Vauxhall to Paris

The Finish

2010-10-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting this.
We arrived in Paris at the finish in 2nd place in the Pioneer class.
The Gala Banquet was a great night for every one to dress up.
We were meet in Paris by my niece Lisa and James

2 1/2 days to go

2010-10-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been very wet and late.
All is going well and we are now close to the end.
This has been a quick update while waiting for breakfast to start.

Day 28 leaving Iran

2010-10-09T09:56:00.000-07:00

This day saw us leaving Iran for Turkey.
The welcome from the Iranian people was the most enthusastic we've seen for the trip.
On the way to the border the local farmer were harvesting sunflowers by hand and drying the seeds on the edge of the road. Most of the farming in Iran is still all hand harvesting with some of the thrashing being done by small machines.
When we entered Turkey Mount Ararat was on the right but the top was not visiable for cloud.
As we got near the end of the day all the farmers where along the road selling there crops, like all the countries we have traveled through. In turkey we saw the biggest Cabbages ever about 400 to 500mm across.

Day 29

2010-10-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

I'm doing the update and days back the front to catch up a bit.
Started out as the most kilometres of the rally and ended up being 16 hour in the car on the road. It rained nearly all day. On the way to the first time trial we wondered along through rural villiges and farm land to climd up and down some huge mountians which would have been fantastic if clear.
The day was mared by Micheal and Anne in Car 38 going of the edge in a slipery corner luckily neither were hurt. All cars got dirty including the drivers in the open cars with out mug gaurds on the wheels.
We eventully arrived at our Hotel at 10 pm at night for a quick feed and shower before falling in to bed.

Day 30

2010-10-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

We have internet and time again.
This afternoon Carl was so happy as I'd promised him snow at some time on the trip and today the weather delivered. It statred out a very cold clear day after yesterdays rain. We drove for the day through the most amazing scenery and ended at this mountian resort that had 50mm of snow last night. So we stop on the way for a quick play.
200 metres from the resort we broke the eye off one of the Mongolian springs we had fitted back in Khovd so luckly we had the good ones we picked up in Almaty.

Carl is out side in the cold and cloud fitting the new main leaves while I do a bit on the Blog.

Update

2010-10-06T11:19:00.001-07:00

It looks like the photoes didn't upload sorry so i'll try again another night.

Day 27 Update

2010-10-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

What a great drive today we started of at the edge of the Caspian Sea in pouring rain and headed of the range towards Tabriz. The road to the top was the longest uphill road I've driven, in 35 kilometres we climbed 7500 feet so it was a second gear haul most of the way. the Uphill side from the caspian was temprate rain forest and as soon as we crested the range the Sun was out and it changed to dry desert mountians.

Later in the Day we crossed another range and the down hill side was mostly a road that desended as step as 1 in 7 but mostly 1 in 10. So we needed to stop twice to let our brakes cool even using 1st gear all the way down.

The welcome from the people of Iran has been the most enthusastic that we have had for the whole trip. Most of the towns people are out on the street waving and taking photos. and as soon as you stop, the cars are just swamped with people.

This is just a quick update as the days are long and we end up very tired and just fall in to bed to start it all over again the next day.

On the Road Again

2010-10-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Quick Phone Update.

We got in on a truck last night.

Thanks to the gracious support and assistance provided by the crews of Car 84 and Car 3 we have welded up our steering arm and are back on the road this morning.

Day 24

2010-10-03T05:05:00.001-07:00

Turkmenabat to Ashgabad.

We were 200 km from Turkmenabat and we stopped in a town and realised we had broken a steering arm, so Penny is on the back of a truck going to Ashgabad. We are both in the front seat of the truck and I am recovering from heat stroke and presently have a bout of diarrhoea. Not the best day for us today, but we’ve both had a nap in the truck and in a few hours we will arrive in Ashgabad and try to find a workshop and get welding and fixing Penny so we can drive across the border into Iran tomorrow. (Julie is loading this blog enrty) It looks like it is going to be a long night, but hopefully we can get the steering arm welded and we can get on the road again.

Day 23

2010-10-03T05:04:00.001-07:00

Tashkent to Turkmenbat

We had the hottest day of our trip so far and at the border crossing between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan I didn’t have enough to drink and ended up with heat stroke. I went off to the docs and everything was ok and he said I had heat stroke, and I just had to keep drinking lots. We decided to keep the hood on tomorrow to keep us in the shade.

