(2) 2010 Peking to Paris 2P - Report 2

We are now in Ulaan Baatar, on day 5 of the Rally, "enjoying" our first rest day. Read on to find out what we mean by that...

The last two days were pretty tough and disappointing.
On day 3 we all entered Mongolia at Zamlyn Ud. After lengthy border procedures, the day included the first real taste of the mongolian tracks, with three timed stages on the menu. On the first one we took a long time to "settle down" communication wise between myself and my codriver. We lost our way once and later had to look for the final control after we had passed it on a different track, actually visiting it going back, i.e. approaching it from the opposite side. No penalties for that but of course our time was lousy...
Stage 2 was as tough as it gets and some 7 or 8 Km after the start we went over a big dip faster than what the car could take, with a rear loud bang. We could feel the rear axle swinging wildly but it was only when loud metal to metal noises began to be heard that we stopped and had a look. We could see oil dropping out of the diff protection but what had gone wrong was not immediately evident. One of the mechanical backup 4x4's arrived soon after and after removing the wheel the full extent of the damage became clear: both top mounts of the rear shocks had gone through the chassis cross member, ripping large holes in it , both sides, and that had cut the oil pipes to the shocks oil external reservoirs. The only option on the stage was to remove the shocks all together and limp along to the final control of the day relying on lhe leaf springs only. On very bumpy and rough tracks this meant doing only 15 or sometimes 20 Km per hour, which for the 85 or so remaining Kms, meant trying to find our way at night, with poorly visible tracks and soft sandy patches. Not nice. We finally made it to the final control of the day at 9.30 PM.

The extent of the damage made it clear that it would be impossible to fix that overnight on a camping site, so we decided to get a flat bed truck to take us to Ulaan Baatar, bypassing day 4.
After an eventful 12 hour truck ride, sitting in the cabin on the driver's bed behind the 2 front seats, we finally made it here at 5.30 PM yesterday, going straight to the local Mercedes Benz (!) dealer.

It is now 6.30 PM on our rest day. We had to remove the fuel tank, the rear aluminium bulk head plate, plus a large number of fittings (pipes, electricnal connections, etc.). As always happens, the spare shocks had a lower diameter lower mount eye, which meant substituting some new bits by its original counterparts.

The new shocks are now being fitted (after additional grinding and banging, because the new L-plates we welded restricted the space they need) and we will next adjust their compression and rebound strenths.

Putting it all back together again will take more than a couple of hours. And then we will have some regular maintenance to do. But we have time. We are suposed to leave the hotel at 6.45 am for the 8 am parade on the city main square...

Not sure when I will be able to send the next report. Within a week may be. I only brougt with me my iPad this time, which means I am relying on WiFi only to send you mail messages and pictures.

But I think that a small video with an interview recorded this afternoon here will be on line on the organisers website very soon, may be even today.

Jose