Last Post

I had hoped to make this final post once the car has been recovered from Kazan but that seems like it may be several weeks away still so here goes.

PtoP 2016 seems like a world away now, the planning the anticipation, the excitement the frustration the long hours the hard work and (in our case) the collapse at the half way point are all forgotten. But everyone wants to hear the story about how the trip was and everyone asks, 'Would we do it again?'

For me the answer is, "No." there are too many other adventures in life to repeat this particular one. there are other places I want to visit and experiences I would like to have. I couldn't take another three years out to plan a second attempt.  that doesn't mean we wont do other rallies - the Flying Scotsman is already booked for 2017 but in a way that is the point - there are plenty of rallies to go on and (this is now the heretical part) to be honest I think you can have 80% of the fun of PtoP doing a one week rally. Of course you don't get the bragging rights and the wow factor when you mention it to others but I enjoyed the Alpine Rally and 2015 Flying Scotsman just as much as PtoP.  The shorter rallies had all the ingredients - scenery, great roads and beautiful cars, but didn't completely disrupt our lives.

One thing rallying does teach you is that things go wrong.  Old cars break down, the navigator makes mistakes, the driver loses concentration.  It's a humbling experience that reminds you that we cant control all the things that go on in our lives. Bad stuff happens unexpectedly even with the very best preparation.  But good stuff happens unexpectedly too, the kindness of strangers, a beautiful view, new friends, a shared experience.  Rallying may be slightly silly and ultimately rather pointless but it's also fun and life affirming.

I shall be looking forward to our next ride in Rhubarb and Custard - once we get her back to England.

The Rally Office

It's not easy organising a rally for 110 cars to go from Peking to Paris.  As well as planning the route there are vast logistical problems such as how to find fuel in Mongolia, getting permission to cross borders, arranging for food and campsites in Mongolia.  Not to mention the headache of dealing with the competitors themselves.  Endless enquiries about visas, insurance, shipping, vaccinations and so on - it must drive the organisers mad.

A lot of the heavy lifting is done by the four people in the picture who make up the Rally Office Team (L-R Ele Piccolo, Annette Daley, Laura Clarke and Nikki Bannister).  team Rhubarb and Custard says a big thank you to them all for their tremendous help and support over the last two years of preparation and for getting us to the starting line. Now please can you get us back in one piece?

A Doctor (Richard) Writes

I was trying to get a feel for min/max temperatures in the countries I have never heard of. Doesn’t really seem all that cold. If anything heat may be more of an issue

Temp range degree C (Night-Day)

Peking...........................19-31 

Datong...........................14-27

Erenhot..........................13-28

Undurshireet..................?

Ulaan Baatar..................7-23

Bulgan...........................7-22

Murun............................?

Uliastai..........................11-25

Chjargas Lake...............?

Olgiy..............................9-22

Altai Republic...............9-22

Aya................................11-23

Novosibirsk...................11-23

Omsk.............................10-24

Tyumen..........................11-23

Yekaterinburg................10-22

Perm...............................12-22

Kazan.............................12-23

Nizhny Novgorod..........11-23

Zavidovo........................11-21

Smolensk........................11-21

Minsk.............................11-22

Brest...............................14-25

Rzeszow.........................13-25

Packing

I've started to pack my suitcase for the trip:



3 Rohan polo shirts
1 pair of Rohan trousers (these unzip to make shorts)
3 pairs of thermal socks
3 pairs silk underpants (!)
1 fleece
1 Rohan rain proof jacket
1 thermal leggings
1 thermal T shirt
1 leather jacket (still a bit undecided about this, but it looks the part)
1 pair wool lined Converse leather boots
1 pair hiking boots (do I really need these?)
2 hats
1 pair of pyjamas
1 pair sunglasses
1 pair driving goggles
2 pairs driving gloves
1 neck warmer/facemask
1 towel
1 wash bag

In a separate bag, being brought to Paris for me:

1 dinner suit
1 black bow tie
1 dress shirt
1 set of studs and cufflinks
1 Dress watch
1 Aqua di Parma cologne
1 pair black shoes
1 pair black socks
2 polo shirts
2 pairs underpants
1 pair pyjamas
1 pair jeans
1 pair shorts
2 pairs socks
1 pair deck shoes
1 casual jacket
1 beard trimmer

Reading Material

If you are thinking of undertaking the Peking to Paris Rally it's probably worth doing some reading around before signing up.

