Just when it seemed that the boys were out of the running, when all hope was lost and the towel was thrown in...
A new development!
OK, so Turkmenistan sucks, we figured that much out.
The fallen 'Ladybird' had to be towed across the country because the police state of Turkmenistan would not allow them to depart from the rally group.
That all changed when the rally entered Iran:
At the border, there was a group of young, Iranian men with their classic cars. They had gathered there to welcome the rally to Iran and to cheer them on. Garrick had heard of the club before and went up to introduce himself. He explained the situation of the 'Ladybird' and asked if the Iranian car club could help. The young men were exuberant and offered Garrick and Robert their help. The men explained that they had a shop and all the parts that were needed to repair the car and anything else that Garrick and Robert required to get back into the race...but there was a catch.
The shop was located about 250 km off of the rally route.
What to do?
Stay with the rally and get towed along, losing precious time, until a good mechanic shop could be found?
OR, leave the route and the safety and comfort of the rally association and go off to who-knows-where with a group of complete strangers (albeit, friendly and excited strangers) who claimed they could help repair the car and get 'Team Ladybird' back in the race? It was a difficult decision, but in the end, Garrick and Robert decided to take a chance with their new friends and leave the route.
It turned out to be a great decision.
The men from the car club tied the 'Ladybird' to the back of a Camero and towed it about 50 km, then hired a flatbed truck to haul the 'Ladybird' the remaining 200 km to the shop. At the shop, the guys immediately got to work for repairs. They worked through the night to get the boys back on the road as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, Garrick and Robert have been housed and fed and entertained and taken care of far beyond their expectations. Garrick made it clear that both he and Robert have offered, numerous times, to contribute economically to the undertakings, but have been roundly refused every time.
Conclusion:
The Iranian Classic Car Club in Mooshad is awesome.
Click here for a very short (and only, as far as I can find) article about the club
Iranian Classic Car Club
Hooray for the Iranian Car Club and middle eastern hospitality!
Showing posts with label VW bug. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VW bug. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Oh, the Horror!!!
I received the sad news from Team Ladybird this weekend.
They're effectively out of the race.
In the end, it wasn't the rabid yaks, or the washed out roads of Mongolia that did them in. It wasn't a bad bowl of mutton stew, malaria or migraines.
It was a little bearing, deep within the engine which ground the car to a screeching halt.
They broke down in Uzbekistan, just outside of Turkmenistan, and ended up towing the car across the border. Turns out Turkmenistan is run like a Police State and the boys weren't allowed to veer from the course to get the car to a mechanic, nor were they allowed to go ahead of the rally or stay behind to fix the car. There was nothing they could do but tow the car along for the entire two days, being forced to stay with the group.
They have been told that there may be greater possibilities for repair in Iran and that in Turkey, there are a number of ace VW mechanics, but that's many days away and might be so expensive as to not be worth it.
As much as Garrick sounded disappointed, he also sounded a little relieved to be done with the rally. He said the schedule was grueling and the few days off they have had so far, were spent fixing the car, or making adjustments or doing preventative maintenance.
All that aside, he said it has also been an incredible experience: That everyone they have met has been excited to see them, friendly and welcoming; That when passing through small towns, the populations gather along the sides of the road to wave at them; That they have been made to feel like rock stars.
Garrick didn't know what the next steps would be, but he promised to keep us posted. Stay tuned for further developments.
They're effectively out of the race.
In the end, it wasn't the rabid yaks, or the washed out roads of Mongolia that did them in. It wasn't a bad bowl of mutton stew, malaria or migraines.
It was a little bearing, deep within the engine which ground the car to a screeching halt.
They broke down in Uzbekistan, just outside of Turkmenistan, and ended up towing the car across the border. Turns out Turkmenistan is run like a Police State and the boys weren't allowed to veer from the course to get the car to a mechanic, nor were they allowed to go ahead of the rally or stay behind to fix the car. There was nothing they could do but tow the car along for the entire two days, being forced to stay with the group.
