RtG Ypres-Istanbul Daily Dispatch - complete - web - Flipbook - Page 23
Day 10: Sümeg to Pécs, 23 June 2022
Conditions fit for a Range Rover, Michael Kershaw and Elizabeth Comstock-Smith
Keith Ashworth and Norah Ashworth, Bentley 4½ Le Mans
muddy cars arrived at the Time Control in the Panorama
Restaurant on the shores of Lake Balaton for an alfresco
lunch where a large tray of hot French fries proved to be
the most popular dish by a long chalk.
After lunch we crossed our very own rubicon as a
handwritten sign announced that we’d just tipped over the
halfway mark of our journey to Istanbul. But this was by
no means the most exciting thing that we’d experience this
afternoon. That honour went to the third Test, where we
used a 1km stretch of closed road from a special stage of
tomorrow’s Mecsek Rallye, Round 4 of the FIA European
Historic Rally Championship.
Naturally, as the gradient increased and the hairpins
tightened, the crews rose to this unique challenge. With
local marshals at every crossing point and kilometres
of tape keeping the rally fans at a safe distance this was
definitely a section to relish.
Soon after the pace dropped off, with a Regularity run
through the hills around Árpádtető, the day’s last hurrah
before we dropped down into Széchenyi Square in Pécs, the
oldest university city in Hungary. An arch had been set up
and the good folk of the town turned out in force to welcome
the cars into their prime parking spots for the night.
Joe Hayes and Kate Hayes, 1973 Porsche 911
Andrew and Ann Boland, 1936 Ford V8 Convertible
www.rallytheglobe.com
Text & photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Design: K-Design
the beautifully surfaced circuit. Two laps gave crews plenty
of time to show what they were made of and may have
lulled one or two of them into a false sense of security.
The Nyirád Rallycross complex hosted our second Test
and reminded the rally that you have to take the rough
with the smooth. On any other day clouds of choking dust
would have been the issue, but today, to quote Flanders
and Swann, it was ‘glorious mud’ after the thorough track
watering over the previous few hours.
The Organisers had gone to great lengths to make sure
that the worst of the track was marked out of bounds.
Nonetheless Owen Turner and Russ Smith stationed
themselves and their 4x4 at the halfway point, just in case
anyone should need a bit of a tug to get them over line.
However, with a mixture of coaxing and sheer will power,
no-one needed any outside assistance. Least of all Michael
Kershaw and Elizabeth Comstock-Smith’s Range Rover
which seemed to throughly enjoy its little piece of heavenly
quagmire.
It was slippy and there was some sliding and, in the case
of the 2CV, there was even some rocking and rolling, to
the extent that the crew looked a little sea sick by the time
they reached the finish line. Despite all this 25 thoroughly