Syd Stelvio Peking to Paris 25 - Day 30 – Istanbul to Sofia – 600km
Another day, another border. They will come thick and fast now, almost daily until we reach France, but today’s should be the last one with any hint of peril, as from here on in we are in Europe properly, and it is Schengen all the way!
It was an early start to reach the imaginary line between Türkiye and Bulgaria, a run of 260km or so down the highway to what would be a pretty simple crossing in the end. The only time-consuming bit was paying for your ‘toll charges’ when exiting Türkiye, read into that what you will. Upon entering Bulgaria, we were met by a chap from the Bulgarian Motor Federation, though I was disappointed he wasn’t dressed up as everyone’s favourite Womble, accompanied by Mike Batt on the guitar.
The rest of the day would largely be a concentration run along Bulgaria’s mostly empty highways, but there was one regularity to enjoy late into the day. There should have been a pair to contest, but sadly the first was just too busy with civilian traffic to complete safely, so the competition was restricted to one 20km run around the sides of the valley created by the Topolnitsa Reservoir, nestled in the Sredna Gora mountain range.
The hillsides were thick with vegetation, and the roads narrow, so narrow in places that it was impossible not to bring a bit of the undergrowth with you, which must have been a delight in the open top cars. Luckily, there wasn’t too much in the way of oncoming traffic, these roads were seldom used by locals, never mind tourists, but across four timing points there was plenty of opportunity to lose time. Lots did, but there were some superb performances as well, some of which came from further down the table. In the sub ten second club were Jim Valentine and Jonathan Lodge in the AMC AMX and Marc Schätzle and Sandro Tanner, the Swiss in the Ford Model 91A. The best pre-war performance was delivered by Jürgen Wirtgen and Stephan Heberer, picking up just 6 seconds of penalty in the Bentley, which was bested by only 2 seconds by best-on-reg Gerd Bühler and Laurenz Feierabend, Gerd back in the driving seat for this one.
Depending on where you were situated in the valley, you could hear the approaching cars from some way off, and in amongst the sound of cylinders reverberating through the air there was an almost unfamiliar engine note, one not heard for a week or so at least. What was that distinctive rasp, popping and banging on the overrun? Could it be, yes, I think it could, phone the press, for something Z-shaped this way comes. The lame Zebra, the much-maligned Datsun was back on the road, back from the brink and running again after a motor was sourced and fitted and then, after a long drive to catch up, Ryan and Isaiah Salter joined back up with the rally in Istanbul. Out of hock and back in the hunt.
For them, and everyone else, the end game is now in sight. The rest day in Sofia, is a chance to do what is needed to get the cars to Paris, which is now just 6 days down the road. It gets interesting now, those that are pushing for wins will have to tread the line between maintaining pace and retaining reliability, which, as we have seen, can turn on a sixpence. There are also those hoping to achieve a gold medal, for hitting every control within the time limit. There are now only 14 who can achieve that, and currently those positions are occupied largely by those in the top ten. There are others in that list as it stands though, including Mike and James Cattermole, the Aussies in the Datsun 260Z and Patrick Galbraith and Dean Aaron, our Stetson wearing US crew, campaigning a bright orange Pontiac GTO, I mean, what else? Friedrich Müller and Robert Huber are also pushing for a Gold as it stands, and as well as leading their class in the red striped Escort 1300, are now in touch with the battle for overall podium positions in the Classic Category, just on the edge of the now 6 car fight for the top three, still headed by Brian Palmer and David Bell. The Peugeot Pair had another good day at the office, with just six seconds of penalty accrued to consolidate their lead, but everyone in that top six is in with a shout, depending on how the dominoes fall.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are those that now just need to get to Paris, who cannot push the speeds, and have had to take a more measured approach for the entire distance. Crews such as our brace of high Rollers, Steve Kiss and Richard Jeffcoate and Michael Power and Nigel Parsons, our Rolls Royce entered crews. Michael and Nigel are still in a silver medal position, and first in class in the Silver Ghost, which is 105 years old. David Hughes and Kevin Cochrane join them in the silver positions, in the much newer Bentley 3 litre, a mere child in comparison, aged 101 years old. For the last few days, these machines have been out on the road early, and often in late, doing what they have to do to make it along another day, to survive, to reach Paris. Theirs is a battle of endurance unique to them, epitomising the pioneering spirit of the rally.
We are inside the last week then, and on day 32 will begin the push through Europe. The rally is heading on a northerly trajectory now, after so many weeks of following the path of the setting sun. Asia is behind us; the lion’s share of the distance is complete, and El Dorado is within touching distance. It isn’t quite a sure thing just yet though, with plenty of tarmac still to get across. It isn’t done yet, but it is close. So close.
Syd
