RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 40
day 21: Điện Biên Phủ to Sa Pa, 17 February 2024
Clive Hopkins and Charles Gooch, 1965 Ford Mustang Convertible
the engines were given a
break on the way down to
the lunch time Control at
the Pauon ecolakes with its
huge views over the lake and
into the mountains. Keith and
norah ashworth suffered a
puncture on the way in and,
with andy inskip, had to delay
their arrival at the buffet until
this was sorted out.
the only way out of this
valley was up and, once they’d
eaten their fill, the crews began
the climb towards the first of
two passage controls in than
uyên and the Phuc Khao tea
gardens. this took us along a precipitous track between neat
rows of bushes where workers picked and hauled sacks of
the precious leaves towards a processing plant in the valley.
dirk van lerberghe and hilde vanhove almost missed this
particular tea party as they broke a fuel pipe. the sweep
teams were close at hand and their Bentley speed 8 was
soon rolling through the estate to the delight of the greenfingered onlookers.
this marked the beginning of the home run, but we faced
another stiff climb to 2019m where a huge, many headed,
Buddha looked down on us and over the hoàng liên sơn
range where Fansipan, the highest peak in indochina, sits
at 3143m. unfortunately, richard everingham and Judy
Becker’s Bentley chose this hill to die on. the steep gradients
mean anything less than half a tank of fuel results in the
pump not being able to suck enough petrol. tail-end Charlie
neale and andy inskip were soon on hand to sort the
problem and the crew made it over the top and down the
hill into hotel la Coupole, sa Pa, just as the light was fading.
Dieter and Hilde Baumhaeckel, Volvo PV544
Tony Rowe and Mark Delling, 1939 Ford Coupe V8
Issues for three Bentleys today including Richard Everingham’s with fuel
starvation and a puncture for the Ashworths
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
www.rallytheglobe.com
