Syd Stelvio Peking to Paris 25 - Day 24 – Baku to Qakh – 437km

Thunder boomed and the rain was falling as the last car made it into Qakh tonight, on day 24 of the Peking to Paris. A storm was brewing in the mountains, just above the hotel, but it wasn’t just the weather that was unsettled, it had been a turbulent day in the competition as well.

The rally reconvened today, after a three-day break from driving, allowing time for vehicles to be shipped across the Caspian and to give the competitors time to work on their cars, some of which needed some major surgery. Car 17 had undergone an engine transplant, and car 73 had needed some reconstructive surgery after their argument with a truck in Kyzylorda. There was plenty of other work happening as well, both in the Baku Street Circuit pit lane and at a workshop facility in town, where no less than 25 cars were using ramps and other apparatus to be fighting fit for the off.

Baku had certainly been kind to the rally, hosting the cars in the F1 Pit Lane and throwing a huge party for the competitors, with entertainment, videos of the event and a massive gathering of enthusiastic locals, all enjoying the cars and the spectacle. The hospitality continued for our departure, with a ceremonial re-start in the shadow of the Heydar Aliyev Building, the contemporary Cultural Centre contrasting completely with the classic and vintage motor cars.

It was set to be a big day, with 70km of competitive sections, split across two STC’s, the first of which was a whopping 50km in length, and all offroad across arid hills and plateaus, full of hazards both under tread and navigational. If your trip metre was out here, or you didn’t read the tulips correctly there was a big chance of a mistake – and a mistake out here would mean heaps of time lost.

Worse than getting lost of course, would be breaking down. A few may have been more concerned with this than getting lost, such as car 27, the so far luckless Ford of Mike Shultz and Johann Ersnt. It was Mike’s birthday today, so surely this was the day their fortunes would shift. Sadly, they pulled over shortly before the first-time control of the day, with no power, so were out of the day again. There would be other mechanical mishaps in the section, and for cars that had only just rejoined the trail after Baku repairs. One of these was the Zebra Datsun of the Salters, that had now been forced to stop with a failed head gasket and would need the assistance of a recovery truck. Another recovery truck would be needed for car 64, after they suffered a collision in the section. Both crew members were absolutely fine, but the plucky little Lancia had come off a little worse and was undrivable for the moment.

For those who were keeping the wheels turning, the section was great fun, rewarding smooth and positive driving. The navigation was proving tricky for some though, as was finding safe spots to pass slower cars. There were a number of wrong slots for competitors, with plenty missing a right turn not far after the sections first time control, around 20 km in. There were plenty of experienced crews losing time as well, including John Henderson and Lui MacLennan, dropping 3:30 between the final two controls, though not through lack of trying, with the big Volvo airborne in places.

The Aussie pair had built up the most penalty out of those in the top ten, but it had been a tough morning, for lots of people, and nobody had cleaned the section. With a second STC in the latter half of the day, there was still time to be made up, but this was a long way down the road, 436 clicks into the day.

There was a lot of ground to cover today, with the border crossing into Georgia in the morning. The route took us through the varied landscape of Azerbaijan, on roads that one minute were lifeless desert drags, and the next involved hairpin bends traversing tree lined slopes. By the time we reached the STC, the hills and mountains were a distant memory, with the section sited on the shores of Ajinohur Lake, with a backdrop of the distant Republican Mountains. It was a fast run, in almost safari type conditions on a long and flowing track that whilst bumpy in places, was a joy to drive. Just the right balance between grippy and loose, cutting a ribbon through golden fields of wheat that were being harvested by local farm workers.

It was a shorter section than the morning, but at 20km a lot of time could still be lost, particularly in the dust trails of a fellow competitor, or a combine harvester, or just by simply losing the track, that wasn’t always completely clear. The super quick Porsche 911 of Gerd Bühler and Laurenz Feierabend would lose the most time, chalking up 3:30 of penalty, taking their total to 6 minutes for the day, that would eventually drop them to fifth overall in the Classic category.