Peking to Paris...Progress

Day 35 - Reims to Paris - 161 km - and the Finish!

The official website tells us that there were some 105 of a starting line-up of 128 vehicles which were expected to finish. Thie ended up minus the Itala - the oldest car in the rally, which failed to make it to the finish as the police in Metz had jailed the crew overnight, in an apparent fit of pique at the car dropping oil on the road. It seems that there is an allegation of assault by the Gendarmerie on the driver whilst he was in the cells after his arrest - makes you appreciate the even-handedness of our police a bit more perhaps?

John and Ed managed to avoid that particular fate, and arrived safely in Paris, along with most of the other competitors. Their final position was 24th overall and 9th in class - though I'm not sure I fully understand the scoring mechanisms even now!

This has to go down as one of the great Austin journeys - and I'll risk some controversy by saying that it ranks alongside the other great Austin Sixteen journey - 'Seven Capitals in Seven days', undertaken 60 years ago. Yes, I know the 1947 crews were battling the worst winter in living memory, but they were a) all professional drivers, b) on recognisable roads throughout, with the back-up of an Austin dealer network and  c) of course in 3 brand new cars.

Compare to this John and Ed's achievement of nearly 8000 miles, across deserts and dirt tracks, using only what local facilities were granted for servicing, and of course, in a 60 year old car, and I think it stands up well.

Many congratulations to John and Ed, and a safe journey back to England with the car, which will hopefully put in an appearance at next week's ACCC annual rally.

Day 34 - Koblenz to Reims - 461km

Below - the car whilst in Moscow

The penultimate day of the rally - just the journey of a couple of hours to the finish to go - and the celebrations have begun.
The cars are parked up 'Le Mans style' diagonally in a closed off precinct in the town centre. Thousands of spectators have turned out to see the adventurers, and, unsurprisingly in the home of Champagne, the bubbly is flowing freely.

One of the vehicles has been detained at Metz by the French police - hopefully 'Le Plod' won't ruin it for that team at this late stage - but the rest of the remaining vehicles, complete with a wide variety of ailments and Heath Robinson repairs, have made it safely to Reims. Not that it matters much at this late stage - but John and Ed's position remains at 24th and 9th - here's to tomorrow!

Day 33 - Potsdam to Koblenz - 556km

A day in Deutschland, but not 'Auf der Autobahn' as the song goes.  Another lengthy journey, but at least on tarmac roads, rather than some of the surfaces seen in the arduous early parts of the rally. The cars and their crews are getting tired now, and the strain of driving for that distance in busy traffic must be considerable.

John and Ed remain in 24th and ninth - tomorrow is the last full day of the rally, at 461km, taking the crews across the last border into France, stopping at Reims. On Saturday, they make the relatively short (161km) hop to Paris, where the Rally will finish.

Day 32 - Gdansk to Potsdam - 598km

The rally enters its penultimate country with the crossing from Poland into Germany. John and Ed, reluctant gearbox still whining,  have made it through another day - this time a straight, if quite lengthy run, with no time trials.  They remain in 24th position overall, and 9th in class. Tomorrow, they have a similar distance to cover across Germany, before the crossing into France.

Day 31 - Rest Day - Gdansk

The final rest day, before the final few days of the rally - just the remainder of Poland, Germany and finally France.

Hopefully, having lasted thus far with a whining gearbox, the car won't let our intrepid adventurers down. The remaining distance is just 1776km (1103 miles) - the cars have covered (excluding time trials) a total of 10866km (6752 miles).

Day 30 Mikolajki to Gdansk - 351km

Another day of time trials, preceded by a trip through rolling Polish countryside. With the final rest day of the rally tomorrow, there will be the last chance to make running repairs to the cars, before the final set of (mostly) road runs finishing in Paris on Saturday.

Meanwhile, John has had the time to update his blog once again:

We've had a fantastic past three days. The russian border seems a life time ago; some cars and crews taking up to 8 hours to get through. A great shame realy as up until then most peoples exsperiences had, for the most part, been good.

The three Baltic states we have been in for the past three days are fantastic, its hard to comprehend that they were under the sway of the old soviet union only 15 years ago. For quite a few cars, or rather crews, the realy serious rallying has only just begun; special stages, time trials and all that sort of stuff.

