Here I am!!

God, its day 6 and this is the first opportunity I have had to do the blog - excuse the spelling, no time to correct.
Qualifying went well, we were 12th overall and 1st in class, so pleased with that, Rupert and Mark Devis were a little slower but well up.
The first day was a crippler, we did over 550kms of really tough road sections high up in the mountains, betwen 6 and 8 thousand feet,with 7 special stages, and temps of 35 deg, we were just shattered at the end, and finished the day in 3rd pos in historics - Martin Mc Glone was very ill and had to stop driving, a combination of heat , exhaustion and dehydration, it was the hardest days rallying we have ever done.
Day 2 was just as hard, we came down a long straight hill at around 120mph and hit a dip , marked in the notes but not cautioned and the car launched in the air and we split the sump - luckily it was at the end of the stage so we got a quick time and limped to a village were we found a mechanic who was able to solder up the crack, it´s an ali sump so could not be welded, this took 2 hours and cost a measly 700 pesos, about 40 quid, fantastic, and only in mexico.
Our times on the stages now moved us up to 1st in the most competitive class Historic C and we have won every day so far with the exception of the first day were we were beaten by 2 germans in a quick Mustang, sadly they crashed out.
The mule team are all still running, Simon and I are 6th or 7th overall and 1 st in class and Marc and Rupert are not far behind us.
We are pissing off our arch rivals Bill Shannahan the yank with Brit Murray Smith as his Co Piloto - they were determined to beat us gringos this year but we are still far faster than they are.
Anyway,we are now about to start day 6 and we are all very tired and rather smelly, Montezuma has attacked us all with dire consequences, especially Marc and I who had the most embarassing moment in the centre of Mexico City at the start of the special stage - we were lining up to go, and we literally had to, then and there, bit like having a poo in regents park with loads of people walking around!
got to go now, off in a few minutes and I need food, have lost a couple of kilos, rupert has droped 4kgs thanks to old Monty.
We really really want this win, fingers crossed go to do the infamous mille cumbres this morning - you translate it and you will understand,
bye,
8.30

Day 4 Results - 1st and 2nd in Class!

This is Kristin posting for Richard. It has been bloody difficult getting on the internet, even though we are staying at fancy hotels.

As of the end of Day 4 of racing:

Richard and Simon 1st in class and 6th overall (Bag O,Nails).

Marc and Rupert are 2nd in class and 7th overall (orange Falcon).

We are not sure where the Gypsy Wind is placed with Martin and Jon, but they are also doing very well and have been on the podium, placing in their class.

Everyone is smiling, having a blast and the cars are running very well. Hopefully Richard and I can get on and blog tonight, but you never know in Mexico.

here we Are

After a long and tiring 12 hour flight we all arrived safely in Mexico City, very tired and stressy. We spent the night at the airport and then flew in to Tuxla the following morning when we went straight down to meet our Guru Todd landon who has built and prepared all three cars that form the Mule Team.

We are 5 Brits and one Belgian, Marc Devis, who thinks he's British, and we go along with that.
We then have 3 days of boredom and stress which is the tech spec and documentation plus fitting the global sat nav that tracks the cars on route, in case of accidents, of which there are plenty. So, a long hard day, and you should click this link from Kristin who is our major team blooger: http://funskterwtf.blogspot.com/.


-Richard

Second time lucky... or not? who knows

How exciting, at the tender age of 60 this is my first blog, and it's all about the infamous La Carrera Panamericana - the totally non PC road race from the bottom to the top of Mexico.
Simon Jefferies, my Co Driver, and I leave from Heathrow on Monday morning to fly to Mexico City, we will be accompanied by our old pal Rupert Clevely who will be joining our Belgian friend Marc Devis in Mexico city, and after a good nights sleep we will all fly down to Tuxla on tuesday morning to meet the other members of our driving team, they are John Gross and martin Mc Glone - also from the UK and the 6 of us make up The Mule Team.
Simon and I did this event last year as rookies, and we sprang a big surprise on the establishment, we were leading Historics by a massive margin and had the class win in the bag plus a fourth place overall untill I made an error and plonked our trusty Mustang GT 350 R off the stage and over the edge.
Luckily there were large trees to prevent our descent, and we suffered very little damage, apart that is, to our pride as we lost our lead and finished 6th overall and second in class.
At the time we were both gutted, and so were the team lead by our Guru Todd Landon, who had worked so hard to not only build and prepare the car, but to keep it flying during the event.
So - here we are back again to see if we can go one better.
Todd and his gang are leaving as I write this, wednesday 15th October, for the massive road trip from Minnesota all the way down to the bottom of mexico, and we expect to meet up on Tuesday 28th in Tuxla, so i will file a report when we arrive.