Day 6 of Competition

Perhaps in response to the very real danger that drivers and co-drivers were on the verge of hallucination, Day 6 started at noon, with only a short stage to Zacatecas. That sleep in till 8:30 could not have come at a better time.

The roads on Day 6 were the worst possible roads for us to hang onto the top 10 position. Stages 1 and 2 were incredibly fast, with long straights between fairly fast corners. It is probable that some of the Studebakers were touching on 140-150 mph on these stages, whereas the best the Elise could manage was about 110. The roads on this section were at altitude (8000 ft) and we both felt that the Elise was suffering from it.

The final two stages of the day were going over a mountain called La Boufa in both directions, though not at the same time, that would be bad. They gave us a long lunch stop between the two runs to get everyone off the mountain in one direction before turning round and going over them in the other direction.

This mountain was better for the Elise but still quick with some straights. Rachel was as aggressive as you can be on mountain roads with no barriers, but the straights and altitude conspired against us. I think we finished Day 6 with 14^th on the day and 11^th overall. We were going to need some luck to finish in the top 10.

Zacatecas is the biggest party town on the trip. By this point in the race it is normal for quite a few of the cars to be out of the competition but their drivers and crew to be tagging along with the circus. Zacatecas is where they party hard. Quite a few of the guys still in the competition party at this point too, figuring it’s only one day to drive with a hangover. And the way they go about getting the hang over is this: all the drivers and crew are given a shot glass on a ribbon which you hang about your neck. You follow a donkey and a brass band on a 1 mile trail through the middle of town. The brass band plays and the donkey carries the mescal that they fill your shot glass up with every 20 yards. It’s only due to my ability to not drink the alcohol in front of me (trust me, as a Brit this is difficult) that I even made it to the end of the march.

The march finishes in a fabulous old bull ring that has been converted into a hotel. One of the highlights of this trip has been stopping in these amazing old towns, and seeing a side of Mexico that I didn’t know existed.