gravel travel

Stephen spent three hours under the car last night attending to a broken u boot as reported, but then found numerous other matters to attend to, like removing the entire rear left spring to get at the hangers and replace rubber grommets, replace the grommets in the shock absorber and put a new bearing in the axle. Plus some other bits and pieces.  He was truly buggered.

All this plays on the psyche and wears away the resistance. It wears one down. We’re both tired and sleep well but we can’t catch up on sleep.

The start time for the 382km voyage was again 9.25am. Becoming normal, so perhaps there’s a change coming? No time ever for complacency.

The first event only a couple of kms from the hotel was the same as that of last night, only the other way around the track.

Most participants didn’t much care about breaking yesterday’s time and meandered around. Denise didn’t get around faster, about 10 seconds slower. No sense in breaking things at this stage of the game.

So, onto the next event a hundred and fifty kms down the road where they had planned four Sporting Time Controls in a row. The entire time for this event should be about 12 minutes, but on the final part we got lost on a turn onto a landing strip. No directions other than written instructions in the route book.

That’s the way it is. If you don’t understand and click the distance accurately then things go awry.

So onward to the next trip to the hotel down any lane/road that looks as though it can do some further damage to the car. We often cabin talk as to why there is so much time left for a short distance travel. But it may be short though it’s slow and hard going. Roads are really bad and the wind plays havoc too. The trees grow at an angle in the direction of the predominant wind.

The MTC today is at the Szczecin Marina, some short distance from the hotel. A real welcome to all the contestants with the cars being driven up onto a Dias and announced as to who we are and where from. Gala like atmosphere and a great reception.

Then onto the hotel in the centre of the city’s traffic at rush hour. It’s a busy place and if you have no idea of where you are it can be frustrating getting to the destination.

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It’s Tuesday 2nd of July 2019 already.

We’ve been completely out of touch with the day dates, working from rally day to rally day which doesn’t synchronise.

We are now counting down to Paris.

The heat is still on for place positions as failures of the human elements, getting to all destinations and controls and finishing times, including driver error on the track, to the machines staying in good operational order to take the continuation of punishment still being meted out by the ERA.

The pressure remains on full bore.

Participants are becoming weary with the long days driving and concentration needed to just stay in.

Our day this morning was again 9.25 start. Leaving the hotel to travel through the public square of the little town down the road to let the local populace see the merchandise. And then off to the same racetrack as in the previous evening.

We were not going to try and beat the previous days’ time as the condition of the course surface was very bad and, why give it heaps now when there are more difficult courses yet to come in the next 4 days. We need to get to Paris under our own steam.

A satisfactory round of the track then off to cover the 374kms for the day. A not so long mileage day.

They chose country roads that were delightful in their spring/summer green foliage along the roadsides.

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They always find the worst and toughest roads though and today they also had a secret Passage Control position, to catch out the cheats (if any) who bypass on good roads and get in to the next control earlier. I don’t know if there were any cars caught this way but????? It rained too to add to the ambience.

We got to all the controls on time and the last would be a track event at a Kartodrom.

A short winding tarmac track designed for go carts. Twice around was the requirement.

Denise squealed her little tires off as the rear wheel would lift off the road as the corners/bends were so tight. Hard work for the driver too ensuring that we got in fast and safely.

All in all, a good day and not as difficult as we thought at days beginning.

At the hotel, Steve surveyed under the car as usual and checking the areas that need checking.

The rubbers in the suspension had deteriorated to the replacement stage and one of the rear spring u bolts had sheared again. He’s on his back right now making good. Good practise to ensure not just the general maintenance but the safety of the car. All needs to be up to standard. With the continuing battering on the car from these horrible roads, vigilance to possible breakages and excessive wear and tear need constant attention.

A late start time of 9.25 for a 532kms rally today including two track events.
The usual drudge drives through country roads mainly,  gave a fantastic insight to the real summer features and aspects of these countries. 

