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London Classic Marathon Rally Part 4

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This is the final in a four-part series on Chris Palmer undertaking the gruelling Sydney to London Classic Marathon Rally in his beloved 1967 Mustang.

Keep reading to find out how Chris and Phillpot ended the great marathon.

If you haven’t already, read part 1part 2 and part 3 here.

May 5: At 9am on day 24, the guys were in Nice and heading out and around to end up at Nice for the night.

May 6: Out of Nice on day 25, they headed through Entrevaux, Col du Corobin and ended the day in Lyon, France. They had a lot of touring days in Europe due to (as the rumours go) money was paid for road closures but didn't go all the way down the line. The stories go on and on. Chris described the drives up over the mountain ranges as being like you are watching old movies. They also dropped into Monaco. They were setting up for the F1 and classic racing. It was every bit as good as it shows on the TV. The girls had a $10 ice cream and Phillpot and Chris had a $20 beer outside the casino where they filmed James Bond Casino Royale. Many of the others were still doing a lot of maintenance and repairs. Hilary in the Datsun 1600 did a diff in Nice, the other Mustang and GT Falcon had done rear and front wheel bearings. Chris and Phillpot went over their car again to see if they could get it to run a bit better because it felt like 5 1/2 cylinders. They took the rocker cover off no.2 cylinder and pushed the rod out. The lifter had spun and jammed in the block, so they had taken the rocker off and pushed the rod out to see if they could make it on 6 cylinders. They were still able to have a beer and a laugh every night.

May 7: On day 26, they headed out of Lyon, through Parasoir, and ended the day in Orleans in the central North of France.

May 13: The race finished – and the boys made it to Windsor. The last days stages up in the hills in Wales were on an army training base. It was terrible weather, wind was blowing about 120kms, raining and freezing cold. The roads were in good condition but small. No room for error and each side of the roads had either drop offs after crests, rocks or ditches. The first run wentok. On the second run their start button stopped working, so they had to get pushed by Geoff, the Volvo navigator. At lunch time, Phillpot pulled the switch out so they could use a screwdriver to start, then away they went again. They got through to the fifth stage and the old turn-right-should-have-been-left trick happened and the old Volvo boys followed them, so they both got lost. They got back on track, flying through, doing a good time. Then they came across the Commodore broken down. They towed the 8 cylinder Commodore with the 6 cylinder Mustang through the rest of the stage. They had the best and the most enthusiastic spectators – the McEwan and Palmer family also. While they were on the stages, the army was having live firing exercises. They had a few beers that night. Phillpot didn't pull up so well. It was good the transport stage Windsor was easy. When they arrived they had the presentation, then they did a convoy to Windsor Castle for photos. Everybody is amazed the street Mustang made it. It was a stellar effort.

Thanks everyone for supporting Chris and Philpot on their journey. It was a fantastic month!

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