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Why Jordan deserves to keep its rally

Despite a dodgy hire car and delayed and contorted schedule, David Evans's enthusiasm for the Rally Jordan remains undimmed, as he explains in his latest column. But will there be room on the calender in future World Rally Championships?

For those people who haven't been fortunate enough to turn their back on the Israeli border and take road number 40 from the Dead Sea back to Jordan's capital Amman, let me tell you about it. It's steep. And then it's a bit steeper and finally a bit steeper still. Such is the necessity to return to the black numbers on the altitude scale after spending the thick end of a week 400-metres south of the height the tide normally comes in.

So, steep road; wide road, two lanes with a decent enough hard shoulder. But steep.

Now, let me tell you about hire cars in Jordan. Generally speaking, they're not the best. Or, at least, the Mitsubishi with my name on it at Queen Alia Airport wasn't the best. It was a Lancer, so it did came with some degree of cachet for a rally reporter. But the snotter of an auto which I'd been hit with bore little resemblance to Tommi's rocket beyond the three diamonds which decorated the steering wheel. It was shocking and comfortably the second worst hire car I've had while in this job (the worst being a Nissan in Nairobi, let's not go there...).

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