Kalmykia’s Labyrinths

Silk Way 2010 Off-Road Rally Raid, Stage 6, Astrakhan – Elista

The crew of the KAMAZ-master team with pilot Eduard Nikolaev not only finished first, but also – captured the overall lead in the truck class having successfully solved a difficult navigation task on the track of the stage.

The stage was difficult in respect of navigation and road surface. Sometimes sand storms blew, visibility was poor, and the racers had to slow down. Formerly, military vehicles had passed on these numerous labyrinth roads and left very deep ruts which the racers had to surmount across. It hasn’t been raining there for a long time, that’s why the ground was dry and solid. On the whole, the track reminded the racers of roadless terrain in Morocco, Africa.

The crews in both classes of racing vehicles which passed this track divided into two groups – those who managed to find the 40th point, and those who lost much time and many positions in the overall standings to find it. The fact was that this “point” turned out to be almost a mile to the left from the route mapped in the “legend” of the sixth stage and logically linking the 39th and 41st marks on it. But devices of racing vehicles “catch” signals from equipment on checkpoints only at the distance of about half a mile.

This “mistake” made by the organizers of the rally deluded many racers, even experienced navigators. Eduard Nikolaev’s crew became the hero of the day. Navigator Vyacheslav Mizyukaev quickly enough realized what the problem was and, after the repeated lap on the track on the “right” trajectory, he managed “to take the point”. As a result, the crew not only showed the best time, but also took the first place in the overall standings having moved back Firdaus Kabirov’s and Vladimir Chaguin’s crews which didn’t guess this navigation riddle in time and spent more than an hour in search of the 40th point. However, in spite of problems, the expert pilots were satisfied with the track which had been laid in the sands and alkali soils of Kalmykia’s steppes.

Young racers of KAMAZ were a bit surprised when they learned that they had become the leaders of the race: “I slightly worry and feel uneasy towards Vladimir Chaguin and Firdaus Kabirov,” said Eduard Nikolaev at the finish, “yet they realise that they had made a mistake, and we had simply been lucky. Now we have to hold our ground, and not just to win or to drive fast, but not to make a mistake.”

Unfortunately, there are losses in the team. Ilghizar Mardeev’s KAMAZ jumped and landed hard. The navigator and the mechanic of the crew injured their backs, and they needed emergency medical aid, so they stayed at a hospital in Astrakhan. Alone, Ilghizar continues the race on its KAMAZ in a test mode, out of the event.

Andrey Karghinov’s and Ayrat Mardeev’s crews also had problems with navigation, but managed to successfully finish seventh and ninth, respectively.

Friday, 17 September 2010