Author Topic: Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 12  (Read 3283 times)

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Offline maf

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Racing report, China Rush 2010, leg 12
« on: November 02, 2010, 03:01:43 PM »

Racing report
Amazing Race China Rush
Season 1, Episode 12
Film date: 2010-05-29 (Saturday)

I have tried to estimate distances and driving times every now and then. This data, from Google, is an approximation at best and the driving times assumes no traffic.

Teams depart from the pit stop in Zhaoqing in the following order:
 1. Charlie & Rachel    - 05:58
 2. Deepak & Naresh  - 06:24 (+0:26)
 3. Rick & Josh           - 06:29 (+0:31)

The first clue reads: "Head back to where it all begun, Shanghai". Teams must now go to a certain bus station and take a bus to the Guangzhou airport and then fly from there to Shanghai. Once in Shanghai they must find their way to the Shanghai international auto city. Teams will find their next clue at the entrance.

Charlie & Rachel got of to a rocky start and started arguing while trying to find the bus station. If they go on like this then they are going to be last.

All teams make the same 07:00 bus and then the MU5302 flight at 10.30 which landed in Shanghai at 12:18. We do see teams checking their bag on this flight.

At the airport we see Deepak & Naresh ask the information how to say the name of their destination in Chinese, this is a good move. We also later learn that Charlie & Rachel picked up the address of the place as well. Unfortunately for them they got the wrong address.

Choice quotes:
 "We were very nervous, I didn't sleep the whole night", Naresh feels that this is the final leg
 "When you learn some Chinese, you can criticize me", Rachel has a point
 "The pressure was tenfold", Rick & Josh also feels that it is the last leg
 "Rachel & Charlie and the Aussies, they have won most of the legs", Deepak & Naresh knows the odds are against them

Once in Shanghai we get to see a friendly baggage cart race between Rick and Charlie where they bump into each other. But soon there is a mad dash for the taxis. Teams reach the clue box at Auto city (29km 0:28) in the following order:
 1. Deepak & Naresh
 2. Rick & Josh, arrive as Deepak is almost done with the road block
 3. Charlie & Rachel, arrive just after Rick & Josh

Choice quotes:
 "We have lived in Shanghai for five years, and we know Shanghai really well", Naresh is confident

Road block: "Who can conquer the wheel". In this road block one team member must climb a 15m high metal grid wheel which is the symbol of the Auto city. Once they retrieve the clue from the top they must rappel down the side.

Teams complete the roadblock in the following order (* denotes team member performing the road block, and the numbers how many roadblocks each team member have performed):
 1. *Deepak & Naresh  (6-6)
 2. *Rick & Josh           (6-6)
 3. Charlie & Rachel*    (6-6)

I assume the rules said that team members must do 6 road blocks each. Otherwise I would have expected Charlie to do this, if nothing else because he is taller than Rachel and would have better reach.

Choice quotes:
 "We were the first team to arrive at the roadblock, and we were very exited", Deepak was exited at being first
 "Just do it, just do it Deep, just go for it just go for it", Naresh is also very exited
 "Vehicle production?! No, no, no, no", Rachel realizes to are at the wrong place
 "The boys are already descending that thing", Rick arrives
 "I'm climbing this", Rachel takes on the Road block as soon as she sees it
 "Looking good buddy", Josh encourages Rick
 "It was like a big jungle gym. I spent my childhood years training for that", Rick
 "Am I safe? Did someone check this?", Rachael does not feel safe
 "I was freaked out about the wheel", Rachel is not comfortable
 "I'm stuck", Rachel again
 "I don't know how to do this", Rachel is stumped again
 "You did really well" Charlie encourages Rachel

At this point in the race it looks like Charlie & Rachel are out of it and it will stand between the Indians and the Aussies.

The next clue reads: "Travel to the Shanghai auto museum and search among the 70 cars for one of three which have the keys in the ignition." (200m) They must then start the car before taking the keys to the attendant outside to get their next clue. The keys can be found inside a:
 1958 Fiat 500
 1964 Jaguar XKE
 1966 Shanghai SH671
Starting the cars is not elementary. The Fiat requires you to turn the key and then operate a lever or button between the seats (probably to push the starter engine). The Jaguar requires you to turn the key and then press a button to start the engine.

