by Roberto Chiodi
May 31st. Upon arrival at Almaty, showers of petals and chocolates, a mile-long beauty queen and, as always, our 500 at the centre of attention. Especially when the beauty queen wriggles into the cockpit and – to the delight of the cameramen and photographers – pops out through the wide-open roof. Immediately afterwards, in the hotel's private car park there is a whirlwind of activity that, seen from our fifth-floor balcony, gives the impression of a mad anthill. Our starter motor has arrived, twenty minutes and all the work we had to do was finished.
The proverbial simplicity of the Cinquino and the careful preparation of the “magician” Michele De Filippis have made the car – if not invulnerable – very reliable. Suffice it to say that in order not to turn off the engine (in certain situations it could be problematic to restart it by pushing) in more than one stage we kept it running for 10-12 hours straight.
The crossing of the begins tomorrow Kazakh steppes with all the tests on dirt or sandy terrain. We are developing a strategy to avoid most of them, but just managing to clock in at the start and finish (and consequently choosing as much asphalt as possible) still means a 750 kilometer stretch. “Lucy in the Sky” will make it. If not, we will be lost in some remote land of southern Kazakhstan…
