London to Sydney
Paul's Diary !
The following is direct from Paul and not edited.......
Day 1, England - Heathrow, West Minley, Yateley, Eversley, Warren Heath, The Hatchgate and finally to Portsmouth Ferry.
Well I was navigating for the first time and hadn't really looked at a stick map before. After a few go's it all fell into place and we were off on the first touring stage.
I managed to get us to the first dirt competition stage without a problem, all up the day was fairly short at about 150kms, the competition stages were fairly flat and are used on a round of the British ally Championship.
Yately was the first stage at 5.89km. It was very demanding but mainly a good gravel surface, Steve and I worked it well together and we got some good air and sideways action happening. No major dramas and on to the next stage at Warren Heath for 9.97km of gravel, this was a lot faster with rougher surface and tighter corners.
Once again all went well. And it was a lot of fun.
Off to Portsmouth to the Ferry terminal … a day after the D Day celebrations where all the troops took off from during WW2. What a fascinating and nice place … worth a visit another time. Some fantastic old warships. I believe it is the largest ship building yards in the world today.
The Ferry was a replica of the Melbourne <> Tasmania Ferry .!. quite funny really, but it was much nicer.
We sat and had some dinner followed by a few beers and a reasonably early night.
Day 2, France - St Malo, around Rennes, Loheac, Lieuron, , Les Clotures, Change, St Jean and Poitiers.
Well, started off up too early … set the clocks to French time but the Ferry ran on UK time … so we were up at 5am! Anyway, we arrived at St Malo around 8am and our day took us on an amazing scenic drive through the French countryside.
Today I was driving … and I soon found out Steve gets VERY confused with his Left and Right!!! Anyway, the day was to take us to Loheac, Leuron, Les Clotures, Change, St Jean and finish at the Mercure hotel in Poitiers. Total for the day was around 550km.
We stopped along the way at Loheac and we had an hour to visit what has to be the best car museum ever. It was absolutely amazing and you could easily spend a day there.
I think it is referred to as Manoir de l'automobile. Only pictures can tell the story!
The first tarmac stage was Les Clotures for 9.05km.
Off I went and I must say the Astra certainly doesn't have the V8 power of the Torana! It handles extremely well but you need to keep the speed up in the corners if you want to get a reasonable time. The roads were fun, not too fast, once again in a slow car fairly uneventful … other than 2 crashes from the NZ boys in the Honda team. At the end I think we had about a mid field time … surprisingly good … much better than I expected!
I was really looking forward to the second stage at St Jean 17.41km but they couldn't manage to get all the people out and close it in time so it was downgraded to a tour. But wow, what a stage, it had uphill, downhill, tight and twisty, long and open, great bitumen, gravel, wide and skinny roads …
But there were children and people all through and it would have been quite dangerous. Anyway just the drive through rural France is always magnificent .. and today the temp was sitting at 25 and the countryside absolutely beautiful.
We stayed at the Mercure Hotel just outside of Poitiers … in the middle of nowhere and the only other thing around for 10 kms is other Motels. About a 3 star it was OK … small beds, expensive crappy food but the beer was cold. Early night for an early start!
Day 3, France – Poitiers, Champs, Domps, Lapleau, Latronche and Rodez.
Today we had a run of about 460kms from Poitiers to Champs, Domps, Lapleau, Latronche and finally Rodez. Once again the scenery was amazing with roads winding through the plains and hills as we headed south into France. Following some of the beautiful rivers with the old towns buildings of rocks was the scenic highlight.
We stopped off at a little town called Sussac for coffee and a break to get ourselves ready for the first competitive stage.
The first stage at Domps was 9.36kms long through the agricultural countryside. Lots of twisty bits and loose surface but overall a great stage. We had a good run with only 1 lockup heading towards a drop, but the little Astra sticks to the road like nothing else and just point and squirt and off we go!
The next stage was 80km away called Latronche. It was 9,58km long through the countryside passing through some lovely little hamlets.
This one had a few more uphills and downhills and I don't think the Astra could have gone through there any faster. It was a great run with no moments.
Steve put in some good times today although we probably have the least amount of power in the entire competition group other than perhaps a Suzuki and a Skoda.
We are now at the Best Westin hotel just outside of Rodez … once again nothing to do here other than a shower, few beers, dinner and an early night as we have a 7.15am start in the morning.
Day 4, France – Rodez, Pruines, Mouret, Villecomtal, Reynal and Gap.
Today see's us doing 530km from Rodez through Pruines, Mouret, Villecomtal, Reynal and landing for the night in Gap. Two competition stages with Mouret at 20.36 and Reynal at 14.93. My turn at driving … feeling good, off to a good start but …… 2km in it happened!
I just went in too hot and couldn't get around the corner.....It was a sharp 3 right tightening to a long 2 with gravel...
I hit the brakes but it was all too late and we were passengers, the tulip notes we have did show the corner but our teratrip is out by a fair bit and the corner wasn't where we expected it, also as we entered the more open part I could see a yellow Ford Capri from NZ over the bank with the driver/navigator busily working on the front … not out there slowing others … and I can't remember seeing their triangle.
Anyway, lost concentration for that split second and it was all over, I tried to get off the brakes and steer around but instead I ended up trying to avoid hitting the Capri and the power pole!
The power pole seemed the safer bet, but I did try and miss … but failed! Took it on the drivers front quarter panel, which in turn grabbed the front wheel and broke the steering tie rod, wishbone and wrecked the front guard. The car also bounced over a bank and took out the other wishbone, front guard and mirror. Of course we can't forget the prickle trees we ended up in! Anyway, it's all on video for anyone that wants to buy it! (Of course We'll have to put that little clip up here real soon.....)
When we got out the Capri guys ran up the road and put their triangles out … and I did the right thing and stood up the road and warned all the rest of the cars to slow down!
In the meantime the Capri guys managed to get their car going and after much persistence and sweat got it out, and took off to attempt to catch the rest of the group.
We waited patiently until a tow truck arrived. What a truck … a tray body with tilt for car transport, but the center rose up as a crane … so we craned the Astra out of the ditch and put it on to the truck. Off we went, and as it turned out the truck driver owned a car repair centre and is also a keen rally driver … just couldn't speak English.
We got to his workshop back in Rodez and set to looking for all the broken bits. Our support crew also arrived to check over the damage and made a list of all the bits we needed to get going. The French guys must have called every Opel dealer in the region and finally found one with some parts … 2 hrs away. So, while we waited for the parts we had some lunch and pulled all the broken bits off, taped all the broken panels, plastics, etc….. Parts arrived about 4, took an hour to replace … but still didn't have a steering tie rod … so they simply straighten the broken/bent one and used that. Seemed to be OK. Finally after a little more mucking about we were off … about 6.30 pm with about 500kms to go to get to Gap. We took a different route to the rally … freeways where the speed limit is 140 … so amazingly enough we arrived at 11.30 all intact …. Except for one little mishap … driving along at 140kph there was an almighty bang on the roof … the roof mounted air vent decided to let go … never to be seen again … so now we also have a hole in the roof! Small problem really.
Anyway, accommodation was OK, just time to sleep and get up again at 5.30 to get ready for our 7am start.
The "French Guys" who put the front end back together........