For the rest of us the interest remains getting to Paris with the added interest of having some time to sight see, or even (god forbid) relax a little.

Tomorrow we move on into Poland.

Overall placings are unchanged from yesterday.

John has also posted a photo of the car when it had a very evident broken rear spring earlier in the rally:

Day 29 - Vilnius to Mikolajki - 403km

The crews have now crossed into Poland, and continue to encounter the spirit of helpfulness and efficiency demonstrated by the Baltic states. Once again, the day has been characterised by a series of time trials, and once again, discretion being the better part of valour,  John and Edwin have been opting out.

Their overall place has slipped a little now to 24th overall and 9th in class, but this is still very respectable considering that they are nursing a damaged gearbox.

Day 28 - Riga to Vilnius - 394 km

Having briefly moved from Estonia to Latvia, the rally continues its tour of the Baltic states with a crossing (averaging 2 minutes per car) into Lithuania. Further time trials were organised, including one at Riga motor racing circuit, and a 'forest' stage on closed roads, organised by the National Motor Club. Looking at the results for the recent time trials, it appears that John and Ed have been opting out - very sensibly, since their main concern is to get the vehicle, despite its maladies, in one piece to Paris. As a result they have picked up the maximum times for all of these sections.

Despite this, the overall position remains at 23rd and 8th.

Day 27 - Tallin to Riga - 406km

The rally now moves into a section which includes a number of vigorous time trials (it isn't called a rally for nothing!) The contrast between the lack of organisation and co-operation in Russia and the efficiency and help received from the Estonians.

As well as an excellent rallycross stage, providing plenty of 'tail-out' motoring, and a section of time trial on local roads - shut down and properly marshalled by local motor clubs. The description of the help received from the Estonians on the official website as 'Simply wonderful' seems well deserved.

At this stage, despite the temporary repair to the fuel tank, and the as yet unidentified whine from the gearbox, John and Edwin have preserved their position of  23rd and 8th.

Day 26 - St Petersburg to Tallin - 450km

A horribly frustrating day for the crews, characterised by ludicrous delays at the border, and demands for cash from corrupt Russian policemen - but a day of contrast too, ending as it did with the much better roads and beautiful scenery of Estonia, and a warm welcome from the people there.

Overall positions have not yet been advertised. Meanwhile, John has managed to grab a few moments to update his blog whilst in St Petersburg:

Russia - The Volga, more locals and a funny noise from the gearbox

Just to bring you up to date.
We are now in St Petersburg and move on to Tallin tomorrow. We're still keeping up with the rally, despite all of our problems in western Mongolia (that really was tough on all the cars). And with just three wrecked shocks and a broken spring wedid quite well in retrospect.
The spring was bodged up overnight in the last town in Mongolia, but it did allow us to keep in touch with the rally until the first rest day in Russia. The first try to fix the spring was a failure and damaged the fuel tank. The guy blew it, and nearly himself, up trying to fix it. That was another night with minimal sleep; a new tank and spring fitted between midnight and 6am.
The next rest day was in Yekaterinburg and I had hoped to see a bit more than the under side of the Austin. I got to spend most of the day at a smiths forge while he adapted a front top leaf to fit. I didn't give it a hope of lasting but it's still hanging in there.

At the same time Ed had a 12 hr day with customs clearing spares. We do seem to lurch from one minor disaster to the next.
Two days later we managed to punch a small hole in the new fuel tank. Its the first time I've seen Ed's shoulders drop. But it was his idea to make a wooden peg for the hole. And belted well in, its there for the duration.

We've had a pretty trouble free run from then on, but watch this space because there is now a lot of transmission whine due to a poor oil seal.
The little bit of Russia we have seen is vast. The change from desert to alpine was almost instant and followed the Mongolian-Siberian border. At the same time the features of the people went from Asiatic to European almost completely.
The people we've met have, almost without exception, been interested, open and friendly. Ed and I have kept away from the rest of the rally during the day, eating snacks in the transport cafes; generally consisting of gallons of borscht and shashlik.
A lot of the time we have been following the course of the Volga, considering how far we are from any sea it is huge, in most parts at least 1/2mile wide. The day before yesterday we met up with the couple doing the same trip independently in a tiny pre-war Austin. Our trip is good, but how I would have loved to do it like that.
Tomorrow we are back in Europe proper with just a third of the trip left to do. But all of the cars, even the toughest, are getting a bit tired. I will try and add a few photos of the ex-fuel tank the forge and other things, but it's quite hard because most days we really do not have a lot of time to stop.

