Syd Stelvio Peking to Paris 25 - Day 27 – Erzurum to Sivas – 476km
Day 27 of this year’s Peking to Paris, a significant number, as now there were just ten days left. We were looking forward to our first full day in Türkiye, and with the leaderboard having been fairly static for the last few days, those in the hot seats were probably looking forward to some easier miles. Nothing stays static for long in rallying though, and today would be a significant day on this year’s event.
It began innocently enough, sky blue skies with white fluffy clouds greeting the cars, as they headed out through the beautiful mountains that cascade over this part of the country. It was to be a day of two halves, with a morning of competition with two regs and an afternoon of transit, as we continue to eat up the miles in the hunt for Paris. The regularities both took place on the tracks and roads that run through gorgeous pastures of farmland and wildflower meadows, in the foothills of the Armenian Highlands. Just like last year the Police had arrived at the first regularity to see what the fuss was about, but thankfully weren’t directing cars off of the highway at the wrong point like last year.
A 7.5 km reg kicked the competition off, on a deceptively treacherous gravel and dirt track that hugged the topography of the hills above the highway. It was innocuous enough at regulation speed, but with changeable surfaces the levels of traction went from one extreme to the other fairly quickly. It wasn’t the regularity that was going to cause issues though, the big talking point for this part of the morning was that car 20 was missing, and OTL for the time control that followed shortly after the reg. Jorge and Cristobal Perez Companc, leaders of the rally since, well, since I can remember, were stranded on the side of the road after an engine fire. One carburettor on the Chevys engine failed to close, spraying fuel onto the hot engine. Thankfully, both of the crew are fine, and the fire was extinguished before any serious damage to the car could be done. But the damage had been done to their rally, with a 30-minute penalty accrued, and despite the Sweeps getting the car going again, it seemed that their challenge for the win had gone up in smoke.
It was a devastating blow, to a popular crew, and nobody wants to win a rally because of something like this. But no winning would be happening just yet, though as the crews entered reg two with the news filtering through, things were now wide open again, with 2nd and 3rd overall as it had been, having been separated by not much more than a minute. It also meant that the sky blue Porsche of Goddijn and Vigreaux had a bit of daylight at the top of the overall leaderboard, this must have given them a spring in their step, so much of a spring in fact that they drove straight past the turn off for the start of reg number two, and, just like the Energiser Bunny, kept going and going and going and…
They must have realised at some point, as they did make the start of the reg before it closed, though it wasn’t their most composed reg ever and there was an opportunity to pull back time on them, something the Peugeot 504 of Brian Palmer and David Bell took advantage of to cut the deficit at the top. Their other close rivals, the Escort of Steve Osborne and Robert Smith didn’t follow suit, after wrong slotting right at the end of the reg, after a near faultless performance up until that point. The navigational error cost them a minute and would see them passed in the table by the aforementioned Pug. They weren’t the only ones to make that particular error, the Mustang of Jim and Dani Callaghan took the same wrong turn, though their error could be tracked as the noise of the big Ford was very much audible as it drove away from where it was supposed to be.
Day 27 was also turning sour for car 27, as they suffered their 27th mechanical of the event (probably), with a broken alternator and, with no spare, needed some wizardry from the Sweeps to get them going, again. I dread to think what their tab is up to now, it won’t just be bottles of wine they’ll need to be getting the mechanics, they’ll need an entire vineyard if this keeps up!
Surely now with the competitive elements of the day, and with so much drama, we could all just enjoy the long run into the hotel, on a mountain pass that was just as entertaining as the previous day’s run in had been. Well, no, not today. It was starting to become a case of run to the hills, rather than a nice run through the hills, and there was more trouble brewing. Car 28, who on corrected results would have moved up to third, suddenly found themselves stranded on the side of the road, with a potential diff or gearbox issue. It turned out that the Bentley of Alex and Christina Gruber had broken a shaft, and without a spare needed a flatbed to take them to a garage for a repair. This would leave them with a 60 minute time penalty as they were late in at the end of the day, and tumbling down the order, if only they had been carrying a spare!
Whilst all the drama was playing out, it may have been easy to miss the fact that there was a number 7 running in the rally again. Andrew Davies and Shaun Dixon, who had been forced to retire their Chrysler in China, were back with us again, in a Toyota Landcruiser, in the 4WD class, after a few days of manic work to get the car ready and then a 5000km drive down to Tbilisi to join back up with the rally for the final couple of weeks. An incredible effort and fully embodying the spirit of the event.
Once all cars had completed the run to Sivas, through a landscape shaped by tectonic activity, it was time to see who was sitting where after a volcanic day on the rally. Amongst the vintage machines, Tony Rowe and Mark Delling are now top of the pile, and leading the rally, but the deficit to Tony Sutton and Andrew Lawson in second is just 1:05, after the antipodean pair had posted the best performance on the day by a pre-war car. Third place, so nearly in the hands of the Grubers, by some miracle is occupied by Jorge and Cristobal Perez Companc. Perhaps miracle is slightly unfair, it is testament to just how well they have performed in the rally, that they have been able to jettison so much time and still be in the podium positions. Just 1:15 behind them is Brian Scowcroft and Mark Gilmour, who find themselves back in the fight for a podium again, after seemingly all was lost just a few days ago.
The positions in the Classic Category are also closing up, with the top of the category now a fight between five cars again after a best on day performance from fifth placed Gerd Bühler and Laurenz Feierabend. It has certainly been a day that has shown it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. We head to Ankara tomorrow, on a 505km day with three regularities, and after today, who knows what might happen. Oh, and tomorrow is Friday the 13th, as well.
Syd
