Syd Stelvio – Gaucho Trail Day 13: Cafayate to Rioja – 552km

Day 13 on the Gaucho Trail, very nearly halfway. Whilst the superstitious amongst us may have been nervous about the thirteenth day of the rally, most would have expected any bad luck to have appeared on the previous day, what with it being Friday the 13th. Dates mean little on the road though, as we function purely in day numbers, and on an event like this, one should always expect the unexpected. Day 13, what could possibly go wrong?

Nothing too untoward seemed to be happening as the cars left the fabulous little wine town of Cafayate (where we had been treated like royalty the previous evening), and headed towards the Andean foothills, the peaks of which were draped in a blanket of rolling cloud, with the spines of the mountains poking out of the billowing plumes of white. The sun of the previous few days had deserted us for the time being, and as the road climbed up to a promised 3500 metres, it was apparent that the peak of the mountain might well be shrouded in mist, and we wondered what sort of view we might get on the other side.

We would never find that out though, as word came back from the clock car that the road ahead was blocked. In fact, the road had disappeared under a landslip, after heavy rainfall overnight. Despite a small army of excavators doing their best to recover the route, it was going to be a good few hours before it would open. There was only one road too, and so our plans for the day were in limbo, as the competition team figured out an alternative, leaving the competitors with an unscheduled stop at a fuel station midway up the ascent.

The detour would push the crews’ miles out of the way, on Route 40, a long and lonely road that is actually the longest road in Argentina. Thankfully the detour wouldn’t take us along its entire 5000 km length, but it would take the rally through the Campo de Belen, a vast arid plain between the Sierras de Belen in the east, and the Andes to the west. The sky above was full of drama, and the views to the peaks that surrounded the plateau were hazy at best. As we headed towards Belen the sky darkened dramatically, and the heavens opened in a way that we haven’t seen since Brazil.

A huge dump of rain plummeted upon the already saturated ground and as the cars arrived at Belen for a fuel stop the streets bore a closer resemblance to rivers as water cascaded through the town. It was remarkable, but the weather system had blown through almost as quickly as it had arrived, though for the next hour or so we would experience further surges of precipitation, a real treat for those in the open top cars.

The rally was now around halfway along its five-hour diversion, but still with some 250km to tick off before reaching reg 3, which would now be the only section of competition for the day. Though it would be something at least. The day 13 curse had struck again though, this time for rally leaders Filip Engelen and Ann Gillis, who were suffering alternator problems on the Porche. The sweep teams got the car moving again, but it became obvious that the car could not go any further as the alternator failed completely, and they would finish the day on a flatbed, terrible news for them and the rally, and we will all be hoping that they can get the car fixed.

Irrespective of how the reg went then, there would be a new leader come the end of the day, but the question was who. The reg itself was 10km long, but now with extra timing points to spice it up a touch. To begin with there was nothing remarkable about the section, but it increased in interest and technicality as the trip clicked along, and the road began to climb. The sky above was dark and vengeful again, and the dirt track was festooned with muddy water splashes, that the big kids driving the cars hit with venom, a release of sorts after a day of transit. The backdrop changed from scrubland to forest, as the timing points were despatched, and by the final one our surroundings were almost jungle like.

Nobody managed a magic zero overall between the three timing points of the reg, though Lars and Annette Rolner did put in perfect scores between the first two points, before dropping seven seconds at the final hurdle. They are now second in the standings though, 1 minute and 5 seconds off the lead, with a sniff of the top spot. The best performance on the reg though, and therefore the day, came from Federico Grom and Filippo Basolo in the feisty Fiat 124 Sport Coupe, who dropped just 2 seconds overall, a fabulous performance from the Italian crew.

Whilst the reg was good fun, it was what came after that may live longest in the memory of everyone today. Some will have enjoyed what came next, and some not so much as the route out of the regularity and back to the main road was set to become challenging to say the least. It wasn’t immediately apparent, and everything was very pleasant as we passed Gaucho’s on horseback and drove through the village of El Cantadero, where the purple blossom of the Jacaranda trees had carpeted the road with petals, and the locals were hanging colourful bunting for their annual music festival. As the road continued though, the Yungas Forest thickened, and the track became rough. This region too had clearly suffered the heavy overnight rainfall, causing landslides and washouts. Slow, cautious driving was needed, but with meticulous consideration given to line choice through the worst of the ruts and washoutsthere was a path through. The views of the mountain peaks, shrouded in mist, and endless green slopes beneath them was magical though, as though we were driving through a forgotten land and time.

It was quite an end to the day, and as the scores came in the lead of the rally now belongs to Stephen Hardwick and Ian Riley, as their Datsun now takes its turn at the top, though as we have seen, a lead is a fragile thing to hold and there are still plenty of kilometres to go.

Syd.