The latest picture from Hayden, currently working his way through some 356 maintenance in Almaty, Kazakhstan shows the sort of accelerated generator brush wear that Steven Harris’ 356 – Lola – had to contend with over 65 hours driving through the dust and fine sand of the Gobi Desert. Pretty amazing, given that these solid carbon parts often last 30 years/over 100k miles in average use.

Funnily enough, that 100,000 miles of wear is what Hayden is estimating as a rough estimate of the equivalent distance one would have to cover in normal road use, to come close to equalling the stress these rally cars are suffering. Ouch!

If you’re not familiar with where these parts are situated, then look for ‘carbon brush’ in this diagram. The generator sits on top of the engine: right under the engine cover in a 356.

Hope you are enjoying these reports. More blogjack reports as they come in.

Latest news from Hayden and Steven on the Peking to Paris Rally is that they have arrived at the weekend rest stop in Almaty, the biggest commercial centre in Kazakhstan and a very modern city. Lola is in need of some TLC, but the boys are fine and continue to enjoy their adventure. They are still holding the highest ‘Gold’ timekeeping classification, running a joint 5th overall and 4th in class.

Lola still has her charging problem, but the guys have been working around it by swapping a battery from their Team Air-cooled partner – Garrick Staples and Robert McClements’ #106 Beeetle – halfway through a day’s drive and making it OK. Now they have arrived at Almaty, Lola can undergo a bit of work and have her wounds attended to. We have a solid support network on the ground in Kazakhstan, so I am optimistic all will be okay. If not, we will ship them whatever they need to the next big port of call. They have tyres, suspension and generator parts waiting to go on in this service stop.

My Mongol Rally blog research suggests (and I think we all agree) that the very worst roads are behind us, so I am confident that Hayden and Steven will be reaching the finish in Paris. Even if I have to tow Lola across the line in the Landcruiser, the 356 will do a lap of the Arc de Triomphe!

Roosevelt said: “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing is the wrong thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” We are not doing nothing! I’m just awaiting verification of our current course from my commander-in-chief, or fresh orders if appropriate.

Rest assured, we have an active plan. More updates as they happen and photos as I receive them – not had any for a while thanks to non-existent data coverage in that part of the world. I am watching other blogs for some.

I had an update text from Hayden yesterday.

“Bombing through Russia this afternoon. Long, long delays at both Mongolian exit and Russian entry means we will be lucky to make the hotel until after 11pm. Day 12 was OK but very rough. High too: up to 2,600 metres and freezing cold in the camp. We camped at 2,200 metres and it was minus 12 (Celsius) in the early hours.

The damage suffered on the way to Ulliasti was crudely repaired. The left trailing arm broke 160 kilometres into day 9. We limped in with a modest penalty, then tackled the next day with a clear strategy to get through the day, make all the target times, then use the rest day at Khovd to make further repairs and reinforcements. The fixes aren’t pretty, but we succeeded in doing that.

The repair stood up to the day 12 loads. Now we are back on Tarmac, I hope we are safe until Almaty and our spares arrive.”

Would have been nice, but it was not to be. Later that day I had a call from Hayden to say that Lola had stopped charging her battery; seems the fine desert dust had not been escaping the armature fast enough and was wearing the brushes down. Could I locate some brushes for the dynamo/generator and find a way to get them out there? Of course.

I got online and found the parts. Rang Alan at The Stables in San Francisco just to check we were looking at the right size (answer: yes) and then set about planning how to get them to Kazakhstan.

H was in tune, and had found an Aston driver who was flying wife plus shock absorbers out to Kazakhstan this weekend: job done. I had the parts biked to North London and have now got my fingers crossed. I’m thinking our guys might use a Schwimmwagen next time:

The current plan is to locate another 912 dynamo, have it reconditioned here and ship it to Istanbul, where we already have some spare tyres waiting. I’ve been over to talk to Francis Tuthill, the UK 356 and VW Beetle aficionado who says they are unobtanium used for rebuild. I then spoke to Roger Bray who has recon units in stock at £400 inc the core charge or I can just try my luck. I’m trying it at the minute…

For tonight, the guys are safe in Semey, a decent-sized industrial city just inside the Kazakhstan border. I’m optimistic that a garage can be found to handle the current dilemma, as the parts we need are common across lots of trucks and older cars, plus we have the power of the Internet helping us. Stay tuned!

I’ve just had a few pics through from Hayden showing Team Lola Racing are enjoying some downs as well as ups in their attack on the Peking to Paris event.

We’ve already shipped some new tyres to the boys: 4 for Kazakhstan and 2 into Istanbul – but there’s some suspension on the way now too, as Lola snapped a trailing arm on one of the most recent stages. The welders of Khovd have been busy on the P2P air cooled brigade!

