China to Mongolia

John and Brett arrive in Ulaan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia. Saturday is a rest day for the rallyers, but many teams will be working on their cars. On Day 4, they place 3rd overall in their category, but it's a long way to Paris. John says that it's all good doing well, but they want to make sure Little Red reaches Paris through her own power and not on a flatbed truck!

John reports: We have broken the left rear shock-absorber upper bushing, but have a spare shock, which we will install Saturday morning and then go shopping with the damaged shock for some spare bushings. Thursday was very hot and Little Red suffered from vapor lock and the little mechanical fuel pump couldn't handle pumping fuel over 3,000 rpm. Friday was much cooler and Little Red ran better, but sometime during the day, the engine just died. We had run out of fuel! About 6 other cars (including Dirk in car #69) suffered the same. At this altitude and pushing cars as we are, fuel consumption is much higher than anticipated. There is dust everywhere. It's one thing to create the dust, but another to follow a car and its dust!

Check out Little Red's Facebook page for photos shared by other teams. https://www.facebook.com/PekingToParis2013LittleRed

Little Red and other teams somewhere in China.

At the Mongolian border.

Waiting to cross into Mongolia.

Brett and John enjoying themselves in Erenhot, Inner Mongolia.

Dust-covered engine. How does one begin to clean it up?

Campground in Altanshiree, Mongolia.

Camping in the Gobi Desert on May 30th. Staying in a hotel in Ulaan Baatar on 

May 31, then six straight days of camping before we enter Russia.

The Gobi Desert!

For the first time since the rally cars left the Great Wall of China, Celia finally hears from Team #55. It was a call nearly missed since Celia's hands were green with avocado as she prepared a salad for an early dinner. Hearing John's voice on the answering machine, she unceremoniously drops the avocado in a bowl of lettuce and sprints to another room where the telephone offers better audio reception. It didn't. The 7-minute satellite phone call, which included being reminded to make allowances for time delay, ended up being a 3-minute awkward conversation. It was, at least, on the part of Celia, who kept forgetting to say "OVER" at the end of statements, losing precious seconds.

It is the morning of Day 4 (6:41 p.m. EST) and the teams are preparing to make their way to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. John immediately reassures that they are well and that they have no access to the Internet, hence, the lack of reports. They are in the "middle of the Gobi Desert" and everyone slept in tents. It was cold and despite a huge windstorm last night, Brett slept for seven hours. John, on the other hand, only slept two. When asked about the results, John mentioned that they were pleasantly surprised to have placed 3rd, overall, in their category.

There were two off-road time trials ("just drive as fast as you can"), which Little Red was actually built for, but, owing to lack of time was never tested off-road in Florida.

In the first time trial, still learning the car's capabilities, #55 was fifth fastest overall, and in the second trial, growing a little more confident, they were 3rd fastest behind previous winner Gerry Crown in the 4.4 liter Leyland P76 and the 1974 World Cup Rally Citroen DS23.

More detailed reports will be added when the Internet is available. In the meantime, the following links offer updates.

Rally Reports and Results: http://www2.endurorally.com/pp2013/reports.html Check out the Gallery for photos of Little Red (Photo #s 26, 75, 84, 144) and other teams.

Little Red's Facebook page offers updates shared by other teams: https://www.facebook.com/PekingToParis2013LittleRed?ref=stream

Follow Car #69's Yellow Brick tracker, which gives updates every half hour on their location: http://my.yb.tl/2013P2P69/

Scrutineering and Last-Minute Preps

Scrutineering day found most participants doing last-minute preparations and adjustments, packing and repacking, and/or checking out the competition. Brett and John bled the brakes and changed nuts and bolts. There is a good photo of them doing this here:
http://www.endurorally.com/pages/5th-peking-to-paris-rally-2013.
Click on the Gallery tab - photo #26.

The afternoon's schedule included team meetings to discuss the itinerary - what to expect on the road; the doctors warning all about illnesses and how to avoid them; generally, an overview of the event. Wake up call  for start day is 4:30 a.m., breakfast at 5:00 a.m., after which teams drive to the Great Wall. The first car leaves at 8:00 a.m. with cars departing at 30-second intervals. Little Red starts at 8:26 a.m. local time. When asked, John informed me that the atmosphere was very good, very positive.

Unfortunately, most of the Yellow Brick trackers will not be available due to security concerns. You can follow Car 69 at: https://www.facebook.com/PtoP2013?ref=ts&fref=ts. Click on the link on the map. Car 69 is the only other car from Miami.

Bleeding the brakes - a day before the rally!

Car #60 - 1974 Peugeot 504 Berline. Tent on roof, access by ladder.

Car #62 - 1982 Renault 4. Exhaust pipe on roof.

Main Time Control (MTC), Time control (TC), Passage Control (PC) for Day 1 = 472 km (295 miles).

Car Pick-Up Day

Internet is still limited, so news is relayed by email for posting.

On Sunday, buses took participants to the warehouse where the cars waited to meet their drivers and navigators. Two cars had issues, but with a little fiddling and fettling, they were good to go. Little Red started with no problems. First stop - purchase petrol. Traffic was horrendous; it took an hour to drive the 22 miles to the hotel!

Here are a few photos; you will find more on Little Red's Facebook page (Click on Other P2P Websites) for more photos.

Drivers and navigators of Cars: #7, #55, #69, #70, #76 (not necessarily in that order).

Brett checking out Little Red at the Shangri-La Hotel parking Lot.

Car #76 - 1962 Mercedes 220 SE.

Brett is flanked by Cars #89 - 1951 Bentley Mark IV and Car #94 - 1953 Bentley R Saloon.

A few of the older cars.

Team #55 Arrives in China!

Neither Facebook, nor anything associated with Google is available in China, so John and Brett cannot access Blogger or Wordpress. News will be sent home via email, for posting, whenever access is limited.

Brett and John arrived in Beijing after a 22-hour flight from Miami via Zurich. Friday was spent visiting supermarkets for a few supplies, an afternoon nap, and meeting a few other competitors, before crashing at about 11 PM.

Free on Saturday morning, Brett and John made the (obligatory tourist) trip to the Forbidden City. They are unsure of the total population of China, but pretty sure that most of them were visiting the Forbidden City.

"A mandatory police presentation about driving in China included helpful hints such as red means stop, green means go, and amber/orange means caution, Also, U-turns are not allowed so if we need to go back, we go further down the road and then make a U-turn! Team #s 6, 7 and 55 went out for lunch to a hot-pot restaurant. Great food and impeccable service for about $75. Absolutely no tipping permitted!"

In the warehouse!

I've been sprung! I made it! Now in a warehouse somewhere near Beijing
As usual, keeping good company, this time with Car # 31, 1939 Bentley 4 1/2 Saloon.
Just 11 days 'til the green flag drops!

Waiting in China

I arrived in China about 10 days ago and have been patiently sitting in my container with my buddy, Car #69, waiting to be cleared by customs or moved to another location nearer Beijing, whichever comes first.

My driver and navigator leave for China one week today and plan to collect me on Sunday May 26. I just hope my battery doesn't embarrass me in front of the other 95 rally cars in the warehouse!


As always, Keep Calm and Rally On!