Paris (AP) - Rheumatoid arthritis, the driver's joints are so painful that the stick transfer cannot be controlled. When the navigator was blind, he was helping her through the co-pilot in France, and five years ago, her vision was taken away by a brain tumor and stole her career as a photographer.

It was the idea of ​​two friends, making them proud to show their abilities by participating in the only off-road old racing car from Paris to the Mediterranean.

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Saint-Tropez, Merete Buljo and Tonje Thoresen are here.

"Make the impossible possible!" is the motto of the Norwegian women who are taking risks this week. They like to see themselves as the successor to "Thelma & Louise" - Minus Crime, the heroine of Ridley Scott's 1991 Female Liberation Film, and the joy and danger of the open road.

"It's us!" said the driver Bourjo. During the race, they even hunted the cars driving from the cliffs of Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.

"When we were looking for cars, we thought, 'Oh, Ford Thunderbird. It's perfect!'"

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Two blind navigation navigators

Thoresen was one of two blind navigators in a five-day princess rally that roared from Paris on Sunday. Juliette Lepage, from birth, was blind and drove 1977 mg. Rally is a long road race, usually with stages and checkpoints.

No vision, Sosen said, her other feelings were working overtime on the roads of French spring: the smell of flowers and vegetation and farming in the fields; the sharp tunnels they passed were cool.

Old-school engine orchestra (some voices, some call) raced along the wild road. It's music for gasoline heads like Thoresen, who says she can identify some cars by sound and when mechanical problems arise.

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"I'm passionate about these sounds. It gives me adrenaline," she said.

Firebird failed

Thoresen was incredible when Buljo proposed that they attend the rally together.

"I said, 'What? But I'm blind!' She said, "Yes. "She really likes, 'We can do everything-all impossible things can be done. '"

Unfortunately, the 1990 Pontiac Firebirds they planned to drive were unable to keep pace with their ambitions. It has an automatic transmission - Buljo has been doing arthritis easier since childhood.

"I can't drive a normal transmission because of my legs. I have some problems with my hands, so I can't stay on the transmission all the time," she said. "For me, driving has always been very important to my freedom because I always have more or less legs, knees, ankles, everything has pain."

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But the car broke down the week before it started. They had to go back to the last minute modern alternative, which was not eligible for the rally, which was only open to cars built between 1946 and 1991.

Still, organizers allowed them to ride with their competitors and kept the game name: Team Valkyries, a powerful female figure in Norse mythology.

shame

After receiving sponsorship and crowdfunding funds, Burcho and Sosen do not want their efforts to be wasted.

They used this gathering as a training to figure out how Thoresen helped browse the route and its checkpoints, even if she couldn't see it. Participants were not allowed to use GPS Navigational Aids, and Thoresen has not learned Braille, another blind navigator used to read and provide instructions.

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But Tosen said she was as reliable as London’s Big Ben when measuring the passage of time, so she could suggest when to turn. Buljo says she is able to remember the route notes.

"I have an internal map and Tonje has an internal clock, so we formed a great team," she said.

Furthermore, just from point A to point B has never been their top priority.

“We also want to show that it’s important not to be ashamed of your obstacles,” Soresen said. “It’s important to be the ability you still have and dare to do things.”