The ERA, who organise the Rally, publish a book after each event. The 2013 edition has great pictures but the text reads like a shopping list of which car is doing what.

'Turn Left for the Gobi' is another glossy book but this time written from the viewpoint of Phillip Haslam, a competitor in the 2007 event. This is how not to do it - the wrong car, bought on impulse and poorly prepared.  But despite everything they do quite well.

The original and definitive book describing the original rally  is Peking to Paris by Luigi Barzini.  It's out of print but plenty of second hand copies are around.

Border Crossing by Rosie Thomas is the biggest selling account of the trip and the one that seems to divide opinion. Thomas is is a  professional author and most reviews says she has captured the atmosphere but doesn't come across as a very nice person.  One reviewer says, "Careful guys, it's like going on a month long road trip with your wife..."

Dina Bennett is another American who has written about her trip.  The approach is humorous and written from the point of view of a hopelessly inept woman who shouldn't be on the rally. That's a bit fake because her background reveals her as having far more worldly and practical experience than (for example) I do.

Prince Borghese's Trail by Genevieve Obert follows the Nepal/Pakistan/Iraq route that is now impossible due to various conflicts along the way.

Allen Andrews' book The Mad Motorists is about the original 1907 race.  You might prefer this to the Luigi Barzini book mentioned above if you prefer a more modern writing style. 

How to Build a Successful Low Cost Rally Car is by Philip Young who founded the ERA and died last year.  Personally I think it's bonkers to imagine you can undertake P to P in a really low cost car but there are some great and practical tips in this book.

How to Win a Marathon Road Rally is published by the ERA and written by Alan Smith who is one of those lovely low key people you meet who just quietly know their stuff.  I keep a copy in my navigator's bag.

Photography

Apart from getting the car ready, obtaining visas, having various jabs, booking flights and sundry other housekeeping matters we have to think about how to keep a record of this monumental trip.

There's this blog of course - about which more another time - and there will also be a photographic record, but that isn't as easy as it sounds.

The reality on a rally is that both driver and navigator are busy nearly all the time. The event is time driven so stopping at the side of the road to take a few snaps is rarely an option. We are also there to enjoy the moment - not to spend all our time recording the moment.

On the other hand 35 days spent on one of life's great adventures without keeping some photographic record doesn't seem quite right.

The ERA has photographer Gerard Brown in tow on its events and he does a great job because he knows just where to stand to capture the cars at dramatic moments.  I've bought several of his pictures of Rhubarb and Custard. They are expensive but really high quality so I think worth the money.

The ERA also makes a video of the event but this is less satisfactory because with over 100 cars it isn't possible to give everyone equal screen time.  Basically the more oddball characters make better TV as does anyone who has broken down, crashed etc. If you are having a more straightforward rally then you won't feature much, although of course the video acts as a reminder of the feel of the thing.

I did think about bringing a drone along to take aerial shots of the car but my drone is quite bulky and the mini ones take very poor quality pictures.  I was also a bit concerned about flying it in Russia and being arrested as a spy.

So here's what I've decided to do.

• I'm going to bring along my Nikon SLR fitted with a 28-200mm Nikon lens. This lens is is off-the-scale amazing (see the picture at the top of this post). The camera is light and simple to use.

• We've fitted the rollover bar of the car with a Go Pro on a Feiyu Tech  gimble so that it holds steady as we are driving along.  The Go Pro can be operated from my iPhone. We also have a remote control so that in theory we can pan and tilt the camera from the cockpit.  I have to admit that in practice this is difficult when you are also trying to navigate.

• I've got a second Feiyu Tech gimble on a selfie stick so that I can put the iPhone out of the car window and shoot video as we drive along.  These gimbles are pretty amazing at correcting the movement of the car or your arm  but of course they do need to be kept charged. 

One problem is that video fills up the iPhone memory quite quickly and so I've bought a PhotoFast i-FlashDrive Max 128 GB USB 3.0 flash-drive.  This tiny gadget is driven by an iPhone app that can be used to transfer files including video files from the iPhone to the flash-drive without needing a computer or any other device. Having backed up to the flash-drive you can then delete the video from the iPhone to create more storage space.

