Wednesday 13 June 2007

Day 18 - Yekaterinburg (Day Off)

A well deserved rest day after travelling for 1615km in the last three days… Lucky, all the driving are now completed on tarmac roads… so… in a way all the entrants are blessed with a smoother road surface unlike that of Mongolia! Just have to watch out on the occasional bumps and pot-hole!! =)

Hopefully, not as much trouble will arise for all the rally cars from now on… but since we all don’t have a crystal ball… we all will never know., unless we keep in touch with the entrants!

After being sand blasted in Mongolia… the pass few day has been fill with wet weather… hail storm… steady icy rain… for those with open top cars… they can’t help but be drenched and chilled to the bone…

Wonder how they are handling the extreme change? How are the entrants getting along with each other? How are the relationship between the driver and the navigator within the same car?

It’s a test for understanding and tolerance for all as time pass them by, especially when trouble continues to sneak up on them and they are not close enough to Paris yet!

Back to the rally… so far the entrant would have done 6234kms (for those that are constantly on the road).. which means over last 15 days of driving… they have done an average of 416kms. I might sound a lot for some readers out there, but believe me.. it is not a lot especially when one is on sealed roads…

The Mykytowychs should be out hunting for a set of shock absorber replacement as well as the arm for the window wipers.. This will make them doing maintenance on Blue Roo on their day off… it doesn’t sound as if there much time to see the sites… but in order to do well.. to hold their place… and to enjoy the rest of the rally… I believe it a price that they are willing to pay.

The morning has been filled with routine checks on the Blue Roo.. an oil change, cleaning out of spark plugs and also a change to various filters..

Andrew will also be handing over
some footage for the filming crew too.. and the father and son will be going to go for their shock absorber hunt!!!

Unfortunately… they did not end up finding the right shock absorber today… so it would have to wait until they reach Moscow in 4 days time… However, they have got the windscreen wipers sorted after some drilling and modifications..

With regards to the film crew.. Bohodar went to a Church with the crew to take some footage… this Church is where the Russian Royal family got assassinated. At the moment.. it look as if the documentary on the 2007 Peking to Paris Rally would also include some history of the areas that they drive through! I think it would be a very interesting series for all!!!

The Mykytowychs are now back down to an overall position of 8 and a class position of 6.. This is due to the changes the rally organisers made on Day 11 with regards to the checking in time and its location… Don’t worry they still carry a Gold Medal!!!

Lets keep cheering them on!!!

Go! Go! The Mykytowychs! Go! Go! The Blue Roo!!

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