RTG Carrera Iberia The Daily Dispatch - all days - Flipbook - Page 6
Day 2: Rioja - Alcaniz, 9 October 2019
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Mike Hand Lorna Harrison, 1959 Triumph TR3A
Rogier Quekel and Marjan te Velde, 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SE
1700m and the border with Castilla y Leon. Thankfully,
the sunny skies and warmer temperatures returned as we
dropped off the mountain to the Passage Control at Los
Villares where more refreshments such mushroom tortillas
and slabs of decidedly rustic looking pork crackling were
on offer to anyone who needed them.
Spain is a hilly country and via the Puerto del Madero
(1162m) and a short section of freeway, we reached the
lunch halt and Time Control at La Vina, where Graham
Rood put all of his aeronautical know how into creating
the perfect formation of parked cars along the main street.
The rally had already crammed lot in for one day, but
this was only the halfway point and there was more
great driving to come. Vast and empty, the landscape was
immense as we pressed on through Fuendetodos, the one
time home of the great Francisco Goya, the last of the old
masters famed for his skill as a portrait painter. And it was
here we finally caught up with the Rally the Globe media
team, furiously sketching the cars as they passed by on
their way to the Test at the Motorland Track where once
again David and Susan Danglard put on a bravura display
of pedal to metal Porsche precision.
The short drive to the night halt at the Parador was an
easy one, made more so by the fact that the hotel could be
seen from some 10km away. Perched as it is on the biggest
hill for miles around.
Cold beers in the courtyard were the order of the day for
most of the crews but naturally there were one or two jobs
to take care of before dinner. Clint Smith for example was
hard at work under his Bentley. It had suffered a broken
spring yesterday and had been carefully nursed throughout
the day. But, thanks to the good offices of David Ayre back
in the UK, (who had couriered a replacement) he and Dawn
should be running with the pack once again tomorrow.
Dinner this evening, in the medieval banqueting hall
was magnificent and, after a day such as this there was
plenty for the crews to reflect on. Tomorrow, they’ve been
promised more of the same so for some the choice of an
early night or more time “reflecting” was a difficult one.
Roland Singer and Bernhard Ziegler, 1966 Saab 96 V4
Geradus Mercator, Dispatch reporter
www.rallytheglobe.com
