Syd Stelvio Peking to Paris 25 - Day 26 – Tbilisi to Erzurum – 600km
Another day, another border, taking us out of Georgia 24 hours after we entered it. Four countries down, and seven to go. With a 600km day, we could all do with the border bureaucracy being a quick affair, stamp out, stamp in and on we go. Surely that’s all that would be required. Well, yes, but the frontier is rarely as expedient as you would wish.
That would come later though, in fact, it was 1/3rd of the way through the 600km day before the first cars approached that most ominous of outposts. Before that there was a test on the outskirts of Tbilisi in the grounds of a long-abandoned tourist attraction. Perched high on a barrow, there was a castle of sorts, and in the grounds stood the ruins of what might have been shops or restaurants, with the odd bit of long silent fairground swings – think Disney does Chernobyl and you’ve probably a fairly accurate picture in your minds eye.
One car that would not be taking to the test was the Salters Datsun, the Zebra had finally succumbed to its ailments, the head gasket putting the engine beyond repair. The zebra is on its way to being shipped home, but Ryan and Isaiah are currently trying to buy a new car and hope to rejoin the rally in Europe.
The test route was on a mixture of surfaces, from broken tarmac to gravel, offering varying levels of traction, probably more rally cross than the rally cross track we had visited the previous evening. Multitudes of stray dogs were camped out around the track, largely minding their own business, though one large canine was intent on defending his turf, chasing each of the cars that drove through his patch, completely oblivious to what the result of a car connecting with soft tissue and bone would be.
Still, as far as he was concerned, he was winning, but the winner of fastest on test was Gerd Bühler again, who guided the orange Porsche through the dilapidated buildings of the former attraction in a time of 1:41. The fastest vintage machine was just 7 seconds slower, the number 19 Fangio in the hands of Brian Caudwell. The times across those in the top ten were pretty consistent, though there were a few penalties for wrong tests, including Christian and Henri Gütermann, who’s spectacular cut was caught by the eye in the sky, with the evidence committed to tape on the media team’s drone.
100km of smooth highway was next, with a few opportunities to wrong slot, but once safely negotiated there was a delightful drive alongside the river Mtkvari, flanked by mountains, punctuated with settlements that had more in common with an alpine ski resort rather than a country that was a former Soviet Republic. There was plenty of Georgia’s older history on display as well, with a good number of medieval castles to look at, indeed the only thing that spoiled the run was the weight of traffic on the road, a mixture of slow-going trucks and overly aggressive locals. We just hoped they weren’t all heading to the border…
The border itself was in a landscape straight out of the Sound of Music, but we were all just hoping not to get von Trapped in ever increasing circles of bureaucratic mess. Reports from the front had been good, the early cars had gotten through in half an hour or so, but as the queue built, so did the length of the wait. As time ticked on and the wait to begin border checks increased it became increasingly apparent that we would lose the regularity that had been planned for the afternoon, and as the cars dripped through the call was made to abandon the competitive section and route cars straight through to the MTC.
The checks themselves were actually efficient and straight forward, although Steve Osborne in car 65 had an extra bit of paperwork to take care of, after picking up a speeding fine in the Escort. Impressive, considering we had been in Georgia for about five minutes! Once over the imaginary line, we were greeted with more impressive scenery, as the road climbed high up through the mountains, with distant snow-capped peaks dazzling in the sunshine. After so much roughshod tarmac and dirt in the past few weeks, the smooth road surface was a delight. The road was tremendous, evolving from alpine bends into canyon twisties. It urged liberal use of the right foot, but the oppressive speed limits are coupled with a Police Force who are hot on speeding, so it’s best to keep that in the back of your mind when the road is egging you on, Steve.
Tomorrow we can all enjoy a day without needing our passports for anything, as the rally heads into its 27th day and onward to Sivas, with just the 476km to cover. We’re almost inside the ten-day countdown to the finish now, and today the trip metre surpassed 10,000km since we left China, though at which point this milestone was reached may depend on just how lost you have found yourself in the past three weeks. To reach such a point feels quite astounding, but, as ever, there is plenty of tarmac left to cover.
Syd
