Not quite sure where to start, as it's been an amazing day. Before I get into that, here's a couple of subtle Ferraris we found parked near our hotel in Beijing. In case you can't make it out in the picture, that California is finished in matte purple...
So, day two starting with us receiving our Chinese driving licences. Or at least that's what they tell me is written on the new photocards:
Then it was revealed that we'd be visiting the Great Wall of China. This was a complete surprise and made the jet lag seem worthwhile. Before we could be let loose in the F-Cell cars a briefing was needed. It was a bit of a sober affair, where we learned that, while there are plenty of rules of the road in China, they're not adhered to very often. On top of that there's no English satnav so we'd be following a set route on something called the Tripy. Make a wrong turn? Find your way back to where you went wrong, as it can't work it out for itself. Oh, and pay attention, as there are no voice commands.
The section of the Wall we visited was only about 80 kilometres from Beijing. It truly is a spectacular sight. The F-Cell World Drive team caused quite a stir in the car park, though we still had time to climb up part of the Wall. Brilliant experience. Here's our steed for the trip:
Having been warned about the driving habits of the locals, the first stint was relatively simple. Granted we were stuck in traffic for a lot of it and everyone weaves in and out to try to make progress, but it was manageable.
This changed in the afternoon though. We had nearly 300 kilometres to drive and we were taken off the relative safety of the motorway onto distinctly minor roads. At times there was no road and it was fought over by everyone from suicidal pedestrians and cyclists to hooligans in battered up Passats and even bigger lunatics behind the wheels of massive trucks. Here's one for you: if we're both stopped and I flash my lights it means I'm going, not that you're to go... You live and learn.
All this in a prototype car using a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. It coped admirably and it's actually a fine motorway car. In fact, the only problem with it really is the lack of a hydrogen filling infrastructure. Hence Mercedes-Benz tied up with Linde for this trip and they have a mobile filling station of sorts. We averaged about 1.2kg of hydrogen per 100 kilometres.
Here are a couple more pics from the day. I believe we're doing about 500 kilometres tomorrow.
More pics then, assuming we can get a decent internet connection...