Hayden has been quiet on the event, as not much story to tell. The rally was much tamer than Peking-Paris, or the madness that was London to Cape Town, so not a huge challenge for WEVO engineering or the emerging skills of our intrepid Harris/Burvill duo, combined with the fair Tracey.

“Not much to report, no challenge for Lola, me or Steven. Great scenery and a lovely introduction to Argentina, that will lead to future visits, hopefully on better rallies! The event is now officially finished: 1st in class, 2nd overall. Good fun being with T & S, great to be 54deg South.”

So ends another blogjack. Sorry it’s not been that exciting but there may be more pics to share when H is back at his desk in San Carlos. We’ll have to wait and see!

The danger does not come from Tracey’s driving: she’s a better driver than most blokes I know. The danger is in giving her a taste for winning these marathon events. How’s H going to vamoose for weeks at a time if his Mrs is better at rallying?

Tracey’s first day behind the wheel endorsed her ability. “T took over driving today until Mendoza, while Steven attends to matters in NY,” reports Hayden. “A tough 600-kilometre day of introduction went well.

“Tracey cleaned the first test – as did many – then was narrowly robbed of cleaning the second when cows blocked the road within sight of the finish line, while she was on target for a perfect result. The delay cost us a 22-second penalty, but Tracey’s performances today earned her the respect of her fellow rallyists.”

Mendoza is miles down the road. The rally arrives there on Day 25, by which time girl wonder will have clocked up more than 4,000 kilometres. Epic work by Mrs WEVO – I’m looking forward to the week ahead.

Thanks to Yellowbrick GPS technology carried on board the cars, you can track their progress on the rally home page under ‘results‘. Here are a few screen shots demonstrating what is possible.

Time now in Cusco is 08:35, and here is their current position. Untick everything except the Class C box to see the cars in their group.

This is a wider view of the route so far plotted by GPS: it likes to use a straight line to minimise data points stored. Bit of a pain when map data is overlaid but not much choice here.

By changing the scale and drilling into data, you can really get a feel for the route the boys are following. Not much Google Street View in Peru, but there is a little bit here and there.

Nice drive this morning, 0500hrs wake up to leave La Paz early enough to avoid road blockages by striking workers. Lovely drive and little barge crossing to Peru border, leaving beautiful but contradictory Bolivia behind. 

Great hotel on Lake Titicaca makes rest day tomorrow even more anticipated. Lola still faultless, but the Porsche 356 will get a greasing and general spanner check. That said, Lola needs new plugs again, as poor fuel has been hard on plugs in all the old cars. T is bringing three more sets to Cusco in 2 days.

We have run at over 14,300 feet without re-jetting the carbs, so very happy and proud of our sea level work and the choices Brian and I made in setting these up! Our faith in physics continues.

Yesterday on the way into La Paz, we sat at 120 km/h (72mph) for an hours or so at just over 3,900 metres, or almost 13,00 feet. Where else in the world can you do that? That’s like a highway joining all the high peaks of the Rockies. Amazing!

Today rest day, tomorrow Puno to Cusco, in the foothills south of Machu Picchu. Next day is another rest day to allow some exploring in the legendary Peruvian ruins, followed by a 600-kilometre drive to Arequipa, not Aeroquipa as per the rally notes.

Second biggest city in Peru, the historic centre of Arequipa has been granted UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status. The old town’s beautiful heart is balanced by some of the highest levels of solar radiation in all of South America, thanks to the nearby Atacama Desert and local air pollution. Break out the UV sunblock! More news when we get it.

Madam is doing well, which is more than can be said for Hayden. “Picked up a GT (generous traveler) flu on the way down from SF to Rio. I’m into the runny nose and hacking cough day and feeling pretty rough, but some spanner work on Lola will distract me and make me feel better.”

Hayden facebooked the top pic of Lola in bits for obvious servicing checks, carb tweaks and wiring in the Yellowbrick GPS tracker. There’s a good pic of Hayden’s rear end on Chuck Shwagger’s blog, tweaking something in the driver’s footwell: I’m sure he’s not backing out the throttle stop.

