Midnight
Sun to Red Sea Rally
12th June 2004
Day 10 -
Veliko to Istanbul (Turkey)
McANDREW AND BELLM
TRADING PLACES
More Regularities in the mountains
before dropping down onto the plains and crossing the border
into Turkey and a 200 km blast down the motorway into the
exciting and romantic ancient city of Istanbul.
To avoid the terrifying,
stressful city traffic we've chosen a super hotel an easy
loop off the motorway and on the sea beside a marina just
a 20 minute cab ride from the city centre.
The exotic city of Istanbul
welcomed the Midnight Sun to Red Sea competitors in today
after 12 days and 4,800 kilometres of gruelling competition.
With the mosques and minarets making their distinctive outline
in the overcast skies, the cars pulled into the day’s final
time control with the promise of a well needed day of rest
and repairs tomorrow.
But there was no time for complacency in the highland hamlets
of Bulgaria this morning, as competitors battled it out over
2 stages and 29 kilometres of closed roads. In the first slippery
and narrow hillclimb, Ray Bellm pipped Smokin’ Joe McAndrew
for stage honours by 6 seconds.
“It was extremely greasy on the road - we were sliding around
like a puck on an ice rink” said Bellm of the hillclimb.
However McAndrew and co-driver Murray Cole exacted their revenge
on the flatter second stage, beating the Bellm / Lanzante
Porsche by just 3 seconds. more...
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