Day 21, 22

2010-10-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

Day 21
This was one of the shortest day for the trip. We left Tashkent at 9.00 for a mostly motorway drive to arrive in Samarkand at 2.00.
The whole way was farming. with 1000's of acres of cotton that is all hand picked.
Tashkent was a viberant modern city with lots of cars and the apperance of wealth. Rural Uzbekistan is very poor with the the main form of transport donkey and cart.
After lunch we arrived at Samarkand for another rest day. This city is so different you would think its in a different country. No high rise, less gardens and parks and not as much colour in the buliding.
The money in Uzbekistan is called a som and the exchange rate is $1 to 1600 som, and the largest note is 1000 som so you end up with pockets full of money. Yesterday when we bought fuel the 110 litres cost 160,000 som so I hande over a wad about 2cm thick and the attendend fed it in to a note counter and gave me back the litte bit of excess.
Cay 22
A rest day infor people to work on and service the cars.
Carl did the greasing while I fitted new packing to the water pump. it was all finished at lunch so we went for an interesting tour around some local sites and markets.
No pics today as the internet is to slow to upload photos sorry.
Today is our last rest day as its now 15 days on the road to reach Paris for the 16th.

Tashkent Uzbekistan Update

2010-09-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

Day 18

We have a rest day and Carl and I did a tour aroud Almaty we a few people. We went to the Mountians first then to the Largest Wooden Church in the world. It was very well restored after the Starlinist regeimes have used it as an office.

As the Green Market was closed for the day the guide started to take us to every Bronze statue in the city. We all got tied and decided to go home early. I was lucky enough to go to the green market on Sunday and saw all the produce and meat including horse as it is one of the main meats in Kazakhstan.

Day 19

This has been a long 750 k day starting in Almasty at 6.00 am. The Kazakh people are very friendly and I think every person has a mobile phone or camera. We have been photographed today by nearly everyone and a lot want to flag you down to stop so that they can be photographed with the car.

When you pull up for any reason, people stop to take pics. I stopped at a bank to change money and when I returned Carl was surrounded by about 15 people and nursing a Baby getting photos taken.

We had a small problem to day with the pipe to the Oil preasure gauge braking and starting to fill the foot area with oil. This took and 1/2 an hour to seal and tidy the mess then we were back on the road.

About 17 k's had large potholes to dodge.
Most of the day the road was fine and ran along the flat with Snow covered peaks just visible through the haze.

Day 20

We all set off for the 200 k's to the border post for our regular test in Patinences. it took us about 3 hours to get through the 2 border posts.

When we ennteed Uzbekistan we where in the salad bowl of the area with all sorts of crops being grown in small blocks.

We finally got things running well with Penny again today. so all is well for the trip through the heat from here to Turkey. Taskent is a clean beautifull viberant city with parks and fountians every where. About 60% of the population speak English so we are getting a lot of questions.

Almaty Update from Max and Carl

2010-09-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

Day 678910
These have been the days that have really tested every car on the Rally. Every night is a camping night. We arrive at the camp site and Nomad tours have the kitchen set up with a dinning tent plus the greatest mobile hot shower set up.
The roads on day 7 and 8 where the most horendous roads we've ever traveled on. The roads in the Kimberleys are fantastic compared to these days.

The big plus was we are traveling through mountianous region with Gers and small herds of Yak, Sheep and Goat everywere. These are all Nomadic Mongolians with some of them already starting to pack up and move out of the High country ready for winter.
These 2 days saw us have spring trouble with both front Eyes Broken off. We where able to borrow one front spring from Charlie and Nellie which has keep us going. That night we also ordered two new top leaves to be made in Ualan Batar to be shipped to Khovd ready for our arivval on day 10 to fit on the rest day.
Day 9

Due to the troubles every one had the day before day 9 was changed to a transit day to take the preasure off. This day was that fantastic, it made the trouble and hell road all worth while. this day was fairly smoth tracks in the wilderness. On this day we only saw a local truck and one motor bike plus all the rally cars. The terrain, scienery and the remoteness was just so special. At the end of the transit day there was a different atomsphere in camp due to the fact that every one was a little bit more relaxed.
Day 10
This was the short 170 kilometre day to Khovd though fairly dry desert with a cold strong northly wind blowing. The back drop to this desert area was snow caped mountian.
We arrived in camp at about lunch so we could relax and get ready to do our spring the next day should they arrive. on arrival in camp we found out our spring where still on the bus from UB so carl spent the afternoon helping Rudi fix the King Pin in his Alvis.
Due to the breakages of the previuos day the local workshop have 14 cars in there yard getting fixed.