Today is Day 5 of the rally. They start at Foz do Iguacu (NE of the centre). The route heads north on secondary roads, skirting the Brazil/Paraguay border, formed by the Paraná River. The river is the second longest in South America, and takes its name from local words for “big as the sea”.

Paraná swallows the Paraguay River on its journey south, then merges with the Uruguay River and forms the vast Rio de la Plata before entering the Atlantic. The scale of the river as they travel north alongside it should be an eye-opener for the rallyistes.

The road continues to their overnight in Dourados on the fertile river plain: 503 kms in all today – about 300 miles. I don’t know what the stage plans are, but no doubt H will fill me in later.

Last used on the 2010 Peking to Paris Rally, Lola has undergone a programme of evolutionary improvements on her P2P spec. Steven also has a bit more experience under his belt and Hayden has done a few rallies with the competitive and experienced Alastair Caldwell, so is now a surgically precise co-driver navigator!

Team WEVOs hard-earned expertise broke cover for the first time yesterday, when Steven and Hayden took first place on the day’s sole special stage of 19 kilometres: the only car to clean the run. Lola took the complete day’s drive of 693 kilometres from Curitiba to the wonderful Foz de Iguacu waterfall on the Brazil/Argentina/Paraguay border in her stride, a minor misfire at the end of the day due to suspected dirt in a fuel jet.

Today is the first rest day of the event, so time to visit the falls, clean the car and the carburettors. The team can catch their breath after a rushed start to the event when Lola was delayed through customs, arriving at the start point (above) well after other competitors had finished packing their cars and stickering up.

So it was that Lola ran naked through the initial 488km transport stage from Rio to Campinas, skirting the edge of Sao Paolo in an enjoyable first day’s driving. Day 2 was another sub-500km run from Campinas to Curitiba, through the open plains of Brazil’s wheat bowl region, before climbing into the Apial Hills.

Today’s rest day will be mostly about settling into the marathon rally rhythm. These events are not just driving: there are rest/tourist days and fixit days, days to catch up with overseas news but any real downtime is about soaking up this new pace of life: a pace that will dominate the days until March 24th, when the rally finishes in Tierra del Fuego: South America’s southernmost point.

Thirty-nine days rallying in a Porsche 356. I think we could all go for that, right!?

JG

It’s my last blog, following this epic journey from Northern Europe to the Cape of Good Hope. The chequered flag has dropped, the rally has finished and the competitors have all gone home, but memories will live on for a long time yet.

Final position for the WEVO 912 was 6th: confirmed by the organisers but not acknowledged on the official timesheets. The Tuthill 911 (below) finished third, but should have won it by some accounts: the speed was incredible and it cleaned a stack of stages…

Francis Tuthill arrived home last night and I had a chance to chat with him today. Though he had issues with the official timing, and objected to how the severity of the terrain was underplayed to competitors in advance, he had a grin as wide as Africa when he remembered the good times.

No doubt Hayden and Alastair will have more stories of good and bad to share when I catch up with them later in the year, but I’m sure neither will have lost their appetite for road: that need to leave the daily grind behind and go do something primeval, and on four wheels.

These last two pictures of Hayden (with the 912′s cooling bucket and a very funky tree) were sent to me by Alastair as he was boarding the plane leaving South Africa. As I look at them, all I feel is the ache of a slow news day. What to do with my time now? When’s the next event?

Even for awestruck spectators like me, racing is life. Anything else: that’s just waiting.

We are into the last week of the London to Cape Town rally. The Porsche 912 of Burvill and Caldwell is in 7th position, one hour ahead of its nearest class competitor. Between the 912 and the lead lies three 4x4s, an MG and a Porsche 911.

Thoughts now turn to reaching the finish.

The 912 has been reliable, but it’s taken a pounding on these tough desert roads. Pictures from the event show an emerging collection of dents on the previously straight body, which is to be expected when pushing as hard as this. Hayden and Alastair have recently been applying themselves to ongoing maintenance with the aim of crossing the line not first in class, just in fact.

I’ve just had some pictures from the Australian showing the sort of stuff he’s been up to: pretty funny if you know Hayden. Looks like pretty hard work whether you know him or not! We’ve also got a video of Alastair carrying out contemplative adjustments to the 912’s front skid plate while the tank was out being welded.

