Here's the latest reports from John in Aqaba on Wednesday night.  I don't
think we'll get another one for a bit, until John is able to get a signal
again for his Mobile phone.  I can imagine this getting even more difficult
as he get's into Africa.  The odd correction may follow as well, as
sometimes during his reports, the signal broke up a bit, but I think it is
pretty straight.  I simply left out some of the detail that I didn't quite
catch when the signal broke up.

Ian.
 

Saturday 31st October, Day 8, from Nevsehir to Antakya

The day started with a very low average speed to give everyone plenty of
time for photo stops as they drove through the Catpadocia area.  In this
area, there are rock dwellings dating back to 500 years BC.  These consist
of very strange rock formations hollowed out and lived in for many years.
The itinerary at this point describes troglodyte villages, Byzantine rock
churches and bizarre rock formations.  The route through southern Turkey
was good driving country with hills, distant mountains and large flat
plains.  The day went well and the Mustang only picked up one second in
penalties.  They also got their first sight of the Mediterranean Sea.
Brake judder is the biggest problem today for the Mustang.  John expected a
lot of brake wear and he has plenty of spare pads with him, but the
vibration is stressing the front suspension and causing unpredictable
braking.  The answer, for now, seems to be to get up the hills as fast as
possible and then to descend slowly.

This is the second day with John Vipond as co-driver in the Mustang.  They
are managing to fine tune technique in the regularities and are achieving
good times.  The medal sections were mostly on good road surfaces and very
fast.  At the end of the day, they had great fun finding the Hotel and
ended up driving right through the local bizarre with shops, street sellers
and handbarrows in the street.  John said, "I don't think we ran anybody
over!"

That night, in the street, John and Paul jacked up the Mustang's rear and
took out the rear shock absorbers and coil springs.  When they did this,
they found problems that would need welding in the next few days.  They
did, however, manage to acquire some cup washers from a local garage and
re-assemble the system with their fingers crossed.  John then called the UK
to arrange spare rubbers and washers to be shipped to reach them when they
arrive in Aqaba.  Also, the front wheel bearings are still giving concern.
John doesn't really what to start using the spares kit, as there is still a
lot more rough roads to come.  So they'll just keep tightening up the wheel
bearing nuts and keep their fingers crossed.

End of Day 8
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Sunday 1st November, Day 9, from Antakya to Damascus

HEY Laurence....  Today we ride to Damascus!    (Laurence of Arabia)

This is how the day started with shouts of "Hey Laurence, today we ride to
Damascus!"  From the start, the Johns
proceeded to the Turkish border as fast as they could just in case of
delays.  This was a good strategy, as leaving Turkey was just as slow as it
had been when entering the country 3 days previously.  Syria, on the other
hand, was very efficient and each team got a personal escort to usher them
to the correct places to get the right stamps on the right papers.  A big
crowd was there to greet them with a brass band also playing.  "A very
Friendly welcome!"  The crowds stretched down the road as they saw lots of
people and school children lining the route.  The children were waving
banners and throwing flowers.  The police were also very friendly, waving
them on and manning the junctions to stop the traffic.  What a great
reception!  A super day, with good rally roads with waves and smiles
everywhere and police who didn't watch the speed limit!  "The best country
yet!"

During the day, they had a very tricky, 10-minute medal section, where they
climbed up to the Crusader Fort at Krak Des Chevaliers.  The road was
narrow and had tight hairpins.  The Mustang scraped home within its time
allowance.  John Thomason in the Vitesse was not so lucky, going straight
on at a hairpin and crashing into the side of the mountain.  The car came
away with the chassis bent and the engine, radiator and front suspension
pushed back a few inches.  He limps on!

They reached Damascus by mid afternoon and found the Hotel to be good.  The
local car club controlled the parking here at the hotel and a lot of cars
were on display.  They made the teams very welcome and the display of cars
looked very impressive under the illumination of the street lamps.  After a
couple of beers to wash the dust down, John changed the front pads on the
Mustang.  The competition pad linings were 3/4 worn down after only 4 days
of rallying and the leading edge of the pads were beginning to break up,
causing the brake judder.  He fitted a set of standard pads in their place
to see what difference that would make over the next couple of days.  The
rear shock absorbers' patches are still in place and holding together.

In Damascus, Lord Steel of Aikwood (David) rejoins the rally to drive his
Austin Gipsy down to Cape Town.

End of Day 9
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-------------------------------

Monday 2nd November, Day 10,  from Damascus to Amman

Leaving Syria was no problem, but entering Jordan was chaotic as all the
Carnets got separated from the passports and it took a long time to get
through their stamping procedure.  This caused a lot of frustration and
delay for a lot of the competitors.  The Mustang team had a problem with a
marshal, which they aggravated by protesting and it cost them 53 seconds in
penalties on a regularity during the day.  This has set them back a little
relative to the other two top runners.

There was a great location at the start of the 2nd regularity as the main
contenders parked up on a gravel hill climb waiting for the start.  An
interesting gravel road with a scenic backdrop.  Four small boys came up
from the local village to look at the cars and were offered chocolates,
which they reluctantly accepted.  Then John got out his Polaroid camera and
took their picture while they stood next to the Mustang.  Were they happy!
Big smiles and lots of chatter and giggling.  They now have this picture as
a momento to show around, probably a trophy up on their wall.

