Andrey Karginov’s crew № 314 returned to the race only after three stages. You recall that he overturned his truck on the 9thleg in Urumqi.
Today Andrey Karginov told us what had happened and why his way back took so much time:
- When we returned to the bivouac in Alashan after three days and gave the map to the race commissars, they made a joke that we had the longest leg ever…
We had a bad luck in the very beginning of the stage. On the 18th km we made a loop in the dunes when a jeep turned out in front of us. In order to avoid an accident, I slowed down, turned the wheel in order to go down to the ‘cup’ but the speed was already slow. We lied down to one side. When we realized that we won’t be able to cope ourselves, there already were very few race trucks that could help us. We realized that hardly anybody would stop to help. We were in a difficult situation and nobody would spend their time for us.
So we waited for help from the race organizers. When the last race vehicle started, sweepers started to rescue us.
It took a lot of time to right the overturned vehicle. The truck’s position was uncomfortable and it took us long to decide what to do. We realized that probably the only way to put it on wheels was to overturn it again. However, the slope was 20 metres, and the truck could somersault quite long.
You know, that day was a terrible heat – 50 degrees. Two steps and you don’t have a bottle of water. In such conditions it is difficult to make a correct decision. But common sense finally won. We tried to pull the truck down and at first attempt we managed to slide the vehicle down.
With the help of two sweepers we could put it on wheels. Our truck was damaged during the rescue operation, but we could get the truck going.
The race authorities asked us to return back to the start because it would be no use to drive the whole special at night.
On our way back we met a jeep stuck in a dune and we left the guys water - there’s nothing more valuable in a desert than water. The next morning together with the sweepers we returned back to that jeep, because the race authorities asked us to evacuate seven cars.
- Usually race vehicles start specials light, and you had so much water?
- There’s 20-litre water storage in our truck just for an emergency. But, fortunately, we didn’t have to use it. We told the commissars our coordinates. And from time to time a helicopter dropped water supply.
-When did the rescue operation finish?
- After a day. And our crew immediately started to catch up the race. But there was a sandy storm on our way. They say it was not very strong, but after all the events it was too much. The storm found us the following night and we stayed in the desert. We slept under the truck. The next morning there were sandy hills instead of us. We put helmet liners on our face, but anyway the sand got into our eyes and gritted in our teeth.
It was really hard. But you realize that two more guys were together with you. The fact that we were not alone, that organizers remembered about us and followed every our step empowered us a lot.
It was the first time we faced with such a situation. We had stopped before when our truck had broken. But we had never spent a night in a truck, on top of that, spent several days in a desert. When you get into such an extreme situation, you start to assess things in a different way. You have time to think about main things in your life.
- Nobody in your team had a doubt that you would like to pass the SWR till the end. Didn’t you have enough adventures?
-When I was asked if I would go further, I answered that I would definitely continue. The main thing is to have my truck repaired. And I was absolutely sure that it would be fixed. The whole team met us heartily on the bivouac, as if we haven’t been at home for ages and eventually came back.
