Erenhot, on the Border of China and Mongolia
(with Updates Below)
Here is some basic information to help you follow the route:
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- Today’s Race begins at about 0700 China Standard Time, or 4:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time.
- At about 4:00PM PDT, you can follow the live GPS signals from the start of the race and then watch as the signals move progressively along the mapped route. See this link.
- For more comprehensive directions or to follow one of the other 115 specific vehicles, see this link from our previous blog post.
- To view a map of the Peking to Paris Endurance Race progress with daily route updates, go here.
- Local Time in Eastern Mongolia is 16 hours and one day ahead of Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).
- You can be reminded of regular web site updates when a posting appears on our Facebook page.
- The driving Weather Forecast starting from Erenhot near the China/Mongolia border:
Sprinkles. Overcast. Mild. 64°F / 18°C
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From Stateside the Webmaster Writes: Well, we don’t really know the true facts about yesterday’s problems because Ike Trafton has not been able to update us yet. But here is another view as both cars left the town of Erenhot.
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You’ll notice, that Google Street-View made it into Mongolia. So we have been able to grab some shots that the racing team saw at ground level.
Leaving Erenhot
.Unfortunately they were met with
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And facing a main dirt road out of town.
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Well. The view did change for the better. Somewhat.
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For now, this is what we can surmise: although both the #1 and #4 cars were to have camped with the group, they took a separate route and will meet up in Mongolia’s fairly large and cosmopolitan capital city of Ulaanbaatar. The #1 vehicle will be repaired there and readied to continue the trip. While they were supposed to be camping for the night somewhere in Mongolia, the GPS rarely lies. (Well, occasionally it may incorrectly send you through someone’s garage, but not often.)
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Below you will see that the larger group of road-ralliers goes off to the left (black arrow), but both the Black Horse Racing vehicles are taking the track north, directly to Ulaanbaatar.
Going Straight to Ulaanbaatar
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For most of the drive today, this is what they are seeing.
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At one point, #1 The Revenant vehicle pulled off the road to get gas:
Probably Self Serve
And this photo from Katherine confirms what we have often suspected.
Camel in the Middle of the Roadway
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UPDATE at 4:30 PM (PDT) or 8:30 AM Mongolian Time
The photo above looks like a typical vehicle breakdown in middle America in about 1925. It’s not. However it is a breakdown shot in Mongolia in June, 2016.
Ike Trafton sends a quick update message:
Steve and Katherine are in Ulaan Bataar. Tim Taylor and I were driving from the Chinese border in the #4 Liver Eater to link up with them in order to fix the #1 Revenant. At about 55 miles (90 km) southeast of Ulaan Baatar we stuck a piston and broke a rod. We’re currently awaiting a wrecker. Will send photos and details when I get to the hotel. IKE
Steve and Katherine are waiting at this site in the Mongolian nation’s capital city…
#1 Revenant Location
…which looks like this (in the Google Street-View).
Remember that these two cars are two of the oldest vehicles in the Peking to Paris Endurance Race (the 1915 “The Revenant” is the oldest vehicle entrant and the 1925 “Liver Eater” is the 4th oldest vehicle), so a breakdown is not unexpected. We shall see what they decide to do when we receive Ike’s further update in tomorrow’s installment.
I find the last sentence interesting. Firstly,with proper preparation, an understanding of your vehicle, and a good grasp of rally conditions, a breakdown should never be expected. Secondly, 1925 is not that old. 1915, in my eyes, isn’t either.