From tomorrow, we’ve got seven full days of rallying ahead of us before the next rest day, so the crews today were making the most of the facilities of Wildflower Hall and making their last minute preparations to themselves and their cars.

Whatever the laundry situation was there was also a great deal of car washing going on. The fleet that rolls out tomorrow morning, will bear little resemblance to that which rolled in through the hailstones and mud on Friday night.

As far as repairs and servicing are concerned there were some who got away lightly and some who had to spend the whole day looking at the problem and working out a way round it.

Nigel Lee and Richard Turner were one of the lucky ones and were found under their Ford 62 which merely needed a radiator bolt replacing.

Similarly, Lars Rolner was busy around his Bentley simply making sure that everything was working fully for the days ahead. He thought his clutch had suffered a little on the final short climb to the hotel, but now he doesn’t think it’ll be a problem moving into the next week.

Ludovic Bois and Julia Coleman’s Volvo has been running a lot better since the day to Manali where the plugs and points were all cleaned. Ludovic now thinks maybe the car just doesn’t like the altitude. A quick wash and brush up was all that was needed for this well travelled Amazon

Roland Singer and Hans Malus had a slightly bigger job on their hands though, their Saab has been playing up since the first day to Chandigarh. Initially it was thought to have been by caused by a problem with the carburettor but today the crew figured out that it was the old and rusty fuel tank which was causing the blockages. A quick re rig of the fuel system should mean that they have none of these issues going forward.

David and Jo Roberts are, we hear, racing back to the rally after replacing their differential in Delhi. They hope to arrive later this evening and be fresh enough to take the restart tomorrow morning.

Away from the carpark, Phil Garratt and Kieran Brown enjoyed a day on the train into the hills along with several other crews and Phil described the trip as being “a very Indian experience which initially seemed like chaos but which gradually transformed into a well organised and enjoyable trip”.

The clock starts again at 7.00am tomorrow and we’ve got a long pull to Mussoorie to look forward to.

Syd Stelvio