Breslau Rally 2013, Day 4

It was a long day for us today. We had the opportunity to ride along in one of the Breslau Rally press cars, a Toyota HDJ 80.

It wasn’t as touristy as it looks. At one point we were on the rally track going at high speed in the opposite direction as the racers! Everything turned out fine though.

We caught up with the IFA of Harald Chemnitz, who is currently in first place in the truck category.

We also got a photo of Sylvain and Gaby early on in the special.

Unfortunately, their water-logged automatic transmission wasn’t cooperating and wouldn’t switch gears. They had to abandon the stage after 25-30km.

Pierre and Corinne Malquion had to abandon too.

Their problem was more serious as they almost destroyed the engine of their Toyota KZ. Unfortunately, the rally is over for them this year.

We also spotted the Svoboda Tatra a few times during the day.

We got lots of good pictures, but unfortunately they’re all on the camera and we can’t get them off until we get home. Today, we filled up the iPhone with video and don’t have any space for more photos until we copy them off onto the Mac. Hopefully, we’ll have a little time to do that tomorrow.

When we got back to the camp this evening, the mechanics had been working all day on the Nissan Patrol to fix the transmission, as well as doing some work on the carburetor, and making a number of other repairs. Sylvain and Gaby receive a penalty for abandoning today’s stage, but the car will be ready to go again in the morning.

Tomorrow’s special has been reduced from 250km to 210km because the army is carrying out maneuvers in the area. The Roadbooks had to be updated at the last minute and they’re not ready yet. The co-pilots won’t have much time to study them in the morning.

We’re hoping to join the press team again. We won’t break camp until Friday, when we move to Zagan.