Day 33 Thu 14 Jul 2016 San Martino di Castrozza (italy) to St Moritz (Switzerland) 390kms

St Moritz is another ski resort but in Switzerland.  It over 1800 meters in altitude and I’m sure I saw a sign somewhere that said 2300 meters on the way here.  It's summer, but there is certainly snow at the edges of the road and in the hills around.

It was another great day of rallying in great conditions but three of the five scheduled time trials were cancelled due to snow apparently. The two that were run were good tarmac, but the average of 50kph was easily achievable.

To ensure there was no repeat of yesterday sprint to the finish control, organisers allowed 2 hour of late time penalty free. This is sensible, as even an average of 50kph on the open roads is very hard with so much slow traffic to contend with.

Our engine problem seemed to be getting worse and at lunch time the ERA mechanics did a compression test, cleaned the plugs, the rotor button and distributor cap before finding that the nut on the spindle of one of the carburettors was loose. This had the effect that one carburettor was out of sequence with the others.  Easily fixed. We are so grateful to these guys.  We would not be here except for their assistance in Mongolia.

Navigation in Europe is different to Australia.  Lots of intersections aren’t in the instructions but those in the instructions often have something very similar within 40 or 50 metres of the one you are looking for.  Roundabouts have been a bit problematic at times.  Hard to believe we can get them wrong but we do. The trick is to keep watching (don’t look down for the next instruction) and count the exits.

On the notice board tonight is a note advising the very strict policing of road rules here in Switzerland.  We will need to be careful.