Day 24 - Moscow to St Petersburg - 730km (& Day 25 - Rest Day St Petersburg)

A long haul - the longest of the rally, but characterised by the best road surfaces of the rally so far, thus offsetting the huge distance. This wasn't a timed run  - so there are no updated results for today. The long distances involved meant that there was no update to the official site yesterday - hence the double update today. Whilst there may be some opportunity for sightseeing, most crews will want to take advantage of the day to do necessary repairs and catch up on some sleep - the next rest day isn't until Gdansk.

Day 23 - Rest day - Moscow

For the first time, this rest day appears to have been a genuine one, with many of the crews able to indulge in a little sightseeing. The opportunity to catch up on a little sleep might also have been useful, since tomorrow's journey, an untimed trip to St Petersburg, is actually the longest distance day in the rally, with 730km to be covered.

Day 22 - Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow - 439km

Midnight in Moscow - it's a little past that time as I write this, but Moscow is indeed where our crew rests tonight. By all accounts the roads are getting better now, and are similar now to the roads at home. However, as the rally proceeds beyond Moscow, the cars will be subjected to a greater array of time trials than in the first half of the rally.

Tomorrow will be a rest day, with an opportunity to do some sightseeing in Russia's capital. It's clearly been an uneventful day with no cars suffering noteworthy problems, and one even rejoining the rally, following some 'agricultural' repairs whilst in Russia. As a result of the break, the organisers have had the chance to check and calibrate the results to date. Unfortunately - this leaves John and Ed a little further back than previously communicated - being in 23rd and 8th places.

 Day 21 -  Kazan to Nizhny Novgorod - 392km

John has finally had the chance to update his blog today, and looks back on the trip through Mongolia:

Mongolia to Russia

Life has been a bit fraught to say the least recently. I can't really remember individual days, so lets do a resume of our adventures to date:

We left U B full of hope and armed with a little for-knowledge of what was in store. Sadly that for-knowledge lasted about two hours; a couple of route changes later and we were shot.

Over the subsequent days we've had three broken springs and two ruptured
fuel tanks. We’ve driven over 1000km with only the front brakes, and more than that with no hand brake.

Still it’s not all about breaking the car:

Mongolia was great but really took its toll on all the gear and drivers. Mind you, the locals, when we have had time to meet them, were great. On one particular night we arrived on a forecourt at 11pm having driven all day, by 7am we’d had a very short nights sleep and were ready to roll for the Mongolian/Russian border.

Two days into Russia and we had a rest day (ho-ho), that meant time to fit new springs and a new fuel tank as the old one was damaged. You can imagine the scene when they tried to change it, and the loud bang. Since then it’s been more or less the same, apart from the odd spring going, a leaky fuel tank and the brakes. We are still hanging in there though.

That’s all for time being

John and Ed are currently spending their nights, when they’re not out boozing with the locals, taking it in turns to cuddle the fluffy lion they discovered in the back of the car… bless.

So it seems that the damage to the car has been more serious than previously reported. The fuel tank problem sounds particularly serious, and it seems that perhaps the brakes are not yet fully sorted out, despite the hopeful indications pointed out in the word from the 'official' website.

Sadly, no pictures as yet from John & Ed - but even if they're not available until their return I will post them to this site when available.

Despite the ongoing difficulties, John and Edwin have gained a place - rising to 21st in the overall rankings.

Day 20 - Perm to Kazan - 688km

 The longest day so far - in terms of distance at least. Some of the crews of the oldest cars opted to start at first light - 5.30am.
Having been accommodated in tents whilst in Mongolia, the accommodation has moved on to massive concrete Soviet-era hotels, the one in Perm apparently being big enough to house the full rally with plenty of room to spare.

