RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 18
day 9: Krong Siem Reap to Nakhon Ratchasima, 5 February 2024
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
our thai travel agents, Cdm, were on hand to guide us
through the immigration process and our passports were
stamped with impressive speed and efficiency. For some
of the back markers the queue for customs became a little
uncomfortable in the heat. dana hradecká and louise morton
sought to bring the temperature down a little, arranging for
cool towels and ice cream to be passed down the line to
anyone who wanted them. Finally, and with a flourish of the
douaniers pen, we were free to enjoy the third country of the
rally and, as well as loading a new sim card into our phones,
we had to remember to drive on the left.
the 48-hour car of dick appleton and Chris mills had
already passed this way, smoothing our path through the
border and, at the first military checkpoint, the guards
were enjoying a drink from a mug emblazoned with a
hanoi rally plate as they waved us through. russ smith and
Jamie turner were posted a little further down the road to
make sure that sweep cover was available on both sides of
the frontier.
For the rest of the rally the 116km to the lunch time
Control slid effortlessly by on some top quality thai tarmac,
after which the air-conditioned restaurant at the Chang
arena served up a superb buffet. there were two back-toback tests after lunch on the nearby Chang international
drift Circuit and, as its name implies, there was some
significant slipping and sliding over four fast and furious
laps. sarah ormerod and Jim smith sent the cars into the
fray, whilst it fell to russ and Jamie to stop the clocks and
give the anxious crews their time.
With the temperature now sitting a shade under 40°C we
arrived trackside with pre-warmed tyres and soon the air
was thick with rubbery squeals as the cars pushed against
the laws of physics on every turn trying to hold onto as
much momentum as possible. Peter and louise morton
perhaps tried a bit too hard and fell victim to a “Chinese
gybe on the downwind leg” and the big rover P6 clipped
a couple of buoys through a fast off-camber, left-hander.
luckily it didn’t broach and, after pulling in the spinnaker,
the crew resumed their original course.
in the Classics category graham and marina goodwin did
well. they have obviously mastered the art of rear-engined
motoring and this afternoon they and their Porsche posted
the fastest time, beating the lewin’s escort and the de
haas mercedes by ten seconds. in the pre-war category
daniel sauter and martin ruebel’s Chevrolet pushed hard
and wasn’t much slower than the younger cars taking six
seconds from nigel dowding and mary antcliff’s aston
martin and nine seconds from the ashworth’s Bentley and
tony rowe and mark delling’s Ford.
the night halt, some 128km away, was in the imperial
hotel in the busy town of nakhon ratchasima and, thanks
again to the excellent thai road network, we arrived in
good time for drinks before dinner.
Keeping on track: Clive Hopkins and Charles Gooch, 1965 Ford Mustang...
Dirk van Lerberghe and Hilde Vanhove, 1947 Bentley Speed 8...
...and Phillip and Trish Monks 1961, Jaguar Mk 2
www.rallytheglobe.com