Oh, the joy of Rally Porsche maintenance: I can sense the Zen from here. Here’s Hayden’s latest texts:

Did the nightly list in Lusaka. Had the tank out again to reinforce the top of the front X-beam mounts. Francis gave good advice on how to tackle it and we are at a great shop called McFarlanes. AC had the night off, fighting fatigue and road weary. I helmed the ferry for 450km that morning to take some load off. Short World Cup section that afternoon. 11km, we dropped 43 seconds off target time, I doubt it did anything for the results, or the margins in the classes.

Our Yellowbrick was stolen by a snatch and grab in the Lusaka traffic yesterday. We have another unit in the car now, but I don’t know if it is associated to our car number yet. Our original was last tracked at 0430 in Lusaka, but forensics were not on today’s agenda. (The new GPS is working: JG)

Job for tonight is raising rear ride height. We have accumulated some middle distance sag, not uncommon. Simple job, just knocking it out to the melody of Vic falls and the tourist choppers overhead.

The number 45 911 of Joost van Cauwenberge and Jacques Castalein is demonstrating relentless pace on the London Cape Town. Down to 7th after a penalty for non-standard dampers, the Porsche is now back up to 3rd overall and setting some blistering times. I should point out that the damper fitment was discussed with the organisers before the off: the top dogs knew what was on the car but waited until Nairobi to apply a one-hour penalty.

“We discussed the damper options with the organisers before the event,” says Richard Tuthill. “While we knew our modern-style dampers would eventually incur a time penalty, our experience in Kenya (Safari Rally winners) told us it was worth it. The car’s reliability and the speed it can carry over this terrain vindicates the choice. It has backfired a little, as the organisers have now cancelled some of the rougher sections of the event to protect lesser-prepared cars, but the Tuthill 911 is still running a strong pace and giving the crew a consistent package they can trust.”

The official rally reports always make for interesting reading and this was part of the last one: “The rocky mountain climb saw Alastair Caldwell split his fuel tank. He slowed just enough to give Jane Edgington her finest moment so far: driving a Maestro in an overtaking sweep past the Porsche on a timed mountain climb. The Blunt Subaru was slowed by overheating, while the Cauwenberge Porsche 911 was a remarkable sight lifting a front wheel while hanging the back out...”

The 911 duo are clearly revelling in the conditions and who could blame them? Driving one of those magnificent Tuthill Porsches across such epic terrain – in the bigger picture of a rally from London to Cape Town – must be a magnificent adventure. Add speed and talent to the equation and get yourself up to a competitive position? It’s what heroes are made of. I envy Joost and Jacques something rotten, but possibly not as much as Hayden and Alastair in the amazing 912.

The organisers’ note on Alastair and Hayden’s fuel tank is correct: Hayden filled me in last night with a text. Though there is work to be done on the 912 (no idea why we haven’t named that car yet), the boys are also loving it and holding a steady seventh overall – just a few minutes down on the Belgian Landcruiser 80 series (one of four 4x4s in the top seven). As the proud owner of a sturdy Landcruiser 80, I’m all for the Toyota taking it to the top five, but the 912 deserves a top five place for what it is going through. Hayden’s texts describing events just keep getting better:

“Another gruelling day, followed by midnight in the car park making running repairs, upgrades and routine maintenance.

We got a huge amount of mud injected into the gap between the now badly battered floorpan and the equally battered rear skid plate. The net result was a jammed throttle – about 20% after a quick stop to investigate it was clear that it was not a quick repair – so we jumped back in and drove the balance of the second and all the 3rd World Cup sections using the ignition switch for the throttle control and co-driver for gear changing. We got pretty proficient, only dropping one additional minute on the third section once AC nursed the throttle to about 80% stuck open.

We burned too much time making a modest repair in the final road section and had to really boogie (78+ AV) to make the end of day without penalty, this push was at the expense of another RF strut insert that melted in protest. So we have modified the skid with some local Dodoma sheet metal and replaced the RF insert. We will see what tomorrow brings…

We still have no driver window, no passenger door latch and this afternoon the wipers suddenly turned on and gave us a breakdance display before stopping in the upright position – a mystery for another night.”