Day 11
We are camped at the most glorious site on green grass beside a stream with crystal clear water with dry craigie mountians all around.
This is a repair maintenance and washing day for everyone
Our springs arrived at 8 this morning so Carl is busy with this project and getting me to help when required. He Has sent me to the tent to catch up on writing for the blog ready to up load when we should have internet at the end of Day 13.( we ended up with no internet this day)
Day 12
This was our last day in Mongolia The Drive was on tracks again throurgh dry alpine areas up to the camp beside the border with Russia.
The new Springs made in UB and fitted yesterday are working well.
Day 13
We woke this morning to a very cool - 11c. After another good Breakfast provided by Nomads we set of to the border to await for it to open at 9.00am.
This was to be a very long day for some. Due to the low car number we were through the two borders by 11.30am. We then had to drive 700 ks to the Hotel for the night.
This was through the most amazing alpine senery with high snow caped mountians and tree with autum follage. This day we were stoped by the police once but all he wanted was to get some photos with him beside the car. That night we got to the hotel at 9.00pm very tired.
Day 14

Up at 5.30 to leave at 7.10 for the Russian border to enter Kazakstan this Day was through miles and miles of Grain farming with the Harvest beening completed before the start of winter. Once Again we were stopped by the Police for a photo session.
We arrived at the border as the third car so the procees through both borders was a fairly painless 85 mins so it was then down th Semey for the Night across dry open grassland.
Day 15

Another 500 k day along the roughest tar seal roads you could imanage.At times, it was smoother on the shoulder. This day we lost a bolt out of our stater drive so required a push start once and kept the car running all day. As soon as we arrived in camp, we replaced the bolt and all is well.
Both Russisa and Kazakstan have derelict Industral Buildings all over the place including the power plants that use to be needed to supply the factory.

We had our last night of Campimg tonight. We camped in the middle of a cow paddock so the ground was a little rough but we both slept well.
Day 16
The 550 k run down to Almaty took about 9 hours. As we got closer to Almaty we came across a group of Graziers herding there Horses, Sheep,goat and Cows along the 4 lane Highway to cross the bridge and Dam wall to the other side of the River.
We finished this day at the nicest hotel of the trip.
Almaty Appears to be a very viberant city with a lot of wealth.
All our parcels have arrived so we have our spare tubes and spare springs.
Day 17
Carl spent the day tinkering on Penny and giving her a bath while i did some shopping and got all our washing done. I was also able to fit in some site seeing around town.
Some of the of the local workshops and garges very busy with cars doing servives and getting springs, axles and radiator repaired. One shop had 20 cars at it one stage.
So far touch wood except for the front springs all the preperation has paid off.

Days 11-14 Khovd to Semey, Kazakhstan.

2010-09-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been able to upload any pics because we haven’t had very much communication range. My satellite phone was ‘misplaced’ early in Mongolia, and I have been able to keep contact through the generosity of other’s sat phones for a few brief "Hello’s…I’m safe in camp for the night" messages, with no real conversations.

Julie and Lawrence have been making a few brief posts for us until we get back into communication range. We are both doing well, and Penny is still holding together! Fortunately last night the Pioneer category drivers managed to score the best accommodation of the 3 motels allocated. Tonight we are camped in a rocky cow paddock in Kazakhstan, with no flat spaces big enough the size of my body…so I think we are all in for a rocky night ! We are both well, having fun….a bit tired though but really enjoying the trip.

p.s. see an interview with us at http://www.p2pvj.com/Index.aspx (click Rally Life - Semeny)

Day 11

2010-09-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Phone Update

We all spent the day fixing our cars with the parts that have arrived from all over the world. Penny is going like a dream now with new springs and is back together after being dismantled a bit. We are camped here in HOV in western Mongolia. It is a truly spectacular campsite by a river with soft green grass. Julie knows I absolutely LOVE camping by rivers with green grass. We are both well and getting along great. Looking forward to another day on the road after staying put for a day. Hope the tracks aren’t as bad today!

Day 9

2010-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Phone Update

Today was a transit day with the most awesome country. We just follow tracks in the wilderness with the most incredible scenery. It is amazing travelling in this remoteness. The past 2 hellish days for wear and tear on the car, and our bodies, was worth it to be in this place. There are huge open valleys between low, rugged mountains. This trip has been really touch on all the cars, with another 4 being transported on trucks. It is really weird that we have just passed a mobile tower out here in the middle of this vast expanse.

Day 8

2010-09-17T19:03:00.001-07:00

Phone Update

The roads got worse!!! We did 336 km which took 11 hours driving. Luckily we only rattled a few bolts loose and fortunately the springs held together. We became bogged once after we were forced into the gutter by a lunatic nomadic truck driver!

For the last few days the scenery has been the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.. We have climbed mountain passes 8,500 high. All the towns in Mongolia have beautiful coloured roofs – red and green… and the towns are tidy unlike the towns we say in UB. We can see the nomads packing up and moving out of the high country as winter approaches. As arduous as the driving has been the trip is absolutely amazing. I’d love to come back and do it a slower pace so I wasn’t so exhausted. We’re nursing the front springs for another couple of days and a new set is being flown in for us to get in a couple of days.

We are holding on to the lead…grimly.

Day 7

2010-09-17T19:02:00.003-07:00

Phone Update

We encountered the most horrendous roads. We stopped for fuel and realised we had BOTH the front springs broken. We strapped the front axle with truck axle straps and limped along for another 30km to camp.

