WesWorld

Shanghai Telegraph, 19 December 1946

22. December; Beijing Gazette

Quoted from ""Wikipedia""

On December 22, 1938, Edgar End and Max Nohl made the first intentional saturation dive by spending 27 hours breathing air at 101 feet (30.8 m) in the County Emergency Hospital recompression facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their decompression lasted five hours leaving Nohl with a mild case of decompression sickness that resolved with recompression.

Sounds familiar. ;)

Really ????

Really maybe!

(I couldn't immediately remember what a 'saturation dive' referred to, and so I was checking Wikipedia as a reminder. Suddenly - holy deja vu, Batman!)

Quoted

holy deja vu, Batman!

"Well, if it isn't Brockpaine, The Boy Blunder!"

23. December; Kunming Morning Post

27. December; Beijing Gazette

Thomas Tien Ken-sin is created Cardinal Priest of Santa Maria in Via by Pope Pius XII. and was appointed Archbishop of Beijing. He is the first chinese archbishop and cardinal.

30. December; Shanghai Telegraph
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation plans to organize the first "Silk Way Rally " in December 1947. It will mostly run on routes of the historic Silk Road.

Route:
Dunhuang (Start)
Anxi
Jiayuguan
Zhangye
Wuwei
Lanzhou
Tianshui
Baoji
Chang'an
Luoyang
Taiyuan
Beijing (Finish)

The drivers and their vehicles will be flown to Dunhuang by the Eurasia Airline. The winner gets a prize money of 25.000 $. Participants from all countries are invited.

Are there any further details of the rules for the Silk Road Rally? Type of vehicles permitted, number of drivers, etc.?

Is this like a road race for normal cars? Or is it something more like the Dakar, where terrain passability matters more than style and speed?

Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation presents the preliminary rules for the "Silk Way Rallye"

Quoted

Silk Way Rallye (Distance: 3091 km)

Lap 1 (Dunhuang - Anxi):
Distance: 117km
Service Times: 1

Lap 2 (Anxi [Guazhou] - Jiayuguan):
Distance: 258km
Service Times: 2

Lap 3 (Jiayuguan - Zhangye):
Distance: 224km
Service Times: 1

Lap 4 (Zhangye - Wuwei):
Distance: 240km
Service Times: 1

Lap 5 (Wuwei - Lanzhou):
Distance: 271km
Service Times: 2

Lap 6 (Lanzhou - Tianshui):
Distance: 307km
Service Times: 2

Lap 7 (Tianshui - Baoji):
Distance: 188km
Service Times: 1

Lap 8 (Baoji - Chang'an):
Distance: 178km
Service Times: 1

Lap 9 (Chang'an - Luoyang):
Distance: 391km
Service Times: 3

Lap 10 (Luoyang - Taiyuan):
Distance: 419km
Service Times: 3

Lap 11 (Taiyuan - Beijing):
Distance: 498km
Service Times: 3


Rules:

Vehicles:

• All vehicles must be in serial production, but modifications for the conditions expected on the route are allowed.
  
• Pure prototypes are forbidden.
  
• A replacement vehicle for the race participant is forbidden.
  

Vehicle Categories:
There are 5 different categories of vehicles:

• Class A: street cars (pure serial production)
  
• Class A1: street cars (modified)
  
• Class B: Jeeps
  
• Class C: Trucks
  
• Class D: tracked vehicles
  

Racing Team:

• A racing team consists of a minimum of 6 person.
  
• For Class A, A1 and B vehicles the crew is limited of two (driver & navigator) at the start.
  

Supply:

• Supply with spare parts is in the responsibility of the racing teams.
  
• Supply vehicles are allowed. According to the team-rule, a minimum of 2 supply vehicles is required.
  
• For the type of supply vehicles there is no limitation.
  

Repair:

• Repair vehicles (mobil) and facilities (stationary) will be provided by the organizer.
  
• During a lap there are 1 to 3 service times (each 20 minutes) - depending on the lap length, in which a repair, at the repair vehicle or repair facility (called service park), is allowed. Repairs during the service time can be carried out by a maximum of 5 mechanics (team or organizer). The service times are monitored by the organizer. Unneeded service times could not be added. Exceeding the service time will be penalized with a time addition. A repeated exceeding of the service time results in an additional time addition. The organizer may exclude a racing team when it permanently exceeds the service time.
• At end of the day, there is an additional service time of 45 minutes, before the vehicle is locked in a guarded area overnight.
  
• Outside the service parks and service times only the driver and co-pilot are allowed to carry out repairs, plus they may only use on board carried spare parts and tools. A violation of this point will result in immediate exclusion from the race.
  

So as you can see, it's like the "Dakar-Rallye"

Quoted

Class D: tracked vehicles

So we can send tanks as well? Nice.


BTW, where would a bus fit in?

Quoted from "Rooijen10"

Quoted

Class D: tracked vehicles

So we can send tanks as well? Nice.

Why I knew that just YOU will write this.

Quoted from "Rooijen10"

BTW, where would a bus fit in?

I've never heared and saw, that a bus take part at a rallye

Quoted from "Rooijen10"

Quoted

Class D: tracked vehicles

So we can send tanks as well? Nice. :)

I was trying to think of a joke to make about that, but I knew you'd go there it if I didn't...

Russian Federation Ground Forces: "Hm, are there ammunition restrictions...?" "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Comrade Captain?" "Of course, Comrade Sergeant. Load HE!"

Seriously, though, I might have someone enter. Have to think about it.

The Royal Yugoslav Army's official rally team, "The Flying Pandurs" will enter the race, featuring a M40 Triglav for competition in Class B. More details will be forthcoming.

Team Peugeot / French Army
- Vehicle: Peugeot VLR (Class B)
- Driver: Marcel Thériault
- Passenger: George Beaulieu
- Support Vehicles: 2x trucks, 5x mechanics

The Peugeot VLR is the French Army's all-terrain car. The vehicle used for this race will be new, and of the four-door hard-top version rather than the canvas top. Not likely to be the fastest vehicle, but not likely to break down unless the driver is really thrashing it. (After all, the VLR was designed to go from the Alps to the Sahara to the Plain of Jars and everywhere in between.)

At the present time there are no other entrants from France, although some interested parties intend to see how the event pans out and whether or not it will return the following year.

Hmmm interesting rally, I'll have to come up with some entries for Atlantis and Turkey.

Need to grab a piece of this action!

Class A
Dennis Poore and Mike Hawthorn will be driving a Triumph 2000 TDA with a standard 68hp 2088cc four-cylinder petrol engine.

Class A1
Sydney Allard will be driving one of his companies own products, the Allard J2 with a 110hp 4.4 L Mercury V8. Tom Lush is the navigator.

Ken Wharton and Peter Whitehead (navigator) will enter a Frazer Nash High Speed powered by a BMW 328 2 L 6 cylinder engine.


Class B
The Rover Car Company is entering one of its new Land Rover 4x4 vehicles with an enclosed body made by Tickford and powered by a standard 50hp 1.6 litre petrol engine driven by company driver Charles Tucker and navigated by Ted Griffiths.

HAFDASA (Hispano Argentina Fabrica de Automobiles) will enter a Nandú 4x4 vehicle powered by a 76hp petrol engine driven by Oscar Alfredo Galvez and navigated by Rodolfo Torres.

Johnny Claes and Olivier Gendebien will enter a Minerva M-20 powered by a standard 75hp Minerva V-6 diesel engine.

I guess all other competitor will have to watch out for this Mike Hawthorn guy when he hits the breaks of his car...