Despite some trepidation amongst the crews at the distance to be covered, it has turned out to be a sunny day, with pleasant scenery and blue skies. The journey, however has proven too much for another car - one of the Bentleys - which has retired with a failed rear axle.

John and Ed, meanwhile, have maintained their position - still 7th and 22nd.

Tomorrow's journey is considerably shorter, at approx. 350 km and will take the crews to Nizhny Novgorod - just one step away from Moscow!

Day 19 - Yekaterinburg to Perm - 379km

So, the crews have set out on the 4-day run to Moscow. I wonder if an Austin 16 has ever been to Moscow before?
Today marks the half-way point of the adventure, and the official website gives some statistics of the reliability of the cars that remain, and tales of the some of the heroic 'catch - up' attempts made by some of the cars that suffered more serious mechanical breakdowns in recent days.

The cars had a 6.30am start today, with a steady drive on tarmac (wonders never cease!) to Perm.

John and Ed remain a very respectable 7th in class and 22nd overall - not bad from a starting line-up of 128 cars - of which 110 are still running.

Day 18 - Rest Day - Yekaterinburg

For most of the crews, the term 'Rest Day' is something of a euphemism. The reality has been a hectic day of running repairs, improvising spares in some cases, and making use of local garages & engineering shops in others. Hopefully John and Ed will have had their work limited to the aforementioned starter solenoid problem and attention to the fuel pump, assuming that the spares for both arrived safely in Yekaterinburg on time.

Tomorrow is a relatively short day at just 379km as the crews take another step towards the Russian capital.

Day 17 - Tyumen to Yekaterinburg - 315km

A quieter day today, with only half of yesterday's distance to cover. The crews have encountered a mixture of freshly tarmaced roads and the sort of potholed surface more typically associated with a stereotypical view of former Eastern bloc countries.

There are one or two mishaps reported, with a 1903 Mercedes having hit a cow, and another car with a bent axle following a (minor) road accident at a crossroads.

Our Austineers have had a good day, with the rejuvenated brakes and spring having helped to propel them to 7th in class and 23rd overall. I changed the rear brake shoes on my own Sixteen at the weekend, and adjusted up all 4 wheels, and surprisingly, the brakes really aren't bad, so going from no rear brakes to a properly working set must be quite a relief.

Tomorrow is a rest day - and I believe the spare starter motor and fuel pump shipped out by John's wife are destined for Yekaterinburg - so hopefully a small amount of tinkering to do, and perhaps a well-earned rest for the crew thereafter.

Day 16 - Omsk to Tyumen - 632km

Once again, Edwin and John get a brief mention on the official rally website at www.pekingparis.com  - the bonnet was up on the Sixteen at the start of today's proceedings. I suspect this was nothing more than a means of starting the car, as the starter solenoid (or possibly the starter button itself) is being temperamental. In such circumstances the button on the back of the starter motor solenoid can be used to good effect in starting the car.

Today's result has the crew still 25th and 9th respectively. In total there have been 9 retirements in the rally so far - with two of these being in the pre-1961 'Classic' category. The Russian media are still taking a solid interest in the rally, with a number of further TV interviews taking place today.

Day 15 - Novosibirsk to Omsk - 668km

Yesterday's green, almost alpine terrain has given way to straight, flat roads, for mile after mile. The drivers have been told to 'get used to the monotony'.

John and Ed are currently showing 25th overall, and 9th in class, with a Bronze medal for their time trial activities. When you consider that they are one of the older cars in the pre-1961 'Classic' category, this is quite an achievement. Within their class there have been 3 retirements out of an original field of 34.

Presumably the car is going better with the fixed brakes and spring, but I've also heard via John's wife that a replacement starter motor has been shipped ( to solve a solenoid problem ) and also a replacement fuel pump.

Day 14  - Rest day  - Novosibirsk

Despite today's title, this was a day of frantic activity for many crews - including John and Ed. They've finally had their names mentioned on the official rally website:

 'The Austin 16 of John Vincent and Edwin Hammond has now been given a freshen-up with the rear brakes sorted – the petrol tank shield shifted, breaking the rear rod-brake system, but being rods and not hydraulic is “simplicity when it comes to replacing a broken rod.” A rear spring was found to be broken and this has also been sorted''

So that explains the braking problem fully then! Apparently the service crews have been given a break today as well - so all work has been carried out by local workshops, who have been keen to sort out the wide variety of items needing repair.

