Syd Stelvio – Gaucho Trail Day 1: Montevideo to Rivera – 539km

Today was finally the day for the Gaucho Trail to begin, finally the time to wave goodbye to Montevideo and finally time to take on an incredible adventure in South America. I daresay that everybody has had moments over the past few days where they felt like this morning would never arrive; minutes pass slowly when they are weighted with expectation, even with all of the rituals of preparation as competitors geared up for what is to come, though what lays ahead over the next 27 days is still mostly unknown, other than the countries that we will visit and the milage that will be consumed.

Today also marked the Día de Muertos, or the day of the dead, which is a more solemn affair in Uruguay than the technicolour explosion of face paint and pageantry that it is in other parts of South America. Fitting then perhaps that the sky hung heavy as the first cars left the opulent frontage of the Sofitel Hotel and took to the city streets before scuttling quickly towards the scattered suburbs of the Metropolis that we will not see again for the best part of a month. The heavens opened not far into the day, a pattern we have become accustomed to during our time in Uruguay. Once away from the city the countryside showed the effects of the recent rains, with sodden cattle scrabbling about on the soft fields, as large puddles swamped the roads, offering indications of potholes in some instances, and in others simply masking the pock marked surface beneath.

This was how it went as the cars took to the days two regularities, that began an hour or so into the journey. Taking place on gravel tracks that were mostly well graded, the regs offered an opportunity to get back into the groove of living a life governed by clock and trip. This task would have been tougher on those competing in open top machines, with the vintage Bentley and Aston Martin crews in particular swaddled in wet weather gear, attempting to keep the worst of the precipitation at bay, whilst doing their best to stay on top of the navigation.

It seems a folly to mention any kind of results at this stage of the game, with so much still to come, but for the benefit of fact Bill Cleyndert and Georgia de Jong Cleyndert had the best of the regs in the Vintage class, dropping 4 seconds in the Bentley, with Lars and Annette Rolner doing the business in the Classic category, finishing the day just 2 seconds adrift from a perfect score. It’s all fairly academic at this stage though, with over 10,000 kilometres still to go. Let that sink in for a second.

Despite the rain, there were still people out watching, even in the remote rural locations the rally was passing through. There were also plenty of mad Dogs on the loose as well, doing their best to take on the cars as they protected their patch from these noisy invaders.

Once both regularities had been despatched, the gravel tracks were left behind for asphalt once again, as competition switched to concentration, with a 200km run to the days final Time Control and a cessation of the days timed activities. By this point the rain had cleared, and the sun had arrived, with a bright blue sky overhead, punctuated with fluffy white clouds, setting the pattern for the rest of the afternoon.

The competition may have been over, but there was still the small matter of a 250 click run to the border, and it was still the Día de Muertos, blue skies or not. There would be issues on the road as well, Steve and Charlie Gray thought that they had run out of fuel in their beautiful Cobra, but despite receiving a donation of petrol from Florian Lissman and Daniel Ehrlicher the gold AC still wasn’t running right. A replacement coil got the father and son on the way again though, and they will be hoping for a problem free day 2.

The afternoons road was an enjoyable one, as the scenery opened up under Uruguay’s huge skies. Endless green pastures absorbed the horizon, though these eventually gave way to green forest, with the road cutting through dense Eucalyptus, as logging trucks became a frequent enemy of progress along the tarmac. Nigel and Sally Woof were perhaps enjoying it more than most, counting their blessings after some well timed mechanical mishaps during the morning. They had sheared a brake pipe on the Datsun but had managed to do so at the end of a regularity where the Sweep’s just happened to be on the final timing point, and had also required an alternator change as well, both issues that on another day could have cost them a lot of time.

They were still trucking though, and for them, as for all of us, the border town of Rivera finally came into view after a long first day. There was now just the small matter of a border crossing to complete, or at least the bureaucratic part in any case, as documents were stamped and the cars were left in a holding warehouse to be inspected overnight, since Día de Muertosis a Bank Holiday in Brazil.

Tomorrow the day begins early, as the rally completes the last part of the border crossing process, and the Brazilian leg of the journey commences with a 423 km day, that will finish with the events first test. Let’s hope the sun is shining.

Syd.