Face Masks

Def need a face mask for crossing Mongolia. But which one to choose?

Tyres

There's a lot of discussion amongst rally folk about what tyres to run on.  There is the option of special rally tyres designed for Mongolia's off road conditions, but these won't work so well on the tarmac roads that cover most of the rest of the route (although there are several special stages on gravel and dirt roads).

We've decided on van tyres for Rhubarb and Custard.  These fit onto the existing wheels, don't weigh too much and should be easy to source if we need new ones. They won't give us a fast time around a racetrack - although as is often said on Top Gear the fastest form of transport in the UK is a white van, so who knows.  On balance we hope they are a good compromise between practicality and serviceability.

We know that punctures are a problem and so we have brought a puncture repair kit. However, neither of us have any idea how to use said kit. Nor do I see how it is possible to remove a tyre by the side of the road when special equipment is used if the garage does this.  We also have spare inner tubes which I recall my father always saying you must never fit to radial tyres. Again, we have the same problem of how to get the tyre off the wheel and back on again.  I've seen on one of the 2013 blogs that a competitor had 20 punctures along the route. We are only carrying two spare wheels so if we have that kind of bad luck the repair kit will be coming out.

There is the option of replacing the tyres at some point, whether or not they are damaged or punctured. At least a set of van tyres should be available and affordable in most places. Although a bit of me is reluctant to trust a tyre from a garage in the middle of nowhere.

There's quite a lot of altitude change along the route which may require adjustments to tyre pressure.  I think the advice in Mongolia is to run with soft tyres (that's certainly what mountain bikers do).  It sounds like we may be constantly pressurising and depressurising the tyres.  I've just come back from Iceland where the off-road Super Jeeps can inflate and deflate their tyres from the cockpit. We are going to fit bluetooth enabled tyre caps so that we can monitor tyre pressure form our smartphones. Mind you that's yet another thing to make life more complicated.

What Does The The Peking to Paris Rally Cost?

I thought future readers possibly thinking about entering the rally might be interested to know what it costs to enter.

The basic entry fee is £40,000 per crew of two, which for a 35 day trip including hotels and support crew seems like very good value to me.

Unfortunately it doesn't end there. Among the additional costs are:

Fuel in Mongolia - depends on engine size but £1500
Fuel on the remainder of the trip £Not Known but probably another £3,000
Shipping  - depends on where you start but £3,610 for us to get the car to China and £840 to recover from Paris
Chinese Import Bond 1% of the value of the car (so for some of the participants this could be a very big number)
Chinese Stranded Tax 0.3% of the car's value
Insurance £2175 for us

On top of this there are flights out to Beijing and return from Paris and costs of extra tickets at various events in Beijing and Paris if your loved ones are joining you. There isn't much to spend money on during the rally but we are told to take $10,000 of emergency money and plenty of participants find they need this.

Finally there is the cost of the car and fixing up the car which is whatever you want it to be.  We know that some of the cars have had a £250,000 build on top of what they originally cost to buy.  Rhubarb and Custard has not been so privileged. You also have to carry a fair inventory of spares - probably £5,000 or £10,000 worth, but of course these will not be needed on the trip (ha ha!).

So it's impossible to say what it might cost - there will be people who spent a fortune and some who are on a shoe string.  Rhubarb and Custard is somewhere at the lower end of the middle I would guess.

Still what price can you put on the experience of a lifetime?

Mongolia - A Preview

We already know where the overnight stops are in Mongolia but of course we don't know the exact route we will be following.  In general the rally organisers try to find interesting and beautiful routes that will also stretch the cars and the teams.

I've plotted on Google Earth the stopovers through Mongolia and into the first camp in Russia.

The red line is the route we would take as the crow flies - which obviously we won't be doing.

The map below is from the website 'Dangerous Roads' and the pins show some of the World's most dangerous roads that we might take if that's what the organisers have in mind.  At least one of them is 4x4 only and has a gradient of 35% so I don't think we will be doing that.

I thought if I looked carefully at Google Earth I could second guess the route but it's completely impossible. The various pictures postyed onto Google Earth make Mongolia look rather lush, green and rolling. But I gather the rally organisers are capable of finding dry, dusty and hilly parts as well!

