Saturday October 23, 2004
Mother of a rally
[also stolen and published on World News]
STORY AND PICTURES BY LIZ PRICE
FORTY-FOUR cars started the 9th Autobacs Asia Cross Country Rally in August from Bangkok to Laos and back, but the numbers dwindled and only 35 managed to cross the finishing line seven days later.
Inevitably, some succumbed to the rigours of the rough terrain. Several cars rolled; others got firmly stuck in mud whilst some had mechanical problems. The route had been designed to pit man and machine against the environment, and this it succeeded in doing.
It was a struggle against rocks, mud, rivers and jungle.
The event took place from August 7 to 13, a seven-day drive that included nine off-road special sections (SS) designed to test the drivers.
The 44 teams came from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. In addition, there were the support cars, service crews, marshals and media.
Altogether there were more than 100 cars carrying some 220 personnel.
Kicking up the dust at the 9th Autobacs Asia Cross Country Rally.
The route covered a demanding 2,700km, 900km of which was on nine SS’s. These negotiated mountains, rivers, agricultural land, and rough tracks with steep inclines and rocky descents. The conditions ranged from plenty of mud to dry and dusty, but all demanded technical driving. The weather before and during the rally was rather wet and, on one occasion, rising water meant the route had to be altered. Other SS’s had to be cut short due to adverse conditions. The 2004 rally was a tough one all right.
The cars all came under the T2 class, which meant they conformed to the standard set by the Federation Internationale de Automobile (FIA). Car manufacturers included Toyota, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Nissan and Suzuki. Some looked like regular cars you see on the street, others were obviously customised. All were fitted with anti-roll bars and other requisite safety features.
Looking inside the cars, I was surprised by the sparseness – all unnecessary features and luxury items had been removed. Drivers and co-drivers had to wear helmets. Team Malaysia consisted of six cars, although one was a joint Singapore-Malaysian car.
The Ho brothers from Kuala Lumpur were no strangers to the Autobacs rally. In 2002 they placed second in the T2 class. Last year they came in 19th overall, but this year they were unable to finish in their Toyota Hilux Tiger. The other five Malaysian teams were making their first appearance in the rally.
Day One saw the entire convoy assemble outside the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Luckily the city’s notorious traffic jams were not a problem that day. At 7pm, after a short ceremony, the first car stood on the podium and was flagged off amidst much fanfare.
The other cars followed and thus began the 480km drive to Phetchabun in North-east Thailand. It was a straightforward drive, mostly along highways, and the first cars reached the Kosit Hill Hotel around 11.30pm.
Day Two dawned very early. I didn’t realise rally drivers had such early starts. We were up most mornings before 6am, sometimes even before 5am.
It was quite an effort to force down a large breakfast at such unearthly hours. But I knew I had to fill up my stomach or risk going hungry later. I was in a media car and we spent our days dashing round trying to find strategic places on the SS’s to get good photo opportunities. This meant a lot of off-road driving. It was a good thing we were being driven around.
Our driver was Suthipan, a rally co-driver himself. He had no qualms about tackling really rough terrains. In fact, he seemed to revel in the particularly muddy sections.
The first SS of this year’s rally covered mountainous terrain on narrow jungle tracks.
It was certainly the most difficult for the support and media cars to access as the route involved a very muddy section and some very rough tracks. SS2 in the afternoon was a faster route through agricultural land, as well as sections up and down mountainous areas with many creeks.
On Day Three we left Phetchabun and headed for Nong Khai on the Mekong River. The morning’s SS3 was a combination of mountain, river and muddy terrain. SS4 was set in the Switzerland of North-eastern Thailand, a scenic area with mountains in Loei province.
This was the day when the combination of mud and other obstacles proved too much for the rally cars, resulting in both SS’s of the day being cancelled. Many cars got stuck in the mud, a traffic jam right here in the backwaters!
Meanwhile the press people congregated in a small hamlet, along with the villagers, waiting in vain by a brown river. When a small herd of cows crossed the river, we all took photos to relieve the boredom.
Finally, after a long while, we heard the distinctive roar of a rally car approaching, and everyone ran to obtain a good viewpoint.
The villagers cheered as the car appeared and splashed through the river. Only a few cars appeared, and it was at least half an hour before the next batch arrived. Then it seemed that all the remaining cars appeared together, lined up in single file down to the water’s edge. The villagers were certainly enthusiastic in their cheering as they urged the cars through the water.
Day Four saw the entire convoy cross the border into Laos via the Friendship Bridge near Vientiane. Whilst waiting for all the cars to enter, we went crazy taking photos of everything. There was a group of Laotian police, and they were willing though bemused to have their photos taken with us. They were game to let me straddle a police motorbike and take photos.
We then drove through Vientiane the capital and along a rough track following the mighty Mekong River westwards. Some of the drivers kept forgetting they had to drive on the right in Laos.
The SS proved a bit problematic as the car that checked the route couldn’t cross a swollen river. So plans had to be changed. This meant a long delay. And the resulting SS took place mostly on dusty, dirt tracks. But the villagers were enthusiastic and we had an enormous crowd watching.
Day Five saw the convoy returning to Thailand for the longest SS, which covered 188km through two provinces, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen. A lot of the route was on village tracks and through agricultural land, with some fast sections.
This meant we had the earliest finish of any rally day, and reached the Sofitel Hotel in Khon Kaen by afternoon. Most of the rally cars went to the car wash for a well-deserved clean-up – although I couldn’t really see the point as they would soon get plastered in mud and dust the next day.
Meanwhile many of the personnel took advantage of the nearby shopping centre, Internet cafes, bars, etc. It was our only chance during the rally for such luxuries.
Day Six took the competitors through Chaiyaphum province and Nakon Ratchasima province. That night we stayed on the edge of Khao Noi National Park, Thailand’s oldest.
On Day Seven, the last day, we drove from the hotel through the National Park towards Chacheong, with our only spectators at that early hour being a few monkeys on the roadside. After the SS everyone headed for Bangkok and the podium finish in the National Stadium.
The results
First, second and third placings were won by teams from Thailand, with a Japanese car coming fourth. Positions five to 10 were also swept by the Thai teams.
The Ho brothers did not finish. The other Malaysian cars fared better, finishing 26th, 27th and 31st, while the Singapore-Malaysia car took 33rd spot. One other car did not finish, having not started the fifth day.
This year there was an all-ladies team again, a Mitsubishi Strada driven by Ray Itoh of Japan with co-driver Jia-Yeng Sheng from Taiwan. They started the rally in 12th place and finished 17th. Malaysia had one husband-and-wife team, Teh Chin Seen and Siew Sook Mei, and they did well in their Isuzu Trooper.
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