Reflections on Tour Auto 2011
Despite the tales you may have heard, the Cobra ran well, Mark drove well, and as navigator I never got a 'you really must concentrate John!' and that to me means I did ok. Also the French as a Nation came out trumps and that was a bit unexpected.
It was enormous fun, which after all was the object of the exercise.
In Paris we had two memorable meals in bistros where all tables were side by side and the chairs were back to back. Conversation with your neighbour was impossible to avoid and added to the ambiance.
The start of the rally was chaotic as we had expected to be led to the start by the police on motor bikes, but no we had to do it ourselves by various routes!!
At the Le Mans circuit Mark did well until he stopped only to reappear much later on the back of a lorry
The death of the wheel is something that could happen to anyone racing and as a result I fell down the trap door in the lorry behind which held our spare wheels
[I have since recovered!]
It was unfortunate that advice was given to Mark which was absolutely wrong and as a direct result of that the flywheel welded itself to the clutch. This resulted in a push start as we could not change gear and a no stop run to the nearest garage and how lucky we were to get to the Citroen garage.
In the foreground is James, who went out of his way to help us and as a result we rejoined the rally in Bordeaux after running out of petrol at 11pm and being assisted by 'white van man' who could not have done more to help and a taxi driver who got fuel for us by extracting plastic bottles from the garbage bins and then shepherded us back to refuel.
Bordeaux was a nightmare and was only solved by commandeering a taxi which Mark then followed.
The next day was faultless and included a most attractive circuit in the hills at Pau.
The last day resulted in this
The car failed to start or rather it ran for a second and then died. All the rest of the rally left us and then for no apparent reason the fuel pump ran again.
So set off in hot pursuit and rejoined only for stop again some four hours later; this time the pump was even hotter – I feared fire! Then it ran again but this only for minutes and died even hotter still!!!
Some cars have a second fuel pump which is weight and cost and is seldom if ever used. I for one have never had a pump fail and Marks Lancia has a second pump which has never been used.
So this was our triumphal entry into Biaritz. Mark and I were in the Cobra as the truck was full and we were ironically cheered by the crowds who still lined the route. As we unloaded we met James and his friends who had come down to see the rally.
