Day 6: Stuck in the muck

Laurance Yap

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Well, the triumph of being in fourth place after the first day of competition - just behind World Rally driver Armin Schwarz - was short-lived.

Actually, it was looking really good until the water crossing during the day's special stage. Thanks to a night of rain, what was once a fairly simple crossing had turned into a flood and unless you took exactly the right line around the edge of the water, you got stuck.

As did about half of the competitors, including Kees Nierop and I.

Getting out actually didn't take very long. With some help from the Al Nabooda racing team from Dubai, who towed us out of the muck, we were quickly on our way again, until our American colleagues, Jeff Zwart and Paul Dallenbach, got stuck in pretty much the same place.

Cue tow rope and buckles again. Cue longer time delay. Cue a drop in the standings. Oh well, there are still twelve stages left to the rally and we hope to bounce back in a big way.

The rest of the day was one monster transit stage from the outskirts of Vladimir to Kazan, along cobbly concrete blocks laid in the ground and on Russia's crazy M7 highway, which is one of the main east/west routes and is, for the most part, only a two-lane road.

If I thought that Moscow drivers were crazy, I hadn't seen anything yet: people drive right down the middle of the two lanes, straddling the centre line, and often also pass on the gravel shoulder. I think I held my breath for the entire 600-plus kilometres.

You see a lot of broken-down cars on the edge of the road in Russia, perhaps explaining why so many people behind the wheels of Volgas and Ladas look so desperate. There was one every couple of kilometres.

There were also lots and lots of accident sites, including two rolled-over tractor trailers.

After the beating we gave it in the special stage - as well as the drowning - I am more impressed than ever at the integrity of the Cayenne. It's not pretty, but boy is it tough. Surprisingly for an all-out rally car, it's also very comfortable over the long transits thanks to an effective climate control system, fine Recaro racing seats and the adjustable suspension.

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