Days 12 and 13  - Border to Bijsk  - 635km/Bijsk to Novosbirsk  - 437km

There were very limited reports from 'rally central' until midway through day 14 (9th June), due to limited communication opportunities. One of the major obstacles proved to be the recently opened border crossing out of Mongolia, which is more used to dealing with single figures of people on a daily basis, and which was overwhelmed by the day's arrival of the cars and their crews - each crossing was taking up to an hour and a half.

Once across the border into Russia (with a Russian national TV crew to greet the drivers), the scenery changed rapidly from the desert terrain of Mongolia to lush green vegetation.

Following the crossing into Russia, the crews made their way to Novosibirsk - the first taste of modern city living for some time.

Day 11  - Khovd to Border Camp - 295km

The final full day in Mongolia. A shorter day, with stunning views, gravel roads rather than dusty tracks, and a number of exciting river crossings!

Once again, the crews have taken advantage of the running repairs afforded by a number of local workshops. John and Edwin's position has dropped a little - they're sensibly taking things steadily with their reduced braking power. They're currently 11th in Class, and 26th overall. Yesterday's elevation to a silver medal position seems to have been temporary - they're showing in the bronze position once again.

Tonight is the last night of pitching tents - tomorrow the teams head for the border and into Russia!

Day 10 - part 2

An update was posted to the main site during Day 11.

Another long day over rocky dirt tracks for the competitors crossing 'A vast deserty scrubland ringed by snow-capped mountains'. The day ended with numerous vehicles taking advantage of a friendly local garage to sort out a variety of mechanical damage - car 99 is not listed amongst those needing substantial help - in fact, John and Ed appear to have returned to their previous silver medal status. Their overall position at the end of day 10 is not stated, as the full results for the day haven't yet been posted.

I spoke to John's wife last night to get a more direct update on the team's position and any difficulties they've faced. She tells me that the brakes aren't functioning properly as they've hit a rock, and have possibly bent a brake rod - they hope to correct this on their next 'rest' day in Novosibirsk (Day 14 - June 9th). There has also been some problem with the starter solenoid, and possibly a problem with the fuel pump. All of the necessary spares are being shipped out to Russia to meet the car.

Day 10 - Altay to Khovd - 433km

No report has been posted on the official rally site for today's journey - presumably communication is not available from this remote spot. The cars are now 2 days from the Russian border, where they might encounter the relative luxury of tarmac!

For now, in the absence of any update, here's a picture of the car and crew taken in the first few days of the rally:

Day 9 - Bayankhongor to Altay - 388km

The Sixteen has obviously struggled a little in the time trials today, resulting in a slippage to a bronze medal position for the moment - the medals awarded appear to relate solely to the time trial stages rather than to the overall finish position or ultimately completing the rally.

Once again no specific mention is made of the Sixteen in the day's report and there is no change to John's weblog, so we must assume that the car and its crew are progressing steadily and without major incident. Today's destination of Altay has of course been visited before by John and Edwin on their pre-event 'recce'. Their current position remains very respectable at 9th in class and 24th overall.

Day 8 - Khakorin to Bayankhongor - 428km

A lengthy day of over 400km - 200km of which was on dirt tracks. Reports from the official website suggest that there have been suspension problems with numerous vehicles - but car 99 isn't specifically mentioned, so we must assume that the added ground clearance afforded by the Sixteen's uprated springs has kept John and Edwin out of serious trouble.

As far as progress is concerned, it appears to have been another steady day. Their position has dropped slightly (8th in class & 23rd overall) which is still commendable progress.

Tomorrow takes the team the 388km back to Altay (the scene of the almost rally-wrecking cancelled flight on the pre-rally recce). Over the next 5 days, taking them to the next 'rest day', the crews have 2188km over some of the worst terrain of the rally. 

