DAY 2- OH Dear
Last night we got the news that we were to be hit by the remnants of the Typhoon The one that hit Hong Hong a week ago. It is still monsoon season.
SO we woke this morning to torrential rains. Our car is not waterproof. Sadly We had so much water inside, seemed like a lake. When Tony started it up and moved it, more water poured down through the dash and electric switches like a bucket. The car immediately steamed up, we have no defrost so yours truly found the squeegee and that was one of my jobs for the day. We worked it to about every 3 to 4 minutes I had to squeegee the wind shield all day. On the bright side it isn’t hot anymore.
After about an hour out of Chandigarh we started climbing into the foothills of the Himalayas.
The rain was relentless and we drove through towns that were badly flooded we passed some mudslides. We had water up to the gunwales. The interior of the car was soaking as were we. Later, we had to wring-out our shoes and socks. We kept waiting for the electrics to fail, so much water
The day was unbelievable gruelling and this is just the beginning of testing the car and us.
Shouldn’t be surprised, After all this is an endurance race. We saw some cars fall by the wayside. The last and perhaps the icing on the cake today was, coming into McLeod Ganj the exiled home of the Dali Lama. One of the Bentleys couldn't make it up the turn and hill. HE stalled creating unbelievable congestion. It delayed us all. HE started sliding backwards. The military tried pushing him but to no avail the altitude and the jetting of his carbs wouldn’t let him climb. He finally with some military aid got the car moved out of the narrow passage. We are up at 2500metres altitude now the roads are very narrow and some parts of the road partially washed away with the rain. We were the first of the rally cars to go by the stricken car almost burning out our clutch. To stop and start on such a steep grade would be our demise . We are guessing the grade was about 30 to 35%. Our tires slipped and skidded and the clutch smell was powerful.
We passed not daring to stop and help or we both would be stuck.
10 minutes later, We pulled into the hotel, the first of the Bentleys, we were offered a pristine spot but couldn't get up the ramp, it was too steep and our first attempt almost took the muffler out. Sadly we gave up the shelter so we pulled out and had to park in the open. We found a tarp and bungees and covered the car the best we could. Tomorrow’s weather is to be worse.
We await todays result.
On another note
The one race section for us was marred by a bus pulling out in front of us, Hemming us in between a rock and a tree and we lost precious time.
The delay points quite a few of us thought we suffered by getting to the hotel late, were removed, due to extreme weather and the broken down Bentley which blocked the storm damaged roads.
Arrived to the hotel late but happy. Now to get out of these soaking clothes.
