Midnight
Sun to Red Sea Rally
14th June 2002
Day 12 -
Istanbul to Kusadasi (Turkey)
STREET PARTIES
- AND THE GpNs CHARGING HARD
Our good friend Iskender Aruoba who
looked after us so well on the London-Sydney Marathon, has
done it again. Two new days of superb route.
We start the day with an
8 km drive alongside the 3,000 year walls of the original
Byzantine city and onto a 55 minute jet ferry ride which very
smartly saves us 170 kms by road and takes us onto the Asian
side of this fascinating country.
We're into that wonderfully
remote and forgotten part of Turkey the tourist never sees
with distant views to mountains and tiny villages untouched
for 300 years.
Regularities in the mountains
on gravel before dropping down through the biblical town of
Ephesus and to our resort hotel on the sea front.
After a well earned rest
day Rally leader Joe McAndrew lead a convoy of cars through
the early morning light onto a ferry which would take them
for a one hour ride across the Sea of Marmara into Asia Minor
and Eastern Turkey.
As one of the worlds’ most famous skylines – minarets and
the huge dome of the famous Blue mosque - faded into the background
competitors sipped strong black Turkish coffee and braced
themselves for two demanding gravel stages and a day of mountainous
driving before dropping down to the spectacular Mediterranean
coast.
Predictably Smokin’ Joe was fastest over the first stage,
a rugged 15 kms of non too smooth gravel, and he was followed
by Graham Lorimer in his 1600 cc Toyota and Steve Blunt
in his Peugeot 306. Three GpNs ahead of the powerful V8
of Martin-Hurst and Ingleby.
A broken drive shaft on the first stage had Nick Starkey on
his back and under the car but there was no instant fix. So
he and Jim Hurman limped it back to the friendly Opel dealer
in Bursa who pulled one off the shelf and fitted it and had
them back on the road in quick smart time.
“One of the advantages of GpN is "off the shelf"
parts, but we’re getting a bit bored with proving that point,”
said Hurman. more...
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