Day 5 - Motu-vation

Chef d’Equipe Charlotte gives moral support

The day’s highlight was most definitely the 47km Motu trail, one of the world’s most celebrated, tortuous and feared rally stages. Colin McRae did it in a blistering - and scarcely believeable - 37 minutes in his WRC Scoobie Impreza. We took twice the time and still had to keep the stones flying most of the way to make the targets. Just as well the navs had their heads down in speed tables and road books because looking ahead would have been disconcerting: one fellow competitor was heard to mention a near reacquaintance with her lunch. Of course both Daphne and Rosie loved it, although D’s sump guard is so low that following competitors had the benefit of nicely bulldozed gravel. Peter reported the MG hugely easier to pilot than the Talbot on the switchback logging tracks. Daphne continued to tease us with her little foibles: today’s being a loose steering rack after the morning’s first jarring regularity. There’s a great account of Day 5 on the Motu in the News feed on www.endurorally.com.