Suzyp2p

Friday 8th October Our first time trial since Kazakhstan so we were quite excited about maybe improving our place. With all the cancelled Time Controls lately this has been difficult. We started with a steep hill which went up and up... into the fog and rain, the road getting muddier and more slippery, steeper and narrower, until we ground to a halt with no power at all. Changed spark plugs in the middle of time trial and got engine going again, but only for a minute, then nothing. Had to be towed to the top by the Japanese, again. Meanwhile we learned from Nigel and Hugo that the Wilkinsons had driven right over the edge and dropped 70'. That was upsetting and unnerving. Ground down to the bottom late for latest permitted time and decided not to participate in 2nd or 3rd trials but to just get to MTC. However as we tootled along in the rain, with ever squeaky wipers, car started to grind to a near halt every 5-10 seconds. Found Bruce (our saviour in Kazakhstan) who eventually discovered it was dirty fuel. Change of filter and away we went...with no lights. Bob at Passage control managed to get lights sorted after some time as it was dicky high beam switch causing problem. By this time it was really late, we had another 200km to travel to hotel and had to find another route which was on tarmac. Together with Andy and Bob the mechanics, we navigated through wild and rural Turkey in the dark where the road markings are often non existent and hard enough to see with old Plymouth lilghts if they are there. Gripping the steering wheel and peering over the bonnet we eventually arrived at the hotel in Kozakli at about 10.30. They had stopped serving dinner and Suzy had the sofa. Great!