Reilly Traveling Circus

A lot has happened since the last post. Rather than a blow by blow account, I will attempt to summarize the high(low)lights. As Dickens said, it was the best of times; it was the worst of times. For the rally overall, we had several very demanding desert stages characterized by a lot of dust and very rough conditions. Many cars suffered mechanical challenges.

For our car, it performed well up until entering Urumqi. After cleaning carburetor jets there, the car would not start and we made the dispiriting discovery that we had lost compression in our cylinders. This was undoubtedly due to the engine inhaling sand during our first day in the desert, prior to our intervention of wrapping the air filters in panty hose, and subsequent abrasion of our cylinders/rings. We then had an 11 hour flat bed ride from Urumqi to Khorgos, most of which we spent seated in our car on the flatbed. We had to be towed across the border crossing into Kazakhstan and trailered to Almaty. We spent a day and a half at the Porsche dealer, removed the engine and carbs and determined that indeed there was sand in the intake valves and cylinders. We made the difficulty decision not to rebuild the engine there but rather to send it on to Baku and do a full engine replacement. We have been working on the logistics of that while our car is being trailered 3,000 km across Kazakhstan to a port on the Caspian Sea for another border crossing. We fly to Aktau tonight to meet the rally there on Thursday, as we all must cross together. Needless to say, our spirits have taken a dip with all of this. Small consolation is that we are joined by a team of two brothers whose 911 is also misbehaving, so we have someone to commiserate with.

Team Celica has also had its own set of challenges. A recurring theme has been the integrity, or lack thereof, of their steering column and rack and pinion. Harry has literally spent hours, with the Hero mechanics and flying solo, trying to come up with a solution for a disintegrating bushing. They have also had to replace tie rod ends. Like many cars, their front shocks needed rebuilding in Almaty. They have broken down on the road three times but in each instance, the rally mechanics have helped them get underway again. They have, however, completed every stage. When the car works, they are really enjoying things. The next several days in the Kazakh desert will be extremely demanding and they face a difficult decision as to whether to stick to the highway or to stay on the planned rally route. One of the campsites this week is so remote that they have to bring in a tanker truck to provide fuel to the cars for the next stage.