Day 4 Of Competition

Today the race had three speed sections on a famous stretch of road, Mil Cumbres, (1000 corners). Doing well at Mil Cumbres is critical to doing well in the overall competition as the stages here are long and slow. We knew going into this that it was going to be an experience, the course notes and addendums talked about rough roads and landslides. It turned out that there were a few more notes that should have been included.

To make matters even worse it started raining heavily while we were in the middle timed section of Mil Cumbres. Visibility was down and the road surface was bumpy and really slick. Rachel’s driving in this section was phenomenal. I know I would not have pushed the car as hard as she did on such a terrible surface. There was at least 1 section where the Elise went all four wheels airborne for a couple of feet before crashing back down. We came round one corner to find two cows in the road, with probably a 10 ft separation. Rachel didn’t hesitate for a moment and simply split the gap at something around 60mph.

On another corner the course notes said “landslide” where what they meant was “half the road is missing, keep right”. Again Rachel didn’t hesitate and drove round the missing road without blinking.

We also pulled off another pass in Mil Cumbres over an absolutely enormous Hudson weighing at least 3 times as much as the Elise. Little wonder they were running slower on these roads. He saw us coming and took the wide line for one corner allowing us to nip by on the inside. Whenever Rachel pulls off a pass, I lose my place in the notes. I get too preoccupied with the car in front and Rachel then has to drive for a mile or so on sight while I try and figure out where we are.

All the seasoned guys down here say that one of the most important things you need to learn is to tell the Driver that you are lost and they need to rely on visual for a while, and then to be patient and be sure that you are in the right part of the route book before starting to give instructions again. One of the very worst things you can do is read instructions that are wrong and have the driver think she is doing a grade 0 turn which is in fact a grade 3 turn.

Our standing at the end of the day was 10^th for the day and 10^th overall. A real testament to Rachel’s driving and the durability of the Elise. We were ecstatic with the result. Mil Cumbres took its toll on many cars, with more mechanical breakdowns than on any day since the first day. It also took its toll with crashes. At least 4 cars went over the edges and down the steep banks into the trees. Unfortunately one E type went off hard and hit a tree 60 ft down the slope. Both the driver and co-driver are fairly seriously injured and in the hospital at this time.

(Pictures courtesy of Brian Durand)