Once into Amman, the Peugeot and Mustang had prebooked time at a garage,
courtesy of the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan.  They spent 7 hours here
working on the two cars.  On the Mustang, they welded up the rear top shock
absorber mounts and fixed a few minor problems.  They checked underneath
the car and applied grease to all the grease nipples.  On the Peugeot, they
also welded up the rear shock absorber mounts and mounted 4 new front
lights.  Two of these lights work, but the other two don't because the
front wiring harness still has problems after the crash.  The front crash
damage was bashed and welded back into shape to allow the radiator to be
pulled forward more and give clearance between the engine fan and the
radiator.  A number of other cars also went to the garage, including the
Vitesse.  The Vitesse spent 11 hours in the garage having chassis
straightening and welding attempted.  They finally got back to the Hotel at
around 2am, sat in the bar for an hour to unwind, had 4 hours sleep and
then were off again.

End of day 10
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---------------------------------

Tuesday 3rd November, Day 11,  from Amman to Petra

The day started with a speed test.  This was carried out on the local
driving school's test site around some cones in Amman.  Most people made
sure that they carried out the test correctly rather than trying to go flat
out to get a fast time.  This was followed by two regularities, one down to
the Dead Sea and the other was through the hills to Petra.  This was very
scenic, but with very steep roads.  As they descended down the road to the
Dead Sea, the scale of the place surprised them, the sea being about 1200
feet below normal sea level, according to John's trusty Altimeter watch.
It was very hot down there as the temperature was 38 degrees C.

At the end of the Dead Sea regularity, there was a local rock feature which
looks like an elephant.  Simon Catt, being the climber, climbed up the
elephant's backside, probably without hanging onto its tail.  John didn't
say if Simon had then slid down its trunk at the other end.  Sounds like a
very energetic tusk!  The competitors then had an hour and a half, midday
break to go and float in the Dead Sea.  This was fun and a lot of people
took the opportunity to do this, with there fingers, toes and noses
sticking up in the air as they floated high in the very saline waters.
After the dip in the sea, while people were showering and then having a
drink, they speculated on how one might start a new sport of reverse bungy
jumping in the Dead Sea!  You would have to try and sink yourself with
weights and then let go of them to see if you could reach the surface and
pop out of the water.  Hmmm!

On the final run into Petra, they saw the sun set over the hills with
wonderful colours on the rocks.  Oranges, yellows and reds, an
unforgettable sight.  The Mustang is going well and last night's fix is
holding up.  The front klunk is still there however.

End of day 11
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Wednesday 4th November, Day 12,  from Petra to Aqaba

Everyone got up at 7am to allow time to walk down the canyon and into the
old site in Petra.  They have half a days break here as the restart is not
until the afternoon.  They walked down to the treasury building which is
probably familiar to everyone as the temple featuring in the "Indiana
Jones/Search for the Holy Grail" movie.  Can't remember the exact film
title.  This was at 9am and they had an excellent sun angle lighting up the
front of the rock carved tombs.  They spend 3 hours getting down here,
looking around and getting back to the Hotel again.  John took about an
hour's video here, including the tour guides comments, so that they can
re-live the experience later.

They then returned to the Hotel and got the Mustang and Peugeot ready for
the 2:24pm re-start and the 170Km trek down to Aqaba.  This was a short
day, with a half days look around Petra, a short section down to Aqaba and
no competition sections.

As they rolled down into Aqaba in the Evening, they got their first
glimpses of the Red Sea.  There's lot's of Lorries here as it is a main
port and there is a lot of Lorry traffic running back up into Jordan.
Chris Podger has flown into Aqaba to be in the Mustang from here right
through to Cape Town.  There's a change round here as Chris goes into the
Mustang, John Vipond goes back into the Peugeot and Paul Grogan flies back
to the UK tonight.

End of day 12
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*** MESSAGE FOR MANDY ***

Mick Munton in Car number 15, the BMW 2002, sends greetings to his daughter
Mandy in Paris.  Make sure you keep sending the web info to Solange.  Mick
is enjoying the rally, and apart from a 6-minute penalty on the first day,
he is running up with the leaders and having fun!

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SOME RESULTS

In the evening in Aqaba, the event organisers posted up some cumulative
results for all days up until the previous night.  As there were no
competition sections from Petra down to Aqaba, these are also the results
right down to Aqaba.

There are three cars still at Gold Medal standard:-

Car      Penalties
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--------
Car 38,   15,      The Mustang,  John Bayliss/Chris Podger,  15 penalty points
Car 25,   17.6,    The Austin Westminster,  John Blanckley/Tom Davies
Car 45,   17.6,    The Mercedes,  Alistair Caldwell

There are five cars at Silver Medal standard:-

Car      Penalties
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---------
Car 44,   347.5
Car 18,   462.2,   The Triumph Vitesse,  John Kipping/John Thomason
Car 15,   709.9,   The BMW 2002,  Mick Munton
Car 30,   1878.4
Car 16,   2122.1,  The Ford Cortina,  John Catt/Simon Catt

John said that he is still in the lead up until today, but that they are
still only one third of the way through the rally in terms of time and
mileage.  There's a lot of rough stuff to happen in Africa.  The rumour
going around is that it's been reported that the rain in Kenya has come
early this year.  This could create difficult and muddy sections in Kenya,
with some cars fairing better than others.  This could mean that all these
results could get turned on their head once the rally enters difficult
terrain in Kenya.

The next day, Day 13, they are due to leave Jordan to be escorted through
Israel and then on down into Egypt.

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----------------------------

That's it for now folks.  John was going to call me again today from Egypt,
but I guess he couldn't get a signal again for his mobile phone.