They have been told that there may be greater possibilities for repair in Iran and that in Turkey, there are a number of ace VW mechanics, but that's many days away and might be so expensive as to not be worth it.
As much as Garrick sounded disappointed, he also sounded a little relieved to be done with the rally. He said the schedule was grueling and the few days off they have had so far, were spent fixing the car, or making adjustments or doing preventative maintenance.
All that aside, he said it has also been an incredible experience: That everyone they have met has been excited to see them, friendly and welcoming; That when passing through small towns, the populations gather along the sides of the road to wave at them; That they have been made to feel like rock stars.
Garrick didn't know what the next steps would be, but he promised to keep us posted. Stay tuned for further developments.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Holding Strong in 9th Place.
The boys are holding strong in spot number nine. With 144:00:23 hours of road time under their belts (and an entire day lost to a breakdown) they are a mere 11 hours and 53 minutes behind the leader - a Holden EH.
They are still ahead of Garrick's father - Car #97 in a Volkswagen Beetle - by 5 minutes and 35 seconds, a tentative lead at best.
With only 16 days left in the race, anything could happen. Stay tuned for further updates!
Click Here to See the Official Results
They are still ahead of Garrick's father - Car #97 in a Volkswagen Beetle - by 5 minutes and 35 seconds, a tentative lead at best.
With only 16 days left in the race, anything could happen. Stay tuned for further updates!
Click Here to See the Official Results
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Country Number 5!
As of today, the rally has now entered country number 5. Uzbekistan.
That should make for an interesting passport stamp. I know very few people who even know where Uzbekistan IS, let alone have a stamp in their passport from such an exotic locale.
There hasn't been any direct news from car 106, so all I know is the location of the little red dots as per SkyTag - the satellite tracking system that has been installed in many of the cars (click on the link just below the photo above to see for yourself).
Car 106 does not have SkyTag installed, so for all we know, Garrick and Robert have succumbed to a yak attack (highly unlikely as there are no yaks in Kazakhstan OR Uzbekistan).
What I CAN offer is some information on Uzbekistan - thanks to Wikipedia...
Uzbekistan is classified as a constituent republic
It's a dry, landlocked country; one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world i.e., a country completely surrounded by landlocked countries – the other being Liechtenstein.
Partially conquered by Alexander the Great in 327 BC
Completely conquered by Genghis Khan during the 13th century
Conquered by Russia early in the 20th century
Declared independance in 1991
Ostensibly, a democratic republic
Approximately 90% Islamic
Noodle and mutton-based dishes characterize the majority of Uzbek Cuisine
45% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day
I bet they have really cool passport stamps.
That should make for an interesting passport stamp. I know very few people who even know where Uzbekistan IS, let alone have a stamp in their passport from such an exotic locale.
There hasn't been any direct news from car 106, so all I know is the location of the little red dots as per SkyTag - the satellite tracking system that has been installed in many of the cars (click on the link just below the photo above to see for yourself).
Car 106 does not have SkyTag installed, so for all we know, Garrick and Robert have succumbed to a yak attack (highly unlikely as there are no yaks in Kazakhstan OR Uzbekistan).
What I CAN offer is some information on Uzbekistan - thanks to Wikipedia...
Uzbekistan is classified as a constituent republic
It's a dry, landlocked country; one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world i.e., a country completely surrounded by landlocked countries – the other being Liechtenstein.
Partially conquered by Alexander the Great in 327 BC
Completely conquered by Genghis Khan during the 13th century
Conquered by Russia early in the 20th century
Declared independance in 1991
Ostensibly, a democratic republic
Approximately 90% Islamic
Noodle and mutton-based dishes characterize the majority of Uzbek Cuisine
45% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day
I bet they have really cool passport stamps.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Boys Are Back !n the Race!
I just checked today's race results and the boys are back on the road. They've even moved up already - from 10th to 9th place. Their performance today wasn't earth-shattering, but certainly a lot better than the broken-down-on-the-side-of-the-road speed they were attaining on Monday. They've gone from 10 seconds behind the first-place car to 10 hours behind the first-place car...but they still have another 25 days of rally racing to go. Will the boys pull out from under the pack? Will there be more breakdowns to come? Tune in next time for another episode of "One-Third of the Way Around the Globe With An Old Car and Some Duct Tape!"
