KEY POINTS:
Left the centre of the known universe (Palmerston North) this morning, heading for to the hub of this nation, Wellington, where all the great and good congregate to make this land what it is.
Well, that's what the politicians who inhabit this place would have us think. But I know that most of us know better.
Today was a bit of a short jaunt, at a mere 300-odd kilometres compared to the 532 of yesterday. Wellington and back via the Rimutakas and the Manawatu Gorge, not really the ideal route for an American SUV, but stranger things have happened at sea.
Getting to Wellington was okay and we improved our 10th place start to again end the morning on the podium.
However we were relegated back to 10th on the restart after lunch and never regained our momentum, but still ended the day inside the top ten for line honours.
The constant wind was our undoing, the Dodge may look good but when you're heading into a vicious head wind, having a less than slippery vehicle is not good.
Jeez, I hope all the Smart cars made it home. There was talk of an articulated truck being blown over.
One of the highlights so far on our big adventure, is observing the various pairings in the 317 kW Holden HSV Maloo R8 fat nutter thing, trying not to light the tyres up and blow the doors off every other vehicle in the rally.
There's been a rumour the drivers have been told to keep the revs under 1000 - a travesty of justice in my book.
However, there might be hope yet. We followed the first pairing yesterday for a bit but got bored doing around 80km/h so passed them. A very strange feeling that was, passing a rocket ship in a people carrier (a moment to be treasured though), but good news for Chrysler Dodge. I can see the headline now: Dodge Journey R/T CRD diesel carves up high performance Holden ute'. You never know, this could be the saving of General Motors.
Anyway, back to reality - pairing two today were up for a bit of a challenge and we tussled it out at around 100km/h until the Dodge gained the upper hand going up the Rimutakas. There's a new pairing tomorrow, so who knows what might happen.
I was most pleasantly surprised to note we were still returning a very respectable 7.4 ltrs/100km up the hills. But it all went downhill (average speed wise) when we started down the other side.
The bus isn't quite built to be manhandled through switchback after switchback. In fact, at one stage I thought my long-suffering, but still magnificent, navigator was going to up-chuck at one stage.
Once through that ordeal, the old girl found her poise and true calling again after we hit the flat roads again. To tell the truth, we actually managed to get consumption down to 7.1 at one stage.
Not quite in the realm of the Smart cars etc I'll admit, but at least we've got room for a party of seven and can see over the top of other vehicles.
And I'm pleased to announce after day one we are placed 37th overall for economy, far from being stone motherless last, where I thought we'd be. I reckon we could be in with a chance for the overall prize...
Police sightings after two days on the rally, is now 41.
Photo: Defending NZV8 champ John McIntyre surveying the Dodge competition.
