The Iran Car Club banquet....

Ummh?  Seems to be the general consensus from all those who attended.  We were promised the deputy President of Iran and got the deputy deputy president and director general of the Institution of Physical Education instead due to a cabinet meeting taking precedence! 
Goodness. The experience was interesting in the way perhaps a meeting of the masonic society would be to those who were not members. Lots of ritualistic back slapping and endless thankyous and loads of claptrap all while we waited patiently for our supper. Most lost the will to live after ten minutes. 


The Banquet  turned out to be the same as every other meal in Iran.  Pressed meat kebab and rice washed down with coca cola. At least we were given an alabaster gift which weighs a ton and will make a good wheel chock.  I don't mean to be ungrateful but Iran was a funny country and not really to my liking. A lot of people were nice but some were most unpleasant and with the kids throwing rocks at the cars we are glad to have left to be honest 


Anyway one or two of you have asked about the scoring system which keeps us firmly stuck in third place when we are clearly the best team out there!  Well basically the rally works on a series of timed exercises. Some are A to B timings and some a special stages where speed matters.  In reality if you break down or get lost on these trials you incur penalties which add to your time. 


Therefore the cars in front of us have not lost as much time as us. Until they either break down or get lost we cannot beat them as the time difference is too much to make up. The important point is that if you arrive early as you have a faster car it doesn't count. You only get penalised if you don't get there within the limit.  You can make time up on special stages but these are typically only a few minutes on you competition.


Basically we messed up on day one through inexperience and are now stuck where we are for the time being. I hope that's clearish!  


Off to supper in our beautiful ski resort hotel now. Pip pip.  

Bring me sunshine...

And sure enough back into sunshine and sweltering heat the other side if the mountain. The Geography today was amazing. On the seaward side of the moutain it was like Switzerland with pine forests flourishing on the relief rainfall which obviously didn't extend to the other side as it became desert immediately we started down. 
Car ran well and we are now in a very smart hotel in Tabriz.  We are being taken to a banquet organised by the Iranian car club that hosted our trip here. Ummh, I wonder what delicacies will be on offer tonight....certainly no wine and beer as that's off the menu until Turkey tomorrow!   

Caspian sea furious...

The Caspian Sea in a fury this morning. Thank goodness we have a coupe and not an open top car.  It's a ghastly day here today but we are due to go over the mountains and down back in to desert by lunch time. 

Driving through Iran...

On to Iran...

This is it!  Iran today and attached is our rally memo for the day.  Don't know what to expect really but last night was fun as all the tipples that had been secreted away in cars were brought out to be drunk up before entering Iran.  Its another bright and warm morning as we listen to the engines firing up to head off to the border. We are now over half way and the road mileages are increasing.....thank goodness.  The Aston remains fabulous on the roads and always gets greeted by the locals as the James Bond car! Amazing. 


Ashqabat is almost all brand new following the devastating earthquake that levelled it in 1947.  Loads of marble and gold.    If you don't hear from us in Iran....watch News 24 for updates!  No seriously we have no mobile connections in Iran so there maybe radio silence again.  Thanks for taking interest.  A and A. 

At last - a word from Adrian.......

As it is now the 3rd October and the rally has entered the final two weeks, I thought it was time for my first blog. As owner of the car I have winced over every pothole for the last 7,000 km and believe me there have been numerous and very large potholes.


Now we are in Ashgabad, our last stop in Turkmenistan before making the crossing into Iran. To date Samarkand in Uzbekistan has been the real positive surprise but I look forward to Iran. So much has been talked of this nation but so few have been. Tomorrow we will join the few.


The Aston was superb today and we covered the 630km quickly and were the 4th car to arrive at  the hotel despite leaving almost last this morning. Last night is to be forgotten. We stayed in a sanatorium which had pictures of patients being treated on the wall in the lobby. Black mould on the bedroom walls and shared bathrooms and you have an idea. Yuk....roll on Paris.


To all those have been reading the blogs thanks for the support. There have be low moments so to know you are out there has helped. But for now spirits are high and the Aston is showing all her true rally credentials.



Adrian G.

A beautiful Speed Six Bentley

Turkmenistan...

The temperature outside is 34.6 and the bottom one is inside the car!  We are now in Turkmenistan and being given a police escort to our hotels.  Our is actually called a sanatorium so we don't quite know what to expect.  Its very hot!