Day 7 - Ulann Baatar to Khakorin - 365 km

Another day completed for John and Edwin. More wide open plains in Mongolia, with the added complication of a time trial en-route.
The day ended with a hot meal and the prospect of a cold night - talk of lighting stoves in felt-lined Yurts is mentioned on the official website for the event. Once again there is no specific mention of 'our' car in today's summary, and John's blog has not yet been updated - so it seems the dependable Austin is simply doing what it was built to do.

The fine detail of the points system for the rally remains something of a mystery, with medals of different shades being awarded based upon timed checkpoints and the aforementioned time trials. As well as this overall positions in the rally and within class are also published on each competitive day. Currently John and Ed lie 7th in class with an overall position of 21st. However, in terms of medal colour they seems to have gone from gold to silver.

As the day ended with another brief sandstorm, the cars were queuing for their allocation of 80-octane petrol. This may prove an obstacle to some of the exotica within the rally, but given the Austin's heritage of 1940s pool (or pond!) petrol - perhaps this will offer a slight competitve edge? We shall see...

Day 6 - Rest Day, Ulaan Baatar - June 1st

Not much action today while the crews get a break. Many of them are doing running repairs, typically to damaged suspension and radiators. There's no specific mention of the 16 in the list of 'rolling wounded' so we must assume for now that all is well with the car. The previously retired Knox type 'R' has now rejoined, thanks to some welding to the engine block in a hotel car park - with one missing cylinder, its capacity is reduced to a mere 5 litres!

No news yet from John's blogspot.

Day 5 - Sainshand to Ulaan Baatar - 436km - May 31st

Following the relative chaos of yesterday, John and Ed are still in the running, despite the difficulties encountered. There has been at least one further retirement - a 1937 Ford Convertible, and a number of others have either become significantly lost and required assistance, or even had to have their vehicles brought into Mongolia's capital by truck. But our dependable Austin soldiers on!

The results published today now appear to separate the competitors into more specific rally positions, both in overall terms and within the relevant class. John and Edwin are 19th equal overall and 8th equal in their class. Given a starting line-up of 134 participants, this is impressive progress. I imagine there may be an additional entry to John's 'blog' whilst in Ulaan Bataar, while they have a well-deserved 'rest' day.

Day 4 - Erenhot to Sainshand (+ Border) - 223km - May 30th

The crews have encountered a sandstorm today and as a result some have failed to reach the overnight campsite, and have been told to stay where they are until morning when they will be escorted by marshals to Ulan Bataar.

Indications from event control at close to midnight (Mongolian time) are that no results will be published until the end of Thursday.

Day 3 - Siziwangqi to Erenhot- 248km - May 29th

Once again, a successful day for our intrepid crew - no time penalties - still joint 1st place.
 The crews have now reached the edge of Mongolia, and will cross the border tomorrow. Mongolia is, apparently six times the size of France with very few recognisable roads. The Chinese will not allow cars back into China unless in a shipping container, and most of the crews have only a single-entry visa to China - so the only option to get out of Mongolia is to cross this vast area into Russia.

John has uploaded a few photos of his pre-rally recce into Mongolia to his weblog at www.austin-powered.blogspot.com .

Day 2 - Datong to Siziwangqi - 368km - May 28th 

Another day successfully completed - again in joint 1st place (along with most of the other entrants at this early stage.
Almost the entire rally was diverted by a Chinese policeman instructing everyone to turn right, causing a sizeable detour.

The competitors are staying in traditional Yurts tonight (a Yurt, to the uninitiated, is a round tent), on the grassy open plain. Facilities are described as 'basic'!

John has added a brief update to his weblog, with a brief note about his last day in Beijing.

Day 1 - Beijing to Datong - 363km - May 27th

Having started from the Great Wall of China, early reports from the official rally website at www.pekingparis.com indicate that John and Ed have successfully completed the first day, and are in joint 1st place (with a number of others at this stage) in their class.

There has already been one retirement - a Knox type R with a severely 'blown' engine. A number of other vehicles have suffered mechanical problems  - it's apparently pretty hot in Beijing.

No updates have been posted to John's weblog just yet - I'm sure he has plenty of other things to do!

As a precursor to the rally proper, John and Edwin took a guided road trip to Mongolia, intending to return by air from Altay via Ulan Batoor to Beijing. Unfortunately, as you'll see from John's account below, things don't always go according to plan...