Sunday 22nd November, Day 30 from Lusaka to Victoria Falls
The day starts with good humor as competitors find a wheel clamp lying around at the hotel entrance. This is quickly placed around the front wheel of Alastair Coldwells Mercedes. Alastair duly plays to the assembled crowd and after much laughter and many pictures the clamp is removed and the rally is on its way again.
The road is better today, thank goodness and cars start arriving in Victoria Falls by mid day. John and Chris take a quick look at the falls from the Zambia side and then pass smoothly through the boarder formalities to check into their Hotel. Then back to view the falls from the Zimbabwe side. Spectacular place.
On the way back to the hotel they stop at the shell garage to try to find a workshop that will press the spare wheel bearing on the half shaft. Its Sunday and they don’t expect much. However after 2 redirects they pull into a yard and find car 17, the Cleo Crusher, getting welded. Paul and John have found "Fats" via the local boat club and a quick trip on the Zambezi river to pull him away from his fishing.
The welding to stop the rear chassis from collapsing duly completed, a new bearing pushing onto the half shaft, a quick cold beer from a local shop consumed and they are ready to go. But the crews get talking to "Fats" who is a real local character with lots of opinions and good stories.
In conversation they find out that he used to work on the Rhodesian railway and in no time all are down at the local rail siding crawling all over a UK build 4-8-2 steam engine in full steam getting ready to haul a local tourist train. John and Paul jump on the footplate for a good look. As John says "Rally cars and a steam engine, what more do we want?" Then its back to the boat club for more beer and onto the river with "Fats" for 1 and ½ hours of elephants, hippos, birds, a superb sunset and calm. All together it’s been another great day to remember.
Monday 23rd November, Day 31 from Victoria Falls to Maun
Despite dire warnings of bad roads and floods from locals the previous day, the regularity that day is on good gravel with just a couple of water splashes. At one of them Peter Rushforth (Clerk of Course) was running back and forth like a mad man, first taking a picture as cars came through the water splash and then running back to stop the clock and record the time at the timing point a few meters down the road. Good stuff Peter, keep taking the tablets. The remainder of the day was long, flat, hot and straight. On one section as Chris drove John managed to sleep for 300kms.
One very noticeable item throughout the day is the vast number of Donkeys appearing to be roaming wild. They find out later that each one has an owner and the more you own is an indication of your wealth. All speculated if the food that night was local game or Donkey.
Riley's Hotel was better than forecast and crews sat around the pool bar watching the weaverbirds building their nests. The local Shell garage, Riley’s Garage, provided some free fuel so they said thank you and stuck their stickers on the car. Long day tomorrow.
Tuesday 24th November, Day 32 from Maun to Etosha National Park Rest Camp
This will be the longest scheduled day with 990km to cover. It’s a good road on smooth tarmac to the boarder and into Namibia and country number 22.
After 15 minutes on the road John notices that the oil pressure has dropped from its usual high reading to somewhere mid gauge. The engine does sound a little harsher but there are no obvious noises or problems. The day continues to heat up and by mid day temperatures of 45C are seen inside the Mustang. At the lunch halt in Rundu John and Chris try to change the oil but run out of time as the Lancia Aurelia is on the ramp and they leave to cover the distance to the medal section scheduled for later in the day.
10km down the road big noises start, they slow down but soon turn around and limp back to Rundu at 2000 RPM. In Rundu they find their American friends in the 2CV and Jingers the rallys travelling mechanic and sweeper. They all agree that the problem is failing big ends. Round the back of the garage and up on the ramp. Off comes the sump and number 8 big end is shot. In fact the big end shell has all but disintegrated into thin slivers of white metal and cooper and is spread around the sump. John reported "That’s our Gold Medal gone. Now how do we get the engine fixed and can we still make it to Cape Town in 7 days?"
Jingers and John are driven around by the local quest house owner to various garages and parts shops in the area. They very nearly find the correct big end shells but not quite.
As the sweepers left them that evening Greg (the rally Doctor) handed them a paper with the sweeper cars satellite phone number. On the other side was a notice telling them "You are now Behind the Course Sweeper Vehicle". They felt a bit lonely.
With the sweepers gone, Chris and John spend the night in Rundu at the quest house chatting to the locals and watching the Springboks beat the Irish combined provinces on the telly. Everyone was very friendly and they were introduced to the Parrot, the goose and the 2 week old baby Mere Cat, all pets of the quest house owner. They go to bed that night with their fingers crossed that big bend shells will arrive in the morning, shipped overnight the 750kms from Windhoek.
Wednesday 25th November, Day 33 from Etosha National Park Rest Camp to Windhoek
As the crew slept at about 6:30 this morning, Anton de Stegge and his wife in their Citroen, trying to catch the rally after recovering from a breakdown, stopped for fuel at the nearby garage. He was told that the Mustang was there and waiting for engine parts. He left john and Chris a message to say "Now you are behind me". Thanks Anton, we hope they catch you up again before Cape Town.
The big end shells arrived at 11am and john and Chris had the car running again in a couple of hours. But it did not last. The oil pressure was still low and after only 10km they decided to turn around again and head back to Rundu.
They talked to the garage owner and soon came up with a deal. They would drive his son’s car to Windhoek that night and stay in the rally Hotel there while his son brought the Mustang on a trailer to arrive by noon the next day. John and Chris also had the phone number of a place in Windhoek that had a 302 V8 engine that they were prepared to sell.
The 750km to Windhoek took about 5 ½ hours, half of it in the dark with marginal lights. They had a front tire blowout but arrived by midnight at the rally hotel in time to have a beer with Greg and then headed off to bed.
Thursday 26th November, Day 34 from Windhoek to Swakopmund
Up early, breakfast and try to sort out how to fix or replace the engine. By 8:30 they learnt that the Mustang was already at the workshop in Windhoek after being trailered down non stop overnight. John reported "What great people we keep meeting on this rally, always so keen to help."
To cut a long story short. They find out that the local Ford main dealership has a 302 V8 from a 1995 Mustang for sale. The garage owner wanted more power in his new Mustang and swapped the 302 for a 351 after only 8000 miles, so the 302 was for sale.
12 hours later, the Mustang engine was out of the car, all the ancillaries and good bits from the old engine were switched to the new one and it was back in the car and running. It turned out that they had connected up with the local V8 enthusiasts who do drag racing every Friday night. They were only too happy to take up the challenge of getting the Mustang and its crew back in the rally by midnight. More great people. Thanks guys.
John and Chris left them about 11pm and knocked of the 350kms to Swakopmund arriving about 3am. The accommodation that night was in 2 bedroom chalets, Holiday Camp Style. When they arrived they find that their beds had been given to Peter and Betty Banham in their absence. Never mind, bang on the door, bang on the windows and in they go to sleep on the floor for a couple of hours in their sleeping bags.