How to win the Peking to Paris Rally

By all accounts the race is won or lost in Mongolia.  The Gobi desert just chews up the cars leaving time gaps that can't be closed in Russia or Europe.

And Mongolia is all about suspension.  Oh there are other problems to worry about for sure - overheating, tyres, fuel, hitting a giant rock, getting stuck in the sand, getting lost and so on and on and on. But, assuming you are not struck down by those hazards then the sheep and goats, men and boys are separated by the quality of their suspension.

This fundamentally is why the Chevrolets keep winning, because they have a coil at the front, a leaf at the back and then bolster this set up with a couple of gas struts. Nothing to go wrong.  Well not quite, because the leaf springs will be 80 or more years old and with a lot of weight in the boot (trunk for US readers) they take a beating and so leaf failure is quite common.  This is where Mr Mongolian Blacksmith comes in.  We have one spare leaf, which is installed where our rear bumper (fender for US readers) would normally be.

The additional gas struts are not a panacea either as they get extremely hot with use and can explode. We have our heat gun and intend to monitor the gas strut situation on a regular basis.

Unfortunately Rhubarb and Custard has a rather complex front suspension that is hard to describe but let's just say 'What the f*** were Buick thinking of?'  We have a spare but God alone knows how you fit it and if the spare goes then it's a long bumpy road to Paris.

So our motto is not so much Win at All Cost, but Don't Bugger the Suspension.

The Navigator's Bag

Never let the Navigator's Bag out of sight. This is what is in it:

Folder containing:

• Daily and Rest day Checklist
• Car Data (e.g. Spark plug gap, Tyre size)
• Spares and Consumables List
• List of Contents of Medical Kit
• Route Listing
• Hotel Listing
• Rally Preparation Course Notes
• Spot Trace Tracker Instructions
• Brantz Instructions
• Annual International Safety Inspection Certificate
• Camera and Gimbal Instructions
• Fault Finding Guide
• Multi language car data sheet (for bystanders to read)
• Copies of V5
• Copies of Passports
• Copies of International Driver’s Licence
• Copies of Insurance 
• Copies of Vaccination Certificates
• Copies of Credit Cards
• Copy of Entry List
• Copy of Rally Regulations

Plastic wallets containing:

• Post - it notes in various colours
• Post-it page markers
• Rubber bands in various sizes and colours
• Bulldog Clips
• Scotch tape
• Highlighters
• Chinagraph pencils
• Coloured pens
• Magnifying glass with light
• Writing pens
• permanent marker pen
• Self adhesive Vecro strips
• Spare plastic wallets

Travel Documents

Passports

International Driving Licences

V5

Clipboard and pad of paper

Notebook

Monit instructions

Questions & Answers on Automobile Electrical Systems by E Molloy 1952

The Civil Service Motoring Organisation Handbook 1955

How to Win a Marathon Road Rally by Alan Smith (nah - only joking, no room for this I’m afraid)

Garmin

Spot Trace

Digital Flare

Mechanical compass

Spare batteries for the above

Car Keys

Badges/Key rings from Gaydon

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.

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.

Flying Scotsman 2015

I've only just got these pictures from Gerard Brown of the Flying Scotsman - they are his copyright so please don't pinch them. They were taken before our gearbox failure led to a broken half shaft and the rear wheel falling off on day three.

More Cash Out The Door

On 25th Feb 2015 we took another visit to RPS where the car was theoretically ready. However, we took with us a checklist from 'How to Win a Marathon Road Rally' that added another couple of thousand pounds worth of work to be done. Still better that than be stuck in the Mongolian desert with a broken car.

Photo left is of the new rear suspension, which looks like it will take Mongolia in its stride.

The Work Continues

I'm posting this in February but it relates to a quickie visit I paid to the team at RPS during January.  The entire fuel system has been replaced with something much simpler and hopefully more reliable, the brakes, gearbox and clutch have all been tinkered with to make them work properly, the seats have been anchored more safely and the driveshaft completely inspected. Some nasty metal shards were found in the driveshaft that would never have been detected without RPS's thorough inspection and which could have led to grief on the rally.  The shaft is being sent away to specialists for repair.

So far RPS has spent £10,000.  It looks like another £10,000 before they are finished. Merde!

After this visit I sent the mechanical checklist from "How to Win A Rally" to the team at RPS to cross check that they had picked up on some of the simple but crisis averting ideas in Alan Smith's book (coconut car mats that can double up as grips for getting you out of sand - I would never have thought of that, or that you tie them to the rear bumper so that you don't drive off and leave them behind).  I think there were a few new ideas for RPS and many that cost only a few pounds.

Navigation, Navigation, Navigation

Way back in July we took a day's instruction in rally timekeeping and map reading from Alan Smith - Author of How to Win a Road Rally, Unfortunately I misplaced my notes and so have only now been able to write the day up.

Alan certainly knows his stuff and is a patient teacher. He sat in the back of our family car whilst Richard and I took it in turns to be driver and navigator.  Alan has a pre-set route around the Chilterns and we practised reading OS maps, using Tulip diagrams and race timing.  It was hard - exhausting even.  Although we didn't make too many mistakes the level of concentration was considerable and I for one was shattered the next day.  We would also have gone off route on our first lap if Alan hadn't corrected us. His cardinal rule is "Route first, Timing second" - on the basis that you can't win if you are not on the route.

I'm not sure how much of this will stick.  Alan gave us a sample page from the 2013 Flying Scotsman timing sheets and looking at it now it's still gobbledegook.