Day 9: Uliastay to Teel River Camp Site

Early wake up to reach the camp in time for our start time. The hotel does not offer breakfast until 8 so we will have grab something at the camp site. We reach it after doing the 30Km we declined to do last night and the sight in front of our eyes seems right out of a mad max movie. At least two dozen cars have their engine bays open, their wheels off, all the gear spread out around them with their crews working hard and fast to repair the sometimes extensive damage sustained. A we arrive, Claus Thulstrup, a Danish participant in a 1926 Pontiac Tourer approaches us to ask if we can provide him one of the spare leaf springs we have attached to the car in place of the original bumpers. We obviously agree to do so (it’s part of the mutual assistance spirit of the rally) and get to work immediately so as to minimise our and their delay on the day’s timing. His car, like a few others, was already on a truck ready to be transported to the next major town, Khovd, so he is deeply grateful for our support which will avoid him the infamy commonly known as the truck of shame!

We are off about an hour late from our schedule but clearly happy to have been to provide support to one of the crews. The first timed section is just under 10Km after the camp and we make it well within our maximum allowed (that’s all we can expect from our car with our few horses). Shortly thereafter we notice one of the spotlights hanging loose in the front. The bracket that held it has broken at the 90° point, the result of all the vibration. We disconnect the wires and throw it in the sack together with some other bits that have fallen off (such as the side screens attached to the windshield). For the next few hours of entertainment the road book offers dips, ruts, soft sand, rocks, potholes and plenty of corrugation in between or sometimes together.

There are no villages and no fuel pumps and, therefore because we only have 42 litres in our tank, we need to resort to our jerry cans. Many crews have decided to install special long range tanks which, depending on fuel consumption, range from a minimum of 80litres to a maximum of 300. The latter is the case of David Wenman’s American La France, a huge 6 cylinder 14,000cc fire engine turned into car dating from 1919 which only gets about 5miles to the US gallon (approximately1.2KM/litre). Dreadful mileage but a great show on this rally. We also take a few minutes off to get some food in our bodies, some bread and cheese we nicked at breakfast this morning together with some tea from our thermos and then we are off again for more multiple-choice tracks.

Later we stop on one of them to check some rattling and the smell of petrol coming from the engine. As we suspected, the vibration has broken one of our fuel lines, the one connected to the electric pump. Mechanics Rob Kitchen and Alan Page stop by a few minutes later (it’s great to have one or two guardian angels looking over you!) and provide some help in isolating it. We must now proceed with only the mechanical pump knowing, however, that we can always disconnect it and reconnect the electric one in case the former fails. They also help identify the nature of the rattle: the bolt of the front engine mounting has snapped and left the stump in the chassis. It’s impossible to remove and so we cannot put a new one in. The other two bolts at the back have loosened and need to tightened to avoid the engine wondering away. We also look at the radiator and notice some polished marks on the inside. Evidently the engine moved forward a little because of the missing or loose bolts and the fan blade had started shaving the inside of the radiator. A few more bumps and the fan blade might have dug into it leaving us stranded with no other option than the truck of shame. The only remedy for the sheared front bolt, albeit a temporary one, is to wrap a ratchet belt around the engine and the frame and tighten it as much as possible. This should work until we get to a proper workshop and find a more long term solution.

We still have over 70Km to go until we reach camp and it’s beginning to get dark. The last 40Km are over a very sandy plateau and we must be very careful to keep momentum to avoid getting stuck in the sand. The tracks are vague and we miss one or two. Once again, to avoid getting stuck in the sand we must not stop and, instead, to turn back we must make large circles to avoid the front wheels acting as a break. Claus has caught up with us in the meantime and we notice he gets stuck going uphill in the sand going uphill the last few Kilometres before the camp site. We watch as he manages to reverse himself out and chooses an alternative route which we follow and which finally gets us over the hill.

We reach the campsite and refuel from a tanker placed just at the camp entrance. After pitching our tent, we go for one of the hot open air showers to get all the dust and grime off our faces and then finally on to dinner. It’s a beautiful night, not too cold yet and it takes only a fraction of a second for both of us to fall into a deep sleep.