London Classic Marathon Rally Part 3

We’re up to part three in the journey of Chris Palmer undertaking the gruelling Sydney to London Classic Marathon Rally in his beloved 1967 Mustang. This time it was just Chris and Philpott, as they began the European leg of the marathon.

If you haven’t already, read part 1 and part 2 here.

April 25: After a long flight, Chris and Philpott arrived in Turkey. They missed the first turn and ended up in a very busy village. They made it back last and everybody else had showered and had a beer! That night gave Chris some time to reflect on the Australian leg. In Australia, they had 4WD tracks, fast fence line tracks and open roads. There were boarder track sand dunes, creeks and largebogs with 4WDs ready to tow them out. They overtook two leading cars – a Porsche (because it was worth it) and an Escort. They were both hanging over a sand dune. One driver went to hospital with kidney stones and they gave him something to pass them. Then he signed himself out! The two best looking cars were the older ones in the fleet – ‘67 Mustangs. Chris and Philpott were ready to go in Turkey with a new set of plugs in the night before.

April 26: The EUROPEAN STAGES BEGIN. On Day 15, the guys headed out of Ankara in Turkey for a fantastic trip ending up in a town called Eskisehir, a town north west of Turkey.

April 28: They left Istanbul on Day 17, leaving Turkey and heading into Bulgaria. Chris was stuck on the Bulgarian side of the boarder. They wouldn't let him through as he didn't have the original car rego papers on him. They told him the car had to be on a trailer through Bulgaria. It meant an emergency phone call to Liz, back in East Devonport, to go into the office at 10.30pm to find papers and send to him. However, by then one of the other crews had put the Mustang on their trailer while Chris and Philpott sat in it, rode through the check point and then drove 300m, unloaded the car and they drove off. It got a bit stressful for the boys, especially when everybody was talking about the movie Midnight Express. That night they finished up at Sliven.

April 29: On Day 18, the boys left Sliven in the morning and ended their day at Nis, which is located in Serbia!

April 30: Day 19 saw the guys have a bit of a full-on day touring around Serbia and ending their day in Belgrade.

May 1: Out of Belgrade on day 20, they went through Zagreb, Sljeme, A Thousand Bends (that's actually a town) and finished up at Rijeka, which is the third largest city in Croatia. They headed out of Serbia and went 400km into Croatia. There were two stages – up hill and downhill. In the first stage, at the start they hit a hail storm and had no demister. The roads were very tight with big drop offs. They ended up mid field, then they had a challenging drive to the next stage which was a longer one. They went to the start and the starterbutton wouldn't work. They had to bump start the car in reverse and took off. Chris thought this looked like a course where the 7 cylinder could give the leaders a shake. They were running a bit hard and came into a corner, too hot, and ended up over a gutter and up a bank on a 60 degree angle. The car rocked, but didn't roll. It was caught on the back corner. Chris hit reverse, then looked down at Phillpot and said ``Do you reckon you would be able to get out and give us a push?’’ With the help of spectators, they pulled the front around, dragged the car off the bank and ended up with a damaged rim. They fixed this and continued on.

May 2: Day 21 they left Rijeka for a round trip, ending the day where they started. This involved doing repairs after their off road excursion.

May 3: Day 22 was the last day in Croatia for a full day, ending their trip in Brescia in beautiful Italy. With three days left of the rally the last stages in Croatia were wet and tight/slippery goat tracks. A couple of the good old chaps from England in a very expensive rare ‘67 Merc slipped off the road and did some damage, so did another team from Turkey which was the only car Chris was beating at that stage. They had a bit of trouble on the stages. They didn't realise they had bent the steering so bad, so they had to fix it at the end of stages.

May 4: It just got better on day 23, with the guys leaving Brescia and ending their day in lovely Nice, France. Chris and Phillpot were sitting at the top of the mountain in Italy just past Cuneo waiting to go through a tunnel into France with snow all over the mountains, ``Very beautiful,’’ were Chris's words.

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