THE INCA TRAIL

the big South American adventure rally

Day 27: San Juan - Marbella (Chile) (554km)

Round and round and up and down

Rosemary Smith's Evening Standard-sponsored Maxi on the Portillo hairpins back in World Cup Rally days.

Asphalt replaces concrete now, but the descent is just as dramatic.

First stop today was a visit to the local race circuit for five Consistency Test laps for the classics - always a favourite. Paul and Jayne Wignall were lucky to lose their brakes at just the right moment - assuming that there can be much worse places to feel the pedal drop to the floor. They had just completed their final lap, when Jayne had to brake hard to get onto the exit lane. Nothing. 'So I had to go round again,' thinking I'd earned us a maximum penalty for doing so.' But she could breathe again - marshals had already decided that a deceleration lap was in order.

It turned out that a brake hose had burst - and the crew were led off by a local enthusiast who had come out to watch our cars in action to find a replacement back in town.

Roadworks meant a major rethink on today's route - but what an alternative! Past scrub-covered hills reminiscent of a moon landscape - and then up into them. Another glorious climb - up and then on round the next bend up again, with a welcoming Alpine-style hostelry as a convenient Passage Control and second breakfast stop before the real climb began. There we were again, on top of the world, and heading towards the Chilean frontier The snowcapped Andes appeared ahead - with Aconcagua, highest peak in the Americas, in their midst.

Into Chile once more, and right out of the customs shed the road begins its descent - 29 hairpins through the ski slopes of Portillo - part of the 1970 World Cup Rally route. Marbella tonight for a day's rest tomorrow. We'll enjoy!

Welcome back ...

To Paul Merryweather and Sandra Deacon. It turns out that the distributor on the Mercedes had worked loose, and when they tried to restart the following morning at Salta it jumped the timing chain, with all kinds of dire consequences. They were lucky that the low compression engine suffered no lasting damage, though it took the best part of a day to sort out the ensuing cat's cradle.

Pregnant pause

On the subject of border crossings, rumour has it that Mary Kane found her way around the problem of arriving at the Chile-Argentina border a couple of days ago without the necessary stamps in her passport. She just found as many T-shirts as possible, secured them in front of her stomach, and said: 'I've just got to get to Salta as soon as possible.'

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