We had a vey frustrating day at the Iranian embassy today, but it is neither noteworthy nor really interesting, merely tireless dealings with bureaucratic incompetents who possess not an ounce of judgment and are mindless followers of a set of incomprehensible and conflicting rules and regulations. We got angry, we tried some sweet-talking, we begged a little, and managed to get the ball rolling. We should get our visas by Friday.
We had a nice chips dinner with our main mechanic Andy, AKA GTB, the “Globe Trotting Bastard”. Andy’s been to rallies all over the world working as a mechanic, from the Pekin-to-Paris to the London-to-Capetown, has seen every type of failure imaginable on a rally road, can do mechanical wonders to any car in record time, has the most impressive road map collection I’ve ever seen, and is an all-around cool dude.
He gave us three really important tips:
1. Distribute weight evenly throughout the car
2. Have a routine check every night – never ignore irregular noises
3. Don’t push the car’s limits – drive at a steady pace that doesn’t force the car too much
Andy’s general advice was that no matter how well prepared your car is or how much you pimped it out, the most important thing is the driver, and how you treat the car over a long period of time. We are going to be in the Punto for at least 35 days and driving well over 10000 miles, so we need to make sure that our driving habits are not slowly wearing away our trusty steed.
After a very long day, we finally got home to a stash of ice-cold Stella’s in our mini-fridge. It had been a long day.