Further to my earlier mailing, here is an updated version:
After some investigation, here is a message from the Rally Event secretary,
who is an old TSSC friend of mine:
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As I understand it John and John are currently holding on to a 'Silver
Medal'. They dropped from gold because they went 'straight on' at a
hairpin and bent the chassis but they are carrying on and hope to
straighten it during the rest day this weekend.
Received 06.11.1998
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And from Thomas Schmid in Munich, Germany:
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The news is not too good, but I have no doubt, that the boys will fix it:
(schnäpt from the Mustang team site)
Day 09: Sunday 01 November 1998, on the road from Antakya to Damascus,
(to be specific, on the twisty, mountainous stage at the Crusader Fort of
Krak Des Chevaliers): John Thomason & John Kipping in the Vitesse were
not so lucky, going straight on at a hairpin and crashing into the side of the
mountain. (ouch!)
The car came away with the chassis bent and the engine,
radiator and front suspension pushed back a few inches. He limps on!
Day 10: Monday 02 November 1998, at Amman in Jordan, and courtesy of the Royal
Automoile Club of Jordan, the Vitesse spent 11 hours in the garage having the
chassis straightening and welding attempted.
They finally got back to the Hotel at around 2am, sat in the bar for
an hour to unwind, had 4 hours sleep and then were off again.
Day 12: Wednesday 04 November 1998, our boys were still in the running!
Driving from Petra to Aqaba.,and by that evening:
Some results were as follows:
In the evening in Aqaba, the event organisers posted up some cumulative
results for all days up until the previous night. As there were no competition
sections from Petra down to Aqaba, these are also the results right down to
Aqaba.
There are three cars still at Gold Medal standard:-
Car Penalties
Car 38, 15, The Mustang, John Bayliss/Chris Podger, 15 penalty points
Car 25, 17.6, The Austin Westminster, John Blanckley/Tom Davies
Car 45, 17.6, The Mercedes, Alistair Caldwell
There are five cars at Silver Medal standard:-
Car Penalties
Car 44, 347.5
Car 18, 462.2, The Triumph Vitesse, John Kipping/John Thomason
Car 15, 709.9, The BMW 2002, Mick Munton
Car 30, 1878.4
Car 16, 2122.1, The Ford Cortina, John Catt/Simon Catt
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More will follow as I find out what is going on!
Regards
Leon F Guyot
(I can almost feel every bump!)
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