Day 6 (18th November 2016)
Esquel to Bariloche 364 kms.
Everyone was looking forward to a shorter distance today but not to the nearly 200 kms on the gravel, rocky roads.
After 40 kms we arrived at the Parque Nacional and gravel roads. The first Regularity was fairly straight forward but very very dusty for us in an open car. The finish line was a bit tricky with the finish board displayed but the marshalls were hidden behind bushes, being tricky or simply getting out of the dust we don't know! Some cars continued on without noticing the marshalls so copped penalties. The scenery was spectacular with snow capped mountains in the distance. The road was lined with colourful wild lupins and yellow broom (or egg & bacon plants as some know it).
The lunch stop was at the El Maiten train station which has a museum for the Old Patagonian Express steam train. The locals put on a lovely lunch of meat & salads with the train blowing steam in the background. A huge crowd of locals were out and about as there was a steam train festival on. Local families admired the cars, took photos of their children near , or in some cases, in the cars.
For some reason we had difficulty finding our way out of town but eventually got to the start of the next Regularity, once again on rocky, gravel road at 70 kph. We came around a sweeping corner increasing speed only to find the secret finish line. One of the rules is that cars must finish astride the markers. We missed it so not only were we 9 seconds late we copped 10 second penalty for not finishing astride the line.
Another 40 kms on, we entered the Kartodromo Lewis go-cart track for a quick run around the circuit. It had no set bogey time and a Porshe did it in the quickest time of 1 min 7 secs so that became the benchmark, We did it in 1 min 17 seconds which was pretty good for our car.
The night stop was at the Llao Llao Resort about 24 km from Bariloche.. This old hotel (our rooms are in the old section with the original furnishings) sits on a hill surrounded by snow capped mountains and overlooks a large lake. A magnificent setting for a rest day to forget the dirt & dust of the previous 2 days.
Esquel to Bariloche 364 kms.
Everyone was looking forward to a shorter distance today but not to the nearly 200 kms on the gravel, rocky roads.
After 40 kms we arrived at the Parque Nacional and gravel roads. The first Regularity was fairly straight forward but very very dusty for us in an open car. The finish line was a bit tricky with the finish board displayed but the marshalls were hidden behind bushes, being tricky or simply getting out of the dust we don't know! Some cars continued on without noticing the marshalls so copped penalties. The scenery was spectacular with snow capped mountains in the distance. The road was lined with colourful wild lupins and yellow broom (or egg & bacon plants as some know it).
The lunch stop was at the El Maiten train station which has a museum for the Old Patagonian Express steam train. The locals put on a lovely lunch of meat & salads with the train blowing steam in the background. A huge crowd of locals were out and about as there was a steam train festival on. Local families admired the cars, took photos of their children near , or in some cases, in the cars.
For some reason we had difficulty finding our way out of town but eventually got to the start of the next Regularity, once again on rocky, gravel road at 70 kph. We came around a sweeping corner increasing speed only to find the secret finish line. One of the rules is that cars must finish astride the markers. We missed it so not only were we 9 seconds late we copped 10 second penalty for not finishing astride the line.
Another 40 kms on, we entered the Kartodromo Lewis go-cart track for a quick run around the circuit. It had no set bogey time and a Porshe did it in the quickest time of 1 min 7 secs so that became the benchmark, We did it in 1 min 17 seconds which was pretty good for our car.
The night stop was at the Llao Llao Resort about 24 km from Bariloche.. This old hotel (our rooms are in the old section with the original furnishings) sits on a hill surrounded by snow capped mountains and overlooks a large lake. A magnificent setting for a rest day to forget the dirt & dust of the previous 2 days.
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