Transsyberia Rally: Ryan Millen leg four summary

The following summary of Stage 4 of TransSyberia Rally is from Porsche Team USA Ryan Millen and Colin Godby. There are no results for Day 4 due to the communication issues from Day 3 and the stage being cancelled.

Day 4 -- Yekaterinburg to Tyumen

Ryan and Colin here... Unfortunately, Kees Nierop and Laurance Yap have retired the Team Canada Cayenne from this year's TransSyberia Rally with a mechanical failure. So in order to keep all those fans who have been following Laurance's reports up to date, Colin and I will be giving you our view of what's going on here in Russia, Siberia and Mongolia with Team U.S.A!

They have canceled Special Stage 4. That means that this leg into a 483 km transit stage. We found out that the reason they have cancelled is because the medics could not get to the stage, there was a big downpour and it is really muddy. Colin said it looked like Peanut Butter -- I asked him if it was Smooth or Chunky. I'm kind of thankful because looking at the beginning section of the stage, I don't think we could have made it through without getting the winches out. It's kind of frustrating to get all the way here to find out the stage is canceled, but no big deal.

Colin and I are having a little trouble with the route book -- it isn't real helpful and seems to be missing certain bits of important information. This will be unique to the Russian part of the rally as once we get to Mongolia we will be depending almost exclusively on our Garmin Sat Navigation system.

As for our car, we've already gone through a set of brake pads, but I'm happy that I don't have anything else to report except for the power steering pump problem we had the other day. Otherwise, our Cayenne S TransSyberia has been great! We did hit something pretty hard the other day and the steering wheel is a little off to the right, but the Cayenne still handles great and tracks straight. Several other teams (and several other brands of cars) are having overheating problems due to the heat and mud and sand plugging up their radiators and that they are being really rough with their equipment. We have decided to conserve our Cayenne as best we can and wait for Mongolia.

In a way, the cancelled stage was good news as we can go back to the hotel and get some extra rest and go through the car thoroughly. We'll be well-rested and back on the road soon.

-credit: kgpr