Hayden says: “We’re finding the limits of the Porsche O.E. parts and enjoying the ingenuity of those helping to repair the car. The self-proclaimed “best welder” in Khovd has done wonders with the broken rear damper mounts and broken trailing arm on the 106 VW bug.” Here we see the welding torch lying next to Lola, obligatory bottle of water on the luggage rack!

Steven is putting a Day 10 update together for us at the minute, but Lola’s current position is stationary at Khovd, having completed the Teel River stage on Sunday: day 10 of the event. The guys are 7th position overall and fourth in class. Perhaps surprisingly, they are still holding a Gold status, meaning they have been keeping to the checkpoints within allotted times. Pretty impressive!

Lola is 3,650 kms into the event with just over 10,750 kms left to run. Must seem a long way when you’re welding 45 year-old trailing arms in the Gobi desert. More news as we get it.

Finally for now, I found a candid pic of Lola and Steven on another website. The shot was taken with a compact where the lens sliders hadn’t opened properly, but it’s still nice. I love the little one sitting on the roof: it just says ‘Steven Harris’ all over. What a sweetheart!

Note from JG: Here’s Hayden’s latest update. Team Lola Racing is currently 10th in class and carrying a gold star rating! See the latest Peking to Paris rally results here. Over to Hayden:

Day 2 of the 2010 Peking to Paris Rally was a somewhat ordinary day, with the target of the China border town of Erenhot. Tarmac roads the whole way, except for some roadless villages and the remarkable city of Hohot: all instant city construction and all unoccupied buildings. Possibly a hundred unoccupied apartment blocks! A city for 2 million, empty.

Arrival at Erenhot was via the huge kissing dinosaurs, and not much of a test for the 356 in terms of terrain or distance.

Day 3 morning commenced with the two-and-a-half-hour challenge of the border crossing into Mongolia. A simple affair, extended by or mass of 250 people: lots of stress for those unable to accept the machinations of beauracracy. Having slipped into Mongolia, the hard work began. Ultimately over 200 km of sections over roads that can best be described as very “poor”. Hardly roads at all, but apparently the main “highway” between Erenhot and Ulaan Bataar.

We spent a total of 6 hrs 25 mins completing our 230km, testing Lola and Steven’s endurance at the wheel to the absolute max, in conditions requiring total concentration for hours at a time. We also discovered that our fuel consumption is almost double in these conditions. The campsite near Saishand was a welcome refuge, great food and service from Nomad Tour Co., who are supporting our travel across Mongolia. Sharing a beer with friends under a crystal clear Milky Way has rarely been more welcome than after such a challenging day.

We had one minor problem costing perhaps 20 minutes, when the aircraft locking nut on the left front damper came off, losing a mounting top hat too and creating a rattle that alerted us to stop and remove the wheel. We had spares, so it was quickly repaired and we were on our way. Nevertheless, we were some 109 minutes late to the end of day control; only two classic cars made it to the end-of-day control in time.  This earned a 79-minute penalty, something we could not have avoided without pushing the car to expiration. A quick spanner check in the campsite revealed no other issues.

Day 4 was the run into Ulaan Bataar, a mix of faster smoother gravel, wash-a-ways and stony ridges. A couple of Mongolian outback villages and, for the most part, following the rail track from Erenhot to Ulaan Bataar. The day was completed on a very welcome 200 km of Tarmac, dispatched at high speed to bring us to the end-of-day control exactly to the minute of the due time – no penalty.

Day 5 has been a rest day in Ulaan. We washed the car and then enjoyed the workshop hospitality of Major Drilling, where I used the facility to get Lola up in the air and make proper checks of all the suspension, spanner check, grease the hard working front spindles and make inspections of all the systems.

I can’t begin to explain how rough day 3 and part of day 4 really were! I can assure you that no 356 owner would subject their car to such extended abuse, unless planning on making this journey all the way across Mongolia. I now have an even broader appreciation of Porsche engineering and WEVO car preparation. This is a landscape that can break a brand new Toyota Landcruiser, yet we have safely traversed the first two days in a 46 year-old Porsche.

We have another 5 days of prospectively equally challenging route ahead. The Pakistan floods, which also hit Mongolia (albeit they were less publicised), have left scars on the Route last driven in December 2009. I daresay the evening notice board will hold many clues and amendments, as the 24 hr car (24 hours ahead) feeds back with intelligence to help us safely negotiate the coming day.

Day 6 we head to Karkhorin, to sleep in a Gur campsite, then 4 nights of field camping. We will see if I have any cell reception before Russia, it might be all up to John to creatively speculate from the Enduro Rally scoreboards and Skytag readings as to how are progressing.

In summary, it has been a great time so far. I’m looking forward to the next 6 days with real enthusiasm. Steven is finding his rhythm for driving these difficult roads and, with the exception of the day 3 damper nut problem, the car has been flawless in indescribable conditions! I hope reporting this does not jinx us!

More later, HB