Signing on was at 9 am at which point we were told when we should collect our cars. Mike and I got allocated to the second bus which left at 10 am.

 

We were delighted to discover the car had arrived at the warehouse. Less so that the transport company had drained out all the fuel from many of the cars, and even more so when they claimed that the problem had been ‘evaporation’, an excuse that was hardly likely to wash with someone like Mike with a first class honours degree in engineering or even me with rather less scientific knowledge. We had to wait for two hours while replacement fuel arrived.

Figure 1 The car as we found it in the warehouse

Eventually when we got fuel we took the car back to the hotel. The engine was running rather lumpily and Mike had to utilise his skills of diagnosis and mechanics.

Figure 2 Don’t brush your teeth with this – Mike cleaning the spark plugs with a wire brush

He cleaned the spark plugs, dismantled one of the carburettors and rebuilt and adjusted the choke mechanism. What probably would solve the problem would be a blast at reasonable speed down a motorway which hopefully we will do tomorrow.

 

Julia Jin who had worked as a colleague when Cebr worked in partnership with ICAEW came to visit us in the afternoon at the hotel. She now has two children and seems to be doing really well heading a three person office.

 

Then the party and dinner. Most of which passed in a blur.

Figure 3 Ianthe and Rowena kindly put the stickers on

Saturday was reserved for scrutineering and putting on stickers. Rowena and Ianthe worked marvels to put stickers of a range of kinds on the car and smooth them down. Putting sticker on cars is actually a pretty complicated task and I was grateful to Rowena and Ianthe for their doing it for us and also to Rowena for planning where they went.

 

We are also particularly grateful to those who provided them: Cebr of course!, Inverlochy Castle, Fair Fuel, Nicholson’s Gin and Stellar Fuel Additives. Much appreciated. We also have a sticker for the Harinder Veriah Trust for whom we are fundraising.

Figure 4 Mike using his persuasive skills to get us through scrutineering

Mike took the car to scrutineering where he used his persuasive skills to deal with a variety of problems, the most difficult of which was a non working horn. Horns are an essential part of automotive equipment in Asia so this was an issue we had to sort.

 

Interspersed with the getting the equipment into the car and sorting out stickers, Alexis Hooi of China Daily came to interview us. We had a lot in common since he was brought up in Singapore and Mike and I in Malaysia. He came with a cameraman and we interviewed on camera for him, Mike talking with great eloquence on the technical modifications made to the car.

 

Then a final briefing for competitors to tell us various slightly important things like the route for the following day and details for the official start of the rally at the Great Wall. And our start times.

 

I am finishing this off at 4am on Sunday morning Beijing time. Today we have the fancy start of the rally at the Great Wall and drive to Hohhot which is the capital of Inner Mongolia and the centre of a metropolitan area of over three million people. Wish us luck!