Next day:

“Day 21 casualty was the fuel tank. We are constantly suffering loss of front ride height due to yielding aftermarket front torsion bar (supplier name deliberately not revealed). The bottom of the tank has been relentlessly pounded, even though it is well protected from abrasion and piercing by the front skid plate.

About 15km in to the first road section we started to smell fuel. The 95 litre tank was full, so we took the calculated risk to proceed when it appeared to be a modest leak. Ultimately we made it to the end of day, leaking about the same amount as we were burning.

First to end of day control, tank out, AC walked up the road with a local boy to a banzai welder who brazed up 3 cracks. Tank back on before the last car was into TC. Cranked in front ride height again and we were off.

First car thru the border to Zambia, we have 360km to the hotel, then back to items on our long job list – then last night added wipers when we discovered the rattle on the dash, days ago, was self disassembly of the wiper motor from its bracketry! Harsh event, great exposure to system weaknesses!“

Day 19 on the London to Cape Town and it’s back to business as normal in Africa: smashing nice cars to pieces! If this keeps up, then perhaps only the support 4x4s will take the flag in Cape Town.

At the end of Day 17, the 911 lay 3rd with the 912 6th. A quick protest on dampers and the 911 lost an hour: putting the 912 ahead of it at the half way point.

Yesterday was a rest day – if you call it that. Just swapped some texts with Hayden to catch up with what’s going on.

Epic rest day yesterday. AC will try to send you some pics. Today was the most dangerous so far. Punishing averages: 120 km/h for 32 km in one section. To preserve the car, we dropped about 30 mins, which will be less than many. Don’t expect it to affect our 2-litre Classic lead.

Just did some WEVO Kilimanjaro: new oil cooler brackets. Old ones were cracked and broken, held together with zip ties, but too much to get done on the rest day, so it got rolled to tonight’s list. So it goes!

We are on Bilsteins at the rear now too, after we destroyed one Ohlin as the result of a third party vendor error: no Loctite, in spite of the WEVO order spec. A part self-disassembled and lead to a spiral downfall that we are still recovering from.

I asked how the 911 had been demoted from third to seventh position:

That is correct, they were finally penalised 1 hour for non-compliance of dampers being remote canister style. Forbidden in Classic classes. Car 10 was given same. So at the mid way, the 912 was leading the 911 in spite of precious little likelihood.

As far as I can see there is a 2 min error on day 19 sheets and we should have taken that time off the 33 car. We are shown as early at a TC, yet we followed the 33 in on 2 min intervals. One to sort in the morning. Sleep now, WEVOmanjaro out.

Huge list of failures today: lots of our friends ended up on trucks. Here’s an excerpt from the organisers’ report:

Our course was remote rallying down long mostly-sandy tracks – choking dust clouds cutting visibility in the early-morning sunshine was predictable, so crews started at two-minute intervals. It was an example of Kenyan rally-tracks at their best, but it was not to everyone’s liking; Alastair Caldwell reckoned it was difficult for cars that have already suffered greatly.

Underlining just how hard African rallying really is, Steve Blunt in the Subaru (P2 overall) posted another good time today but finished with bent front suspension after opting for a change to longer springs yesterday which proved to be too soft. The driver was all about “is it ain;t broke, don;t fix it” when he reached the Tanzanian border.

The 964 Porsche of Tomas Prenosil (above) caught fire while on the back of a truck trying to reach the border. Flames engulfed the whole car, including one and their carnets. Francis Tuthill, riding inside the top ten driving a Toyota Hilux, came out of the bush with a bent rear axle and arrived at the hotel on the back of a truck. Car 31, the VW Karmann Ghia (below), has fuel-pump problems after a dose of fuel so dirty the fuel-pump gave up trying.

Tomorrow is a car-killing rally all on its own! The route goes from Arusha to Dodoma: a favourite of the old Safari Rally. The day is 440 kilometres long and is bound to be misery squared for some.

After Tanzania we get into Zambia and Namibia before hitting South Africa. It doesn’t get any easier: Jan 25th is over 1,000 kilometres long…