Where's CLM 570?

Currently in Antwerp on The Cosco Denmark.

Daily & Rest Days Check List

I've compiled several different checklists into one to produce this master list of daily checks and rest day routines.

Daily & Rest Days Check List

Packing List

I thought it might be interesting to see a copy of our packing list.  This excludes the camping equipment and personal items.  It includes fluids that cannot be packed during transit to China.

Use the link below to access the list as a pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1G1D6rsLKdaZmh5T1hNbm8xclE/view?usp=sharing

Packing

 The packing process from start to finish.

The car goes to CARS Europe tomorrow and has now gone to China as far as we are concerned.

Final Test Run

Panic Setting In!

Richard and I visited RPS today where our car is being worked on. A new back axle has been installed but we have two big problems. We need some half shafts and these have to be specially made for us, which is proving to be difficult. We also need to install some front shock absorbers that have to be custom made and this is taking longer than expected.

Otherwise the car looks good - we have a new Monit and the Garmin GPS tracker installed on the dashboard, which looks like something from Star Trek. We also have a drinks and sundries holder between the seat brackets (previously we have become dehydrated because we couldn't access the water we had on board) we also have the most beautiful headlamp grills, and a rear leaf spring mounted above the rear bumper – quite elegant. Oh and new air filters that we can take into the shower and wash clean!

Lots of photos but the technology is too slow so they will follow.

Training Day

Back in October we put ourselves on Owen Turner's training day for P2P. We met Owen on the Alpine Trial and he is one of the Sweep Crew on P2P.

He ran a brilliant one day course on rally skills and preparation and we learnt a lot.  Next step is to bring the car down to his workshop in St Albans so that we can be shown how to fix it ourselves....

I forgot to take any photographs of Owen but when I googled his name and company this picture of Mr Spock came up. Fascinating.

Rear Axle Trouble

The Car is back at RPS who have discovered a leak coming from the rear axle. This turns out to be because the  axle is twisted and needs replacing. Fortunately we have a spare which is now being fitted.

In other news the bonnet catches have been replaced so that it no longer takes 20 mins to close the bonnet; a new starter motor and battery have been installed; we have a drinks holder installed in the cockpit to stop us getting dehydrated (a problem in France because the water was out of reach); the various bugs identified on the Annecy run have been sorted.

RPS are going to fit a Monit and a cradle for the GPS. The dashboard will look like a spaceship when they have finished. Mr Spock would be at home

Briefing

We spent the weekend getting a briefing at the Gaydon Motor Heritage Centre from Enduro - the Rally organisers.

A slightly shambolic British affair that ran through the route and logistics and included a session on how to use the Garmin GPS that will keep us safe across Mongolia.

In theory a chance to meet other competitors, and we did meet a few, but not the great bonding session one might hope for.

However, it has sharpened us up to get things moving and although we are quite far ahead in our planning it's time to start ticking things off the to do list - Action This Day!

Alpine Trial 2015

We signed up CLM 570 for the Alpine trial 2015 against all advice.  The rally starts and finishes at Annecy in the French Alps each day and twists and winds over spectacular mountain colls and passes. The roads are frequently single track and some are just a black line on the map.  Even in our family BMW I would hesitate to drive some of these roads, CLM 570 has vague steering and drum brakes so we were very nervous.

In the end the driving was fine and the car behaved itself.  We did have two hours by the roadside on the pre race day with a mystery electrical problem.  The ignition timing, fuel mix and spark plugs were all changed and something made it work but we aren't really sure what.  The plan is to fit a more robust starter motor.  We also need to carry a spare rotor arm.

The rally itself was quite spectacular as Gerard Brown's photos show (they are his copyright so please don't pinch them).  we adopted the approach of staying mainly in second gear on the hilly bits so that we had lots of grunt on the way up and engine braking on the way down.  With the brakes we used a stab and release system whereas in a modern car you would probably continually feather the brakes - but the drums would overheat and fade if we did that. We also adjusted the brakes every evening. Only once did we have to reverse on a hairpin bend, and the car always felt secure.

Unfortunately our Brantz wasn't working and this, together with poor navigating put us 29th out of 45 cars.  By day three however we were getting the hang of things.