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Update From Mongolia
This morning at 12:29am I received the following text:
"I'm broken down in Mongolia!
Rear axle broke. It took out the lower cv joint. This sucks."
Then at 4:41pm another text arrived:
"9 hours waiting in the desert. Waiting in the desert with a lovely Mongol family. On a truck now to Kovd"
And at 6:37pm this post:
"On my way to the welder!"
It's a shame, because this incident has dropped "team ladybug" from a very respectable 2nd place down to 10th place in the rally. With the roads so bad, we can only hope that the remaining 40 percent of cars who haven't yet experienced mechanical difficulties, will also have a breakdown at some point so as to even out the playing field and allow "team ladybug" to catch up again in the overall total time.
"I'm broken down in Mongolia!
Rear axle broke. It took out the lower cv joint. This sucks."
Then at 4:41pm another text arrived:
"9 hours waiting in the desert. Waiting in the desert with a lovely Mongol family. On a truck now to Kovd"
And at 6:37pm this post:
"On my way to the welder!"
It's a shame, because this incident has dropped "team ladybug" from a very respectable 2nd place down to 10th place in the rally. With the roads so bad, we can only hope that the remaining 40 percent of cars who haven't yet experienced mechanical difficulties, will also have a breakdown at some point so as to even out the playing field and allow "team ladybug" to catch up again in the overall total time.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Rally Update And News From the Front (Of the Pack, That Is)
At 2:30 am, my phone rang. I must have been fast asleep because I wouldn't normally answer a phone at 2:30 in the am, but suddenly, the phone was in my hand and I was groggily rasping a "hello" into the receiver.
It was Garrick! Hooray!
Through a choppy satellite connection, he was able to give me some news of his exploits in Outer Mongolia.
He says it's cold. Crazy cold. And the yurts and tents they have been camping in have done little to keep the cold out.
He also says the roads are horrible. Worse than anyone had ever imagined. So bad in fact, that the rally association had to create a day off today since over half the entrants had broken down in the last 2 days. The support team is spread out over 100 miles of road in an effort to get everyone to the staging area in one piece and not lose any motorists (remember what happened to cars 088 and 062?). Garrick's father's car was one of those that broke down yesterday and part of the reason for Garrick's call was to recruit my services in obtaining replacement parts.
Aside from all this, he says he's having the time of his life and claims that he has no intention to do this ever again (he emphasized EVER)
He and Robert are currently in second place and a mere 10 seconds behind the winning vehicle.
Go team ladybug!
It was Garrick! Hooray!
Through a choppy satellite connection, he was able to give me some news of his exploits in Outer Mongolia.
He says it's cold. Crazy cold. And the yurts and tents they have been camping in have done little to keep the cold out.
He also says the roads are horrible. Worse than anyone had ever imagined. So bad in fact, that the rally association had to create a day off today since over half the entrants had broken down in the last 2 days. The support team is spread out over 100 miles of road in an effort to get everyone to the staging area in one piece and not lose any motorists (remember what happened to cars 088 and 062?). Garrick's father's car was one of those that broke down yesterday and part of the reason for Garrick's call was to recruit my services in obtaining replacement parts.
Aside from all this, he says he's having the time of his life and claims that he has no intention to do this ever again (he emphasized EVER)
He and Robert are currently in second place and a mere 10 seconds behind the winning vehicle.
Go team ladybug!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Little Red Dots Are On the Move!
The cars are now well within Mongolia. Although they have stopped for the evening, you can see the red dots of the cars with the "Sky Tag" system clustered near a town - the spelling of which closely resembles "YakAttaque". Click the link just below the photo at the top of the page and see for yourself (be patient as the 'Sky Tag' system seems to be running on hamster-power. You may need to try a few times). Cars 008 and 066 are well behind the bunch and it appears they either have mechanical troubles or are terribly lost. Let's hope they remembered to bring their yak spray and some extra water.
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