Seaside forested holiday areas and inland farming country tree lined lanes. Beautiful farms. 
We don’t know what it’s like in winter but the houses being built with walls two feet thick says it all. 
A couple of PC’s to ensure adherance to following the formal tracks, located as far as possible off the beaten track. 
A nice day but very windy. Makes driving really difficult being thrust across the road lanes at times. 
At one PC we fuelled up and got on our way forgetting to “check in”. “Sacre bleu”! 
Steve asked if I had done the deed some 23kms down the track! No!! No!! 
We returned to the station well in time but the loss of time adds up for the down line check ins. 
More dreary roads to the Nemunas Ring Track. A neat little dirt track which Denise really liked. Sliding around the corners and fishtailing out. Thrilling. 
Then more driving to the last event of the day, 3kms from the hotel. Crossing borders is now a non event. It just happens.

During the last 50odd kms Steve had picked up a noise coming from the rear wheel as we were travelling. A small sound at first clicking away then silent but returning later, louder then again not able to be heard at all. 
Then a rumble which he thought was a a wheel bearing. 
We considered that a look at it at the track a few kms to go and determine what to do. 

At one glance it was easy to see that the entire wheel was about to seperate from where it was fastened to the hub. Outside the wheel nuts, the crack had almost come full circle, with about 10cm of metal fatigue and it would have come away. 
Some following rally car observers told us at the track that they had seen the wheel wobbling but none of them thought to let us know, either by pointing as the passed us or by a pulling us over to tell us what was wrong. 
It would surely have failed if we had not noticed it before the track event. Could have been disastrous.

A quick wheel change and then the  track event so that we could get in on the required time at the MTC in the hotel lobby. 

This is one of the last long days of travel before we get to Paris. 
Only one more of 599kms. 

A tiring day. We get more and more fatigued as this rally progresses. Part of the exercise. Wear you down. It’s not over until it’s over and mistakes and car issues can and do still occur, upsetting the applecart around the placings.

There was some anticipation that this was going to be tough day.

Only 353kms including two track events and two time controls. Plus, visits to three car collections. And three passage controls.

The time controls always put pressure on the crew because you just don’t know what to expect on the road upfront.

There were some advisories in the daily bulletin but nothing major.

There was also nothing eventful on the road to the track and once there we got in line to do the run. A dirt and seal rally track quite intricate with a bridge across the road at one point.

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We completed this in 3minutes and 10 seconds.

A good run with a tactful quarter tank of gas.

And good fun, though the navigator didn’t see the track hardly at all. Just giving directions.

Three hundred clicks to the next track. Lots of road and the only real event was a car crash where a truck clipped a car and, have a look at the result. There was debris 100 meters in each direction. A cool reminder of what happens when an impact occurs.

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The next track was at the Riga Motormuseum.

A tarmac surface and we completed this in 4mins 10 seconds. Again, good fun and a great experience.

A look through this museum. It was set up like the Fangio museum in South America. This had only two floors with some amazing equipment within.

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Denise at the race track today

Then to our hotel only ten kms away. It’s 7.00 pm. A long hot day with lots of great fun doing it.

It was t so tough after all.

Morning doesn’t break here. It’s morning from around 2am. It’s almost daylight. The sun’s out there somewhere!

At 4.30 it’s overcast and looks as if it’s going to stay that way.

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The course is 143kms for the day and it includes two track events, one that is a rally track, which means the surface is both gravel and seal surface, but we don’t know where one stops and the other starts. Interesting. The other is a gravel track.

We have to be shipped over to Estonia in the afternoon, a two hour crossing. 

All in all should be a relatively restful day. 

When we got to the first Rally track, which is the track with the two surfaces this experience was awesome. Denise just loved it. Swinging through the corners and spitting herself out with wheels spinning in the gravel and fishtailing out. Just like it was on the NZ roads way back when most of the roads in NZ were gravel. It was fun. Did a great time too, better than some of the better prepped up cars.

Then in quick succession another track , longer and more complex, had a stop midway, gravel, great stuff. Much more fun than the tracks we’ve been on over the past weeks.

It seems like there will be more of these henceforth, off-road race tracks. They are good and well controlled.

Then the crossing to Estonia. We were required to wait at the ferry terminal for two hours prior to sailing. I suppose it was to ensure that all the cars were set to sail and those that were behind could catch up. 
Boring. Waiting.

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The ferry was a very large ship, roll on roll off unit. 
It had everything on board, including a Burger King and a supermarket, clothes and cosmetics, spirits and wines.

Restaurants. Just like a cruise ship I suppose.

A very smooth ride of over two hours over the gulf of Finland.

