Fortunately, Fang had no points detected today either:
And no problems detected from our hotel and view
RALLY OF THE INCAS! Spotted by Pam and Chuck Lyford, in a friends hangar in 2011, and authentically restored by their son's race shop; this right hand drive 1938 Chevy coup returns to it's country of origin again, to defend it's 2013 South American Vintage Rally Title: 2013 Cape Horn Rally Winner. Photo by Gerard Brown
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Less Life than on Mars
Even though it's along the pacific coast, the Atacama Desert, with less than 1/4 inch per year, is one of the driest non-polar places on earth. This area is so unique, that the Mars lander was unable to detect any life here, and is being used by NASA to test instruments for future Mars missions.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Telescoping
Fang's day off route telescopes all over town, sightseeing, shopping, seeing Jeremy Clarkson shooting his Amazon Prime motoring show, and visiting the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) Observatory.
Day 17 "Star Gazing" Rally Report By Syd Stelvio-excerpt
"Today we realized that we weren’t the only petrol heads in the vicinity. It transpired that there were other ‘car folk’ in and around the town and we hear that there was great excitement among the crew of a certain new Jeremy Clarkson - Amazon Prime motoring show, 'The Grand Tour' this morning when they heard that the ERA were here.
A huge team was engaged in the filming, securing the location and prepping the cars and, one or two of us popped along to see them shooting some sort of low slung, orange sporty looking thing but as far as we know none of them dropped by to see us working on our exotic machinery. What a treat they missed."
High and Mighty!
The drive across the northern most border between Argentina and Chile is not for the faint of heart nor the unprepared. Three hundred kilometers of high altitude driving on rough gravel roads have been converted to most unpleasant "washboard" that rattles the car and teeth hour after hour. We began to wonder when the car would fall apart. Fang developed new rattles never heard before which we worked hard to ignore. Much of the journey is at the 14,000 ft level with climbs to 12 - 13,000 between and then, finally in Chile, to just over 16,000 ft. That's 2,500 ft higher than Mt Rainer! The terrain is not the usual high snowy peaks and valleys that we crossed further south but long rolling hills that seem to never end with the next rise far off into the horizon.
It was interesting for me as a pilot quite familiar with the U effect of high altitude on both man and machine, to observer our fellow travelers and their cars at altitude. At our last passage control on the Argentina side most had not yet been effected by the 13,000 ft heights. But hypoxia is accumulative and soon it's symptoms would slowly take over. Vision is the first effect noticed and both Pam and I watched as the instruments in the car, especially the small altimeter became harder to see. That's when I started to sip some O's . I had a full can of oxygen that I inhaled through those little nose tubes our seniors wear, usually attached to their little electric scooters. Almost instantly the world got brighter and clearer. By the time we reached the border we had been above 14,000ft with climbs and descents for over an hour.
Finally we reached the border crossing. These places are a study in disorganization. Five windows requiring unknown documents and much stamping, tearing and Spanish. The line was long but we were towards the front. This procedure took over an hour for us and for those behind, agony.
While we waited I watched our stressed group and their reaction to altitude. I asked many how they felt. The men were mostly in denial, "I feel fine, just a head ache." ( typical symptom )
The women were more realistic, feeling goofy and sleepy. I had my little blood oxygen/heart rate tester from our airplane with me and tested a few "fingers" including our own. Some of the women were in the low 80's %. Definitely hypoxic. One should be in the 90s. Fairly soon, almost everyone stuck their finger out wanting to be tested. A clear example that "everyone" was feeling something. Mostly a high feeling. Yep...they had it.
Because Fang is a native we were taken out of the huge deadly slow customs line and waved through the border. Delighted to see that barrier rise!
On the road again, after asking many of the Bentley boys about their car performance, " She's running well". What would develop as we got higher and the climbs steeper? With many of the Bentelys departing ahead, I soon found out, Charlie and Lance Morris had developed a leaning system for Fang that I controlled from the dash that kept him running at power during the entire high portion of the drive. Sweet ! Both car and driver came prepared, with Pam running on sugar and enjoying the high.
The answer came soon when we shot past the Bentleys slowly chugging up hills at low speed looking like they were running on coal. The few that made mixture adjustments did much better. We ran so well that we reached the hotel not only first, but in time for a nap. Cars did not show up for over an hour and then trickled in through the evening, many limping badly.
Attrition was at an all time high for day 16. Both the altitude and the rough roads took their toll. The parking lot was filled with broken cars, mostly suspensions and drive trains. Tires were murdered on the route and several cars had to be taken under tow. Fang survived well, at least from what we can tell, other than his vital siren shook itself apart but did not shed parts. I can hopfully bolt him back together this morning. Along with an air filter change and re-wiring of headlights that failed due to a dead dimmer switch used a million times a day, sending back salutes from almost every truck and more that half the oncoming cars. Will wire those on low beam and carry on. Each day's adventure seems to be one up from the day before, and now only just passing the half way point, it's hard to imagine what's in store for the next two weeks. Especially when informed that the roads heading north will seldom be paved and to expect the conditions to get worse. Did they really say that ?! For sure we will only be able to plan for one day at a time. I might add that one day seems like a week. Hang on Fang.... Whew.
And amazing place to stay
Monday, November 28, 2016
Mountain High!
16K!
And only thing higher was the Miñiques Volcano, at 19,390' to the north
Amazing photos by Gerard Brown:
On the way there we had more amazing scenery - Argentina towards pass into Chile: 
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Mud Rally
Day 15 "Many of us found our own epic, driving through a full blown rainforest along the most basic of tracks cut into cliff faces, along and through the Rio Sin Nombre - the River with no name - and over several similarly nameless 2000 m passes. Along this road, the RP6, we passed through settlements which were about as off grid as it is possible to be, Inca el Sauce and Carahuasi for example via hundreds of river crossings and steep slippery climbs."
And here is our first hand experience:
All Elements today!
From Dust:
To Rain:
To Mud:
To Rain:
To Mud:
Thank you so much to David Garrett for the video coverage!
Note Fang pulling in at the end of the last video, one of the few that didn't get stuck in the mud! Check out Syd Stelvio's, Rally Report "What a Difference a Day Makes" for all the slippery details!
A Perfect Day and A Perfect Score!
A Perfect Follow Up:
Navigator taking a hard earned post-mud bubble bath, a segway into a nice pre-dinner preparation sequence.
Update that our 14K and 15,700' pass action is tomorrow, not today, as originally posted. Click here to track us live.
'Battle Wagon' hanging on to Lead
Fang continuing to be known as the 'Battle Wagon', working to hang onto his lead.
Live tracking click here
Sleeping with the Bentlys last night
Live tracking click here
Like "The Great Race", Fang and his 49 competitors pass through El Jardin. "We were met on the dusty high street of this one-horse town by crowds of cheering rally fans. The entire population had turned out to greet us, a banner had been strung over the road and the police had set aside parking for us along the main road to the exclusion of all other traffic. There was even a coffee shop, open especially on a Sunday morning, doing a brisk trade from a thirsty rally." by Syd Stelvio, Rally Report
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