THE INCA TRAIL

Mud, mud, glorious...

Bart Rietbergen on the Prados Regularity, the first test of the day

Back again to the serious stuff today, mainly on asphalt, through attractive green landscapes. A run through the hills south of Ouro Preto and a short regularity section got the classics back into competitive mode, on little gravel country roads. We all paused for lunch at the historic colonial town of Tiradentes, then at the end of the day the classics climbed up to Campos do Jordao along the 27km Serra da Mantiqueira Regularity


In Tiradentes, one nameless competitor in a large British classic had a minor coming togther with a local car - the Mayor's! But he was very nice about it, and all was smiles after some money changed hands.

Meanwhile, the adventurous 4x4s got everything they'd bargained for. Their late afternoon Serra da Agua Santa Explorer Section took them off road through wooded mountains. Heavy rain had made things pretty slippy, and Chris Elliott's Toyota Land Cruiser slewed into a ditch towards the end of the final downhill section. One by one, the following crews had a go at pulling the stricken vehicle out, but it was not to be: as the ground churned up, so the task grew more daunting. He was well and truly wedged.

Opinion was that only a tractor and daylight could sort this one out. Down in the Campos de Jordao control, we imagined scenes similar to the mud of Paschendael as goo-covered 4x4s came through in succession, each more muddy than the last. Hot showers needed all round ­ for cars as well as occupants. 'It's what we came for' was their tired but chirpy attitude.

Enjoy!

Footnote: Daylight came, and Mark Appleton succeeded in extracting the Toyota with a little help from a few friends. Good to have you back with us, Chris and Linda.

Young Brazilian fans admire the MGC of Mike Knox and Rita Shelley at the Tiradentes lunch stop

Commiserations to Swiss crew Ruedi Mueller and Urban Faessler, whose superb Chrysler Imperial le Baron Roadster blew its cylinder head today. They were towed into Campos do Jordao by one of our Mitsubishi Course Cars, and will doubtless be in search of a quick custom-made gasket tomorrow. With a car like that ­ Ruedi's uncle bought it new at the Paris Salon of 1933 ­ he should have local mechanics fighting for a chance to help out.

Alastair Caldwell's Ferrari has broken its steering box: as he pulled into the town square main control, he could just manage the right turn at second attempt. But then after exiting the control he would have to turn left. 'We can't do that at all!' he cried. We have visions of Alastiar driving round in circles all night trying to create his own right-lock-only route up to our Disney-style Swiss chalet hotel.

Tom Gatsonides (son of rallying wizard and inventor Maurice) has had a succession of problems. On Day 1 he discovered a faulty fuse. Tonight he came in shaking his head sadly. 'Not going well at all: different problems today.' Back to the fault-tracing, then.