RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 10
27 January to
23 February 2024
Day 4
Đà Nẵng Rest Day
31 January 2024
ensconced as we were in the lap of luxury, our first rest day proved very popular. From the vastness of the
buffet breakfast, through to the paradisiacal views of the lang Co Bay - framed by rainforest - and the everattentive hotel staff; the crews felt, for today at least, they were on vacation rather than a marathon rally.
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Peter and Louise Morton’s 1972 Rover P6
there was ample opportunity to get some laundry done,
take in a couple of offerings from the spa, have a good lunch
and maybe a stroll along the beach to round things off.
naturally, the cars came first and from 9am, in the
palm-fringed car park, the sweep crews threw open their
toolboxes and loaned their considerable expertise to
anyone who needed it. Keith ashworth was struggling to
make his secondary fuel pump work reliably. along with
Charlie neale he had his head buried deep in the depths
of his Bentley sucking and blowing for all he was worth.
a blockage was initially ruled out, which left an electrical
malfunction as a possible cause but, after a couple of hours
of trial and error, it turned out to be nothing more serious
than a bit of muck in the pickup.
Bob harrod and dana hradecká’s Porsche had been
getting a bit hot under the bonnet for the last few days so
they improvised an air scoop from an old bucket and a few
zip ties. this took gill Cotton right back to her african rally
days and gave ean lewin - a one-time maritime engineer the opportunity to explain to us Bernoulli’s principle and
the particular way that air flows over a Porsche engine.
as well as a head full of fluid dynamics, ean had his
hands full with his regular spanner checks and was once
again working on the brakes of his Ford escort alongside
russ smith. tim eades and Jim mclaren’s escort was also
jacked up for some precautionary checks alongside its
Bodacious racing teammate, the Porsche of Jeff urbina
and Chris Pike which needed its alternator replacing.
graham goodwin’s Porsche seems to have developed a
sticky gear linkage over the last few days so, along with
Jamie turner, he’d pulled back the trim between the seats
to get a better look at the problem.
sadly, enrico Paggi and Federica mascetti’s Fiat blew
another head gasket today. Whilst the crew have replaced
this second one, there are fears that the problem may be
something more serious. manuel and irene dubs however
have made it all the way here under their own power and
have reported no issues.
Pretty much all of the action in the car park was over
by midday leaving the rest of the day free for whatever
tours and trips had been pre-booked. there was certainly
a lot on offer and, after a quick shower, the sweep crews
were wondering whether it was worth signing up for some
of the watersports. Certainly the gentle breakers hitting
the golden beach looked very inviting but, after some
discussion, andy, Jamie and russ decided to show some
solidarity and just go for a drink instead. the problem was
simply that “Charlie don’t surf”!
www.rallytheglobe.com
