London to Sydney
Steve's Diary !
The following is direct from Steve and not edited much, Will add pictures when Steve hands them over.....
Day 1 – London (UK) to Portsmouth (UK) 5-6-04; 150km
The first day was only half day really. We had a 50km commute to a couple of gravel stages then less than 100km to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to St Malo in France.
I was driving and the first two stages went quite well. I was very rusty not having driven the Astra for almost 2 years and not having driving on gravel in that time either. Paul took to the navigating and calling well and we not only got to them, but also got through them cleanly.
After the Monaro it was very difficult not being able to hear the engine at all in the stages. I had to keep a keen eye on the tacho to know what the engine was doing. Certainly acceleration wasn't strong enough for me to feel it by the seat of my pants.
But we were very surprised and pleased to finish the day 17 th outright. Amazingly all the Porsche's were behind us. I am sure that situation cannot least. It was a tough day for the US competitors, Paul Shaver's Honda Integra catching fire on the first stage and Chip John's big Ford Falcon breaking its clutch. There were a couple of minor biff's but in the end all the cars made it to the ferry….albiet the Shaver Integra on the end of a tow rope.
Day 2 – St Malo (France) to Poitiers (France) 6-6-04; 520km
The ferry trip to France was really smooth. The ferry itself was an absolute replica of the Spirit of Tasmania with identical layout. But the décor was much better, very French. I was to be navigating today and started badly by screwing up the time zones and getting Paul and me up one hour too early. Buggar!
We got of the ferry very smoothly…even more so than getting of the Spirit of Tasmania. We found our service crew easily and changed from gravel to tarmac tyres and backed off the rear brake bias. We had a 120km navigate to our first stage which was 9km tarmac. We got through that well but Paul was in a lot of shock at how little power he had to play with in the Astra. But we got through cleanly relying on braking and maintaining corner speed. Two more Honda Integra's came to grief in the stage…one of the kiwi cars looked like it was parked on the side of the road with mechanical damage and a second (Smokin' Joe's) was buried in a ditch as he overcooked a “Turn Hard 2 Right”. Hmm…..3 of the 4 Honda's we already in trouble.
After the stage we had time to visit a superb motor museum with the largest collection of cars I have ever seen. There were hundreds…particularly impressive was a display of about a dozen F1 cars dating from 80's and 90's.
The second stage was to be longer but was cancelled because they couldn't control the large crowds. It was a great shame as the stage looked really challenging, was narrow and twisty with downhill that would have suited the Astra well.
We had a 250km transport stage to Poitiers for our overnight stay. The redshirts were in amazement that we turned up…not only without getting lost but we were one of the first cars to navigate our way in.
Overall our first two days have been consistent and incident free. We still have a very long way to go and I can't help wondering what lies ahead.
Day 3 – Poitiers (France) to Rodez (France) 7-6-04; 460km
My turn to drive today and we had a 185km tour to our first stage which was a tight uphill stage about 10km. We went through OK but it didn't really suit the Astra. The second stage of the day seemed to suit us better. It was about half uphill and half downhill. The little Astra was flying.
After the second stage we had a 170km touring to our overnight stop of Rodez. We went through some beautiful villages. Rural France really is magnificent and the weather at this time of the year has been sensational, 25deg for the last couple of days.
There were no drama's for us today. Just had a quick check of the car ourselves and put it to bed for the night.
Day 4 – Rodez (France) to Gap (France) 8-6-04; 530km
Paul's turn to drive today so I took the navigator seat. Stage 1 was to be a long stage, 23km. But not for us, about 1.9km into the stage we under-steered off a “2 right” hairpin and collected a power pole and quite a few small tree's and bushes. We weren't the only one's to crash on that corner as a NZ entered Ford Capri was neatly backed over the bank when we arrived on the scene. Fortunately for them they managed to park it in the only gap between the tree's and the power pole.
We waited for a tow truck to come and they took us to a very helpful mechanic workshop in a small town outside Rodez. We found we had broken both front wishbones and the right hand steering arm along with quite a bit of superficial panel damage. The mechanic had to travel a 3 hour return trip to another town to get replacement wishbones and had to weld up the steering arm as no replacement was available nearby. Whilst all this was happening Paul and I race taped up all the superficial damage.
About 6.30pm that night the car was ready and we set off to catch up to the rally in Gap. It was a 500km drive at high speed on the French motorways. Part way there we heard a huge crash on the roof of our car and found that the rally roof vent was obviously not built for such speeds and ripped itself off. Never mind, we can continue without it.
We finally for in to Gap at 11.30pm, parked the car and went to bed as we had another early start in the morning.
This was a day of adventure for us.