And off at the Estonia end to our hotel. It was after 7pm by then.  Eat and sleep.

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Nothing else exciting to report.

An extract from the ERA official site here…

The day off was good for rest. The accomodation was mostly fair but Steve had a room that was less than ordinary with a small room and a hard bed with a topper mattress.

The car was left alone. Nothing needs doing. She’s running so well.

Our start procedure today was different in that the fastest and best placed left last rather than the first placed leaving first.

Makes no real difference to us as we are fair to middling.

It was a bit cold but the weather was set to change to sunny. And it did.

The road out of St Petersburg was lined with beautiful buildings and bridges. Special. Very grand.

We then basically headed to the two borders that we had to cross today. A couple of amendments in the bulletin which meant a change to the Master Time Control position giving more time to get from the Finnish border to the hotel. The test start and finish was cancelled, so no points to be gained.(or lost) The drive was good and arriving at the border on the Russian side we waited quite a while as there were many rally cars ahead of us and the process, well, it was really slow. Customs for the cars and a seperate passport control. Then a repeat at the Finnish border, but faster and a little more friendly.

Heading into Finland the roadside scenery changed quite markedly. The greenery at road edge was now mostly deciduous, beeches, birches and the like. There were pines but to a lesser volume and regime like. The land is flatter and, a lot more formal in settings with lovely cottages and farm houses, steep roof pitches and just nice.picturesque.

The rally though continued, with Passage controls still to be passed through to ensure that you’re not cheating. They always find the most out of the way roads to just keep you guessing with so many turns and gravel roads through the back blocks. Interesting though and it certainly keeps us busy and on our toes.

The hotel this evening is in Hybinkaa, named hotel Sveitsi. Quite nice too considering it is, it seems in the middle of nowhere.

The meal was good, fresh food and nice!

Then as usual bed.

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The road is long, not much of a winding road. It’s 685kms of mainly straight highway with the only reprieve today being a track event in the late afternoon, 30odd kms from the hotel. And when the crew is buggered from the tedium of the days run. The endurance element really means something. This is what the event is all about, how to break the man and the machine.

We are officially starting out at 8.55am.

The hotel was nice last night but by the time you get in and do the car maintenance and eat, it’s bedtime. Up at 4.30, that’s habitual now, then breakfast and the waiting game begins till start.

Russia is impressive and if I’m repeating myself, apologies.

We began well, a good breakfast and after waiting some time we hit the road.

A couple of hundred kms while it rained and it was cold. Then a miscalculation of direction and once more backtracking 80kms to the PC. Instead of checking and responding to each waypoint I had loaded the entire days headings into the GPS and so although we were heading for the end of day MTC, it was an interim waypoint that we should have aimed for which was in a different direction.

We got there for the PC with seconds to spare. But that’s not the end of the miscalculations. We got to the racetrack at the end of the day, did our two circuits and in good time too.

Then the last stretch, 37kms to the hotel and the MTC. As we got closer to the city the traffic density intensified and the distances between road take offs were shorter and an incorrect road was taken.

Once off the correct course at rush hour is fatal.

Thank goodness for the GPS. Even this was difficult to interpret as the arrows were small and needed magnification then reduced to get a picture of where we were headed.

All in all it was a bad afternoon re navigation and time. It was impossible to get to the MTC in the allotted scheduled time.

St Petersburg is a very large and significant city. It’s well populated with cars and people.

So getting around is fraught with the chances of getting lost; We did, once on the freeway trying to get to the destination from the incorrect location. Its a busy rush hour, city is more than stressful for the crew at the best of time.

We got there in the end buggered and disappointed that we had lost so much time.

The first thing I have to do is be corrected on two known matters. The first is that the yellow pipe work in the photos that I described as conduiting hot water to each household for heating houses in the villages that we passed through is incorrect. A reader, thank you, has informed me that the pipes carry gas to each household and that each household then uses that to heat the house and the water. One lives and learns!

Also, the photo of the horse and rider displayed white light streaks as if these were clouds. They’re not, they’re reflections of light from the ceiling inside the building.

Thanks for bringing these matters to my attention. I don’t want to misinform.

Yesterday I also informed you that the Russian pilot was the first to fly over the south pole. This is also incorrect. He actually was the first to fly over the North Pole. His small ‘plane is now exhibited in Nizhny Novgorod.