In camp we worked well into the night fixing the springs. We turned one spring around and replaced one main leaf with the help from Charlie and Nellie Bishop in the other Vauxhall. We are so grateful for their support and help. We strapped them all together for our next day’s journey.

Day 6

2010-09-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

Phone Update:

We had a great day today on a mixture of rouch roads and tar sealed. We pulled up and we realised we had a broken front spring. We fortunately had it welded in town – (Korocoran????) (don’t know town name??? We stayed in a Mongolian yurt called a Ger.

Day Four

2010-09-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

This was another day of 180 Ks of tracks before 250 Ks of Tar Seal.
As we drove up through the desert we passed to trucks loaded with broken cars on the way to garages in Ulaan Batar.

Our bigest problem for the day was we never saw a huge bump in the road and hit it fairly hard and did a tube so out with the jack and another tyre change.
We were amongst the first group to arrive in UB for a day of rest, servicing and repairing tyres.

Gossip has it that 14 cars arrived in UB on trucks so some crews have a busy time repairing.

Day Three

2010-09-14T03:48:00.000-07:00

Today the rally really starts we spent 3 hour crossing the border before before heading north west beside the Railway kine to our firt camp 210 kilometres away.
2 kilomiters past the border into Mongolia the tar seal road finishes and the road is just a series of wheel tracks in the desert.

Penny went very well all day handleing the bump and ditchs very well. the only problem was we had o stop and changer a wheel because we where using to low a tyre preasure and rolled a tyre of the rim,but not a major.

We arrived in camp that night at 4.30 pm after taking 6 hours to drive the 210 kilometres.That night a cars were still limping into at 8.30 pm and some people camping in the desert for the night.

This area of the Gobi had a lot off Wild Horses and many groups of Bactrian Camels

Day Two

2010-09-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

We all arose to another great day for the run up to the China Mongolia border.We started the day crossing two ranges then 250 kilometres across the start of the Gobi desert with it getting drier and less vegetation.
This day saw the about 8 cars have problems that required them arriving that night on Trucks.
Our car (Penny) gave is another trouble free day.

Day One

2010-09-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

We all drove out through a lot of trucks to the great wall at Badaling. Due to the traffic the start was delayed 1 hour to allow for all entrants to arrive.

The departed for Paris at 9.10 with acompanied Chinese drums playing before proceeded out in to the country side and away from the pollution of Beijing to finish the day at a beautiful hotel beside a lake for the first night.

The Big Day has arrived.

2010-09-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

The day of departure is here and the adventure begins.
My navigator Carl Watson and I are waiting in Brisbane to board our flight to Beijing.
The next planed post will be after we get the car (Penny) from the Warehouse on Wednesday.

How it all started.

2010-09-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

In 2007 I decided that a great and crazy idea would be to take part in the next Peking to Paris so I filled out an entry and paid my deposit.

I had two aims if I was going to enter this event. Firstly I wanted to prepare my car to a level such that all I would need to do was grease, change oil and fix flat tyres. (I had no desire to be laying in the sand in the Gobi Desert fixing a gearbox or diff. This would always be a lot easier on a concrete floor in my workshop.)
The second aim was that, with the help of a good navigator, at no time during the event would we be lost.

When I made the decision to enter I didn’t own a suitable car so I started talking to people and researching what would be a great car for this type of event. One of the goals I wanted for myself was that it had to be pre 1930. For me it came down to 2 choices, either a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost or an early 20’s Vauxhall 23-60. I decide on the Vauxhall for the price and the pure simplicity of the whole design that would mean repairs and maintenance were within my mechanical skills. Luckily one became available at an auction in March 2008 that I was able to purchase.

Upon getting the car Home in May I immediately started to do a mechanical restoration. With my first objective in mind, I took the bold decision to pull the car down into every single nut and bolt and do a full rebuild. This was a project that consumed a lot of my spare time over the next 20 months, with the help of some of my staff and David Ford from Stanthorpe. Other then painting the mud guards I did nothing to the body but install a roll-bar to fit seat belts and change the seat.

After all we had 14000 kilometres and 35 days to spend in them.
The rebuild took until April 2010 when we started the engine and commenced a long shack down process. Over the next three months I did 7000 kilometres of motoring. This was interspersed with changes, upgrades and final fixes along the way; to get everything to a standard that I believed would get me to Paris in the style I desired.

My car had to be loaded into a container in Melbourne on the 19th of July so I left home to drive to Melbourne on the 11th visiting friends on the way and allowing time to do some fixes in Melbourne, before loading, if required. After 3000 k off basically happy motoring in the rain and wind, I loaded the car on the Monday, on schedule, after fitting a brand new set of tyre for the trip.