RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 44
day 24: Hà Giang to Lạng Sơn, 20 February 2024
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Keith and Norah Ashworth, 1927 Bentley 4½ Le Mans
Dirk van Lerberghe and Hilde Vanhove, 1947 Bentley Speed 8
the steep-sided gâm river gorge, the verdict at the Coffee
Pho time Control was that it had been “a cracking section”
as the crews sucked on freshly cut coconuts.
a long and challenging run along the river followed
towards the Cao Bằng time Control for lunch. on the way
richard everingham and Judy Becker’s Bentley suffered
a split rim which saw the big silver r type chocked and
jacked, with the crew competently getting on with the job
as the bamboo harvest continued around them.
For everyone else lunch offered some well-earned rest
and recuperation ahead of the two regularities which filled
the afternoon: the thai Curong and the thạch an. the first
climbed into a tropical forest alive with insects and bird
life. sadly, at the halfway point, nigel dowding and mary
antcliff’s aston snapped a hub and shed a wheel. the little
pre-war pocket rocket had to be lifted from the roadside
and trucked straight to the hotel.
the second regularity picked up almost immediately
where the first had left off and took the crews on a tour of
several plywood manufacturing sites. Clive hopkins and
Charles gooch must have picked up a splinter because,
straight after the section had ended, their mustang ground
to a halt with a flat tyre just as russ smith and Jamie
turner arrived on the scene. the ever-busy sweeps then
swapped their jack for a jerrycan only 5km down the road
to refuel melvin andrews and Barry douglas’s Bentley
which had run dry.
after another close pass of the Chinese border we were
delivered to the night halt in the Four Points hotel in lạng
sơn after an exhausting, but satisfying, day of endurance
rallying. We were greeted by a couple of new faces, dick
appleton and Chris mills have finished their 48-hour car
duties and will be running with the pack for the remaining
three days.
Wheel issues: Nigel Dowding and Mary Antcliff, Aston Martin Mark II...
... and Richard Everingham and Judy Becker, Bentley R Type
www.rallytheglobe.com
