easily missed. The weather had worsened by this point, with great storm systems off in the near distance, but with little to no wind, which caused havoc on the early part of the section as the dust trails from the cars were causing near blind driving conditions for following cars. There was even a collision, with Christopher Holland and Kevin Clark being hit from behind, and others, such as Mike and James Cattermole manged to get stuck. There was a tricky slot left, after passing some nodding Donkey oil wells, that caught plenty out, with some, like the Escort of Friedrich Müller and Robert Huber missing the turn completely and continuing along a different passage. Time was gained and lost all over the place, with one of the biggest casualties being Gerd Bühler and Laurenz Feierabend, who built up 2:30 of penalty in the latter stages of the section, rescinding the lead in the Classic Category to Harold Goddijn and Corinne Vigreaux, and dropping to fourth in the standings. In contrast others did very well, with plenty of cars cleaning the section, including the now runaway leaders Jorge and Cristobal Perez Companc, who now have a lead of over five minutes.

At the end of the section there was a reward, in the form of probably one of the best views in Kazakhstan.  Just after the sections final time control, a huge cut had been made through a cliff face and far below the landscape opened up, looking like something from the Serengeti. We were much higher than we had thought, or, perhaps more accurately the landscape we were descending to was much lower, as in fact Aktau and its surrounding countryside sit below sea level. A steep descent carried us into the landscape below, which at times was a slope of 30%. The huge storms that we had been able to see were now much closer, with twin systems swirling a few miles ahead of us, and despite the fact that we would only drive through the edges of them, there was heavy rain as the route left the desert, with some incredible puddles to aquaplane through. Then we left the dirt roads of Kazakhstan behind us for good, with a tarmac run to the port to deposit cars into the capable hands of the Sweeps, to load onto the ferry, including the sick and ailing cars, that will be tended to once in Baku.

There are three days now to recoup after the efforts of the past three weeks, or to spend getting cars fixed. There have been flurries of phone calls organising parts and people to head to Baku, to get cars back on the road again before we head into the final half of the rally. Europe is just around the corner, but who is with us will be determined by just how successfully cars can be fixed over the next few days. The clock is ticking.

Syd