Teams complete this in the following order:
 1. Deepak & Naresh (1966 Shanghai SH671)
 2. Rick & Josh (1964 Jaguar XKE)
 3. Charlie & Rachel (1958 Fiat 500)

Charlie and Rachel found the Fiat, failed to start it and moved on. This indicates a temporary lack of brain function. They should have realized that there would be only one car with a key left since the other teams had already left. However the returned to the Fiat and eventually Rachel figured out how to start it.

Choice quotes:
 "Change it man", Deepak & Naresh give up on starting the Fiat
 "They are already here", Deepak & Naresh gets flustered when Rick & Josh arrives
 "Where the hell is the ignition", Rick is searching
 "This is a sports car, it probably got an ignition button", Josh figures out how to start the Jaguar
 "We're going to be stuck here forever" Charlie & Rachel feel down when they see the Aussies leave as they arrive.
 "Charlie can you look" Rachel is getting irritated again
 "Makes no sense", Charlie is baffled by the Fiat
 "So, what is this?", Rachel finds the magic lever on the Fiat

The next clue reads: "Travel to the Shanghai International Auto city new test track and drive a lap around rigged with a state of the art speed sensor". Teams must drive a special car (a Mazda) one lap around a track. Along the track there are three speed limit signs (40, 30 and 20km/h). Teams must stay within 3km/h of the posted speed after passing the sign. The catch is that only the passenger can see the speedometer. So this task requires good communication between driver and passenger. The test track is about 200m from the museum.

There is only one car so teams will have to take turns and drive one lap each. One lap is about 1km and takes about three minutes to drive.

Teams arrive at this task in the following order:
 1. Deepak & Naresh
 2. Rick & Josh
 3. Charlie & Rachel, arrives before Deepak & Naresh are done

Choice quotes:
 "It has to be 3km/h" Deepak explains to Naresh, after having misread the clue
 "11, 14, 15, 18, 17..." Rick & Josh have figured out how to do it
 "When the Aussies came in and did it the first time, that was really disappointing", Deepak & Naresh were not happy to loose the lead
 "41, 42, 43, *beep* you may have been over", Rachel, "No I wasn't over, Charlie practices the power of positive thinking

Teams complete the task in the following order:
 1. Rick & Josh, on their first try
 2. Deepak & Naresh, on their second try
 3. Charlie & Rachel, on their first try

The next clue reads: "Travel by metro line to the #9 line stop of Madang Road". This stop is at the Shanghai world expo. Once teams arrive they must make their way to the South Africa pavilion.

Teams make their way on foot to the metro station (1.7km). Having teams go to Madang road makes no sense. It is located a few kilometers from the actual expo. However it is possible to change to line 13 here and that goes into th expo area. From the Shibo avenue station it is approximately 1km to the South africa pavilion.

Rick and Josh miss the train by approximately 5 seconds and have to wait a fairly long time for the next time. While they were waiting Deepak & Naresh arrived. When the next train arrived they all jumped on. Unfortunately they learned that it would be another 5 minutes until the train left. This allows Charlie & Rachel to catch up, which doesn't please Rick & Josh. And the leg is completely open again.

It gets dark while teams ride the metro.

Choice quotes:
 "We had to go back on the Shanghai metro, it wasn't good", Rick & Josh remember their earlier troubles on the metro
 "There is Rick & Josh here as well, just relax" Charlie realizes they have caught up
 "There is South Africa, come on" Rachel has found new energy

Teams reach the clue box in the South Africa pavilion in the following order:
 1. Charlie & Rachel
 2. Deepak & Naresh
 3. Rick & Josh

Here teams encounter a wine tasting challenge. They are each given five glasses of red wine and must match each glass to the correct bottle.

The task was quite difficult. Rick & Josh almost got it right on their first try, but then they got lost. Charlie & Rachel realized that they could take advantage of the judge and try to figure out which ones were right.


Choice quotes:
 "Both our noses were running", Rachel
 "This one smells like pizza", Rachel is hungry
 "I was super exited when I knew it was going to be wine tasting, I work at a winery", Josh
 "I'm useless in this challenge, it all smells like red wine to me", Rick
 "Embarrassing, isn't it", Josh after being last from the wine tasting

Teams complete the task in the following order:
 1. Charlie & Rachel, at least 4 attempts
 2. Deepak & Naresh, at least 2 attempts
 3. Rick & Josh, at least 5 attempts

The next clue reads: "Make your way to the China railway pavilion". One there (~2km on ther other side of the river) teams will find three maps of China. Teams must chronologically place in order the ten pitstop cities they have raced through.

