THE INCA TRAIL
the big South American adventure rally
Day 49: Buenos Aires - Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay) - Montevideo - Punta del Este (393km)
Mike Johnson demonstrates serious wet weather gear for rally marshals |
Fabulous sunset over rain-drenched Punta del Este |
From the Sheraton in Buenos Aires it was just a five minute drive to the ferry terminal to cross the River Plate - said to be the world's widest river at this point - by high speed SeaCat. The crossing took the rally into Uruguay, landing at the charming cobbled colonial town of Colonia del Sacramento, where the Minister of Tourism was waiting to welcome the Inca Trail to Uruguay. While crews waited for final car importation formalities to be completed, they were treated to a display of traditional drumming and dancing in the street - while the townsfolk looked on from their doorways, mate cups in hand.
Circuit problems
Then it was off via a seafront drive on the Ramblas highway at Montevideo, and, 40km later for the Classics, a lap consistency test at El Pinar circuit. Torrential rain during the morning made conditions treacherous, and several crews failed to meet their required target marker lap time, with others failing on the consistency front. Best performance of the day was put in by old hands John Bateson/Colin Francis (Escort RS2000) and rallying newcomers John Aspinall/Philip Jenkins (Mustang). Both crews kept their penalties down to just two seconds.
But Paul and Mary Kane in the Shelby Mustang had a disastrous time: on their marker lap Mary had a difficult moment controlling the car, and failed to make their 'window', earning penalty points in the process. They accumulated more penalties through the following laps, earning themselves a maximum of 30 on the test, and blotting their 'pure gold' copybook. They remain Gold medallists as best of their Age Category, but they will have failed in the ultimate challenge: to go clean from one end of this tough event to the other.
Old Car Heaven
A few more kilometres up the road, a special rest halt awaited crews. Uruguay is famous for the many old cars of the 1940s and 50s that still exist as a result of restrictive Government importation policies until relatively recently. So lunch was at 'Old Car Heaven', whose owner had organised a marquee with all kinds of local delicacies and wines, and a welcoming visit by Britain's ambassador to Uruguay.
Wet, wetter,wettest
The final part of a busy day was a 65km Regularity test for the classics combined with a 4x4 Explorer section. The rain returned, drizzling at first, but worsening to the point of saturating every timing point marshal en route. Competitors loved it: the torrential conditions added extra spice to the fun of driving the gravel and asphalt lanes in terrain strongly reminiscent of parts of England or Wales. 'It has to be the wettest regularity ever,' commented event official Paul Heal. Another one for the record books?
Diana Dyke-Price was so amused at timing point marshal Stuart Wood's sorry bedraggled appearance (his timing check sheet long since turned into blotting paper) that she collapsed in helpless laughter for the length of the following section. 'She was no use to me at all,' complained Rick, 'I just had to drive and hope for the best.' Rick did well enough, though, dropping just three seconds at the next point - compared with ten seconds coming into Stuart's control when Diana had been fully on board.
But it was fun, even though everyone who had been outside looked - and felt - as though they'd had buckets of water thrown over them. At the end of the day, results showed that David Liddell / Mark I'Anson had dropped just eleven seconds through the four Timing Points, while Paul Merryweather / Sandra Deacon marked their return to competitive driving after rejoining at Buenos Aires with a score of twelve. They pipped fellow Class C3 contenders Malcolm Pickering / Derek McConnell on the day's overall total, with 4.2 penalties against the latters' 4.4: both put in the second-best circuit test performance of the day, scoring just three penalties apiece at El Pinar, with the Alpine crew going two seconds worse on the regularity.
Though the torrents from the skies eased back for the final run into Punta del Este for the overnight halt, roads were awash with river water flooding across. One or two crews drowned out on the seafront road, including Paul and Jayne Wignall in the Volvo PV544 and Malcolm McKay's TR2: both were towed the short distance home after their cars decided they had had enough of the conditions.
Howard and Ann: the saga continues
But though the damp classics got things going again, with relative ease, it wasn't the same story for Howard Seymour and Ann Bennett. Yet again they were towed in with engine woes. As Anne says, 'We'll get it to a workshop in Montevideo, do our usual city tour, meet the locals. We're sorry to have been so antisocial through most of the event, but we'll make it to Rio to join you all for the end.'
News too from the Guilles, whose Land Rover Discovery finally expired en route to Mar del Plata. They managed to arrange in Buenos Aires for the car to be repatriated - and are travelling with other 4x4 crews up to the finish. 'You can't believe what a relief it is to be without that ailing thing,' said Carol. 'We can relax and enjoy ourselves a bit now.'
Spirit of Adventure
Apologies to Richard Beechner who was the joint recipient with Angus Stamper of the Spirit of Adventure Award at Buenos Aires for driving the cancelled explorer section through all that mud. Richard joined Angus at El Calafate, and will hand over his seat to Angus's wife, Emma, who joins us at Florianopolis for the final few days to the finish at Rio.