I have now read a little about the area and the history is rich with local achievement, politics, art, invention and architecture. I’m not saying more as I will surely err. But from what we saw it’s a fabulous place.

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Moving on to this rally that we endured today, which began at the what is called the NRing circuit some 40 odd kms outside of the city.

Each car was required to do two laps within a 10 minute time span but not less than 4 minutes. Denise achieved a time of 5mins 20 seconds. Not bad?

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Then the long slog of the balance of the trip. There was to be two test starts and finishes, but due to some extenuating circumstances these were cancelled.

So, on and on over hills and dales. Beautiful countryside, especially in the morning as the wind blew gently over the green/blue hue of ripening heads of wheat in the vast oceans of endless wheat fields

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The road traffic was full on and overtaking was difficult. Slow, tedious progress.

We need to keep moving if were to get to Paris, that’s the driver when you stop and think of it. It’s still a way off and tomorrow we head for St Petersburg, 669kms of travel.

We also have a rest day there.

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Yesterday after the day’s events Steve did some work on maintaining the suspension and wheel bearings/seals. All these parts wear and they need to be checked and replaced when required.

So other than just driving the car Steve is always assessing the areas that need attention.

She’s still purring is Denise. She’s been a faithful friend who has delivered us thus far so well. Respect!!

A good night’s rest, but the daylight began at about 2am. Couldn’t turn the lights out!

The days start for us is 9.25 am. A long time to wait after we get breakfast at 6.00am.

Car is good. We expect a hot Monday morning.

As it turned out, the day became overcast and the temperature was cool.

As usual, Denise started on the turn of the key, ready for the day. We had fuelled up the night before so we wouldn’t waste time getting to any of the bases.

The daily bulletin was given when signing out so the amendments had to be extrapolated into the route book as depicted whilst underway. A number of amendments and notifications to ensure a safe journey.

One of the PC’s had been cancelled leaving only two for the day.

A 485km journey to Nizhny Novgorod. This is the place of the first Kremlin in the Soviet Union, now abandoned, an old fortification dating way back when.

The trip commenced on the usual long straight roads, though these were busy this morning as it was a week day. So many lorries using this highway and together with the road works it was slow and tedious. I’ve not mentioned before, but the roadworks are undertaken without the stupendous safety requirements that we have in our country. The “cones” are non-existent, only the small sport cones can occasionally be seen but they are blown away by passing cars.

It’s not that there is no concern about safety, it just that the individuals working in the roads are self-conscious to ensure their own safety. Like a cone will stop one from being injured?

Moving on, the only time that needed to be met was the MTC at the days end, and that had been shifted to a town square, where some celebrations were taking place. I don’t know the reason of why we were there, other than it was the place where the first Kremlin was situated. And it was being celebrated.

Again, there were throngs of people that met us at the finish line. These people just love cars!

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It’s a shame that we are only here for the evening. We will not see anything in this city, and the buildings that we see while driving through are fantastic. I took some photos while driving so they’re not the best but you may get to understand what I mean.

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Our hotel here looks great from the outside but it’s basic inside. Rest the head, sleep and rise to do the same the next day as the day before.

Day 21 was our day of rest and was just that.

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Because day 22 is 616kms, with three STC’s and one track event, it will be a long day. However, on receiving the days bulletin on departure/start, one gravel STC was cancelled, the other two still on, one on a busy public road, the other a short but winding bumpy rutted road. Denise took it in her stride, bouncing vigorously, pig jumping, the suspension that Steve had tweaked was working well.

Our times were right on the calculated times, so no points lost.

Then long, long roads, basically to get west and to the next rendezvous city.

It was hot too; windows open wide with the wind howling through to keep the temperature down. Hard on the ears, and communication becomes more difficult. But it is what it is.

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Then, 17kms before the home stretch, a track event. A really nice professional track, 2 kms long, two circuits. Good fun. The minimum time 3 mins 45 and the maximum 9 mins. We did it in 5.30. Not bad?

Then onto the Korsten hotel in Kazan for the evening.

The local time turns out to be back 2 hours. Makes the day even longer.

Tomorrow is a transit day to Nizhny Novgorod. 487kms. No competition, just passage controls, although if some cars have problems, it can affect the results. Just saying.

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