On the way to the challenge we hear Rick & Josh argue if they should consider the challenge a memory task or a geography quiz.

Choice quotes:
 "This is not Shanghai", Rachel, "Yes, but we started off in Ningbo", Charlie remembers a crucial fact
 "I'm afraid you have to work a little bit longer", the judge tells Deepak & Naresh they are wrong
 "All teams are here", Josh is happy when they arrive
 "We definitely did Shanghai first", Rick is wrong
 "Please be careful",  the judge tells Rick & Josh they are wrong
 "Is it the order or the positioning?", Rick tries to get help from the judge, "I don't know", but the judge is not helping (with a smile)

Charlie is pretty sure they are done as he starts putting on his backpack while the judge is checking their map. Fortunately for him he is right.

Teams complete this challenge in the following order:
 1. Charlie & Rachel
  Deepak & Naresh
  Rick & Josh

The next clue reads: "Make your way to the Bund where you will find your next clue". We now gets lot of footage of Charlie & Rachel looking for the Bund at the expo before realizing that the clue means the famous Bund in Shanghai. They eventually take a taxi.

Choice quotes:
 "You walking is me running", Rachel complains about the speed set by Char;lie
 "We are running out of time", The pressure is taking it's toll on Rachel
 "I'm sorry for the trouble", Rachel takes time to apologize to the taxi driver, that's IMHO very decent

Traffic is horrible and towards the end Rick & Josh exits the taxi and continue on foot.

Teams arrive at the clue box at the Bund (6.5km 0:14) in the following order:
 1. Rick & Josh
 2. Charlie & Rachel
 3. Deepak & Naresh

The next clue is written in Chinese letters. Eventually teams learn that it directs them to the finish line at the Pearl tower, which is just across the river (5km 0:11).

Rick & Josh starts asking around for somebody who speaks English. But nobody steps forward. Eventually a young girl pushed her mother towards them. They decide to take the Jinling Road ferry across the river.

Charlie & Rachel seem to find a young woman who speaks English fairly quickly. She translates the clue for them. They decide to take a taxi. Taxis are hard to find but eventually they pay a group of tourists 100RMB to get their taxi.

Choice quotes:
 "Every time you open a clue you need it to go in your favor", Josh
 "Crap", Rick upon opening the clue and seeing that it's in Chinese
 "Rick just looked at it, swore and stormed off" Josh retells what happened when they opened the clue
 "Oh, *beeep*", Rachel is also pleasantly surprised by the clue
 "Okay, that's easy" Charlie is not flustered
 "Anybody speak English?", Rick is getting desperate
 "Ray, get all the money we've got", Charlie wants to spend it all on the taxi
 "We'll give you 100RMB if you give us your taxi", Rachel tries to get an occupied taxi
 "Look at how young my children are", But the passenger is not interested
 "We've got to find some white people", Rachel think they are easier to convince
 "We were the last people to get tickets for that ferry", Rick & Josh barely make the last ferry for the night
 "What the *beep* is this", Deepak opens the clue
 "When we saw that the boat was closed, that time we were so disappointed", Deepak & Naresh
 "I have no idea what place we are in", Charlie while being stuck in the taxi
 "This game is too unpredictable" Rachel does not know either
 "This is the most stressful thing", Rachel on the way to the finish line
 "Fingers crossed something went wrong with them" Rick & Josh hope something has happened to Charlie & Rachel

At this point we get the usual footage of both Charlie & Rachel and Rick & Josh getting out of their taxis. They do not see each other so they could be separated by quite a bit, oh the power of editing.

Eventually we get a long shot of a team running towards the finish line. BTW the only person waiting there is Allan. I guess they are running a cheap race so the other racers will not be present at the finish line. The team gets close and the first thing we recognize are the ugly yellow shorts worn by Charlie. As they approach the mat we can see that they think they are probably first, but they are not really sure. So the moment is very tense, until Allan tells them they are the first team to arrive.

So teams reach the finish line in the following order:
 1. Charlie & Rachel, win a trip around the world
 2. Deepak & Naresh
 3. Rick & Josh

Choice quotes:
 "Finally some emotion from you", Allan finally cracked the shell of Charlie
 "Aaaaarg", Rick & Josh spots Charlie & Rachel on the mat

In the end Charlie & Rachel deserved to win. Their racing was outstanding, as long as they did not argue. And I think most of the arguing was due to the stress and fatigue of the race.