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WCRA
website promoting Stage and TSD Rally Sport in
British Columbia |
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Heart
of Darkness 2005. by Dan Comden |
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(Start
in Hope at 2300, turn around in Merritt, finish
in Chilliwack around 0800) |
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| Synopsis: a fun event that both Marvin and I agreed we'd do again. Scoring was to the second. For some reason I thought they were using a one second grace rule, but that wasn't the case. | ||||||||||
| Arrived too early - we left in the green Saab at 4pm, arrived for registration about 6:30 or so, twiddled our thumbs for tech at 8:30, then sat on our butts waiting for driver's meeting at 10:30. Next time we would arrive a bit later, I think, or at least go out to see a movie or something after registration. | ||||||||||
| We went east from Hope at 11pm then a very brief (5k) TSD on what turned out to be the prediction of very rough roads. Then a VERY fast, longer TSD (65 kph on some very loose gravel and fun corners - it woke Marvin up) section before heading out to Highway 5 and over the Coquihalla. Then some more sections that are a blur, a too-long break at the Chevron in Merritt, then back over some of the same sections, plus a new one with a water splash or two, before heading over an initially S L O W transit (15-20 kph due to bad road) to the highway and back through the toll booth to revisit that first rough regularity from the other direction -- much more smooth going downhill, or maybe it was my inability to see potholes any more. Then an agonizingly slow 45 kph TSD on the paved back road into Hope, where Marvin offered to gnaw off his own foot if I would only go faster. Were we pretty giddy by that point? Indeed. | ||||||||||
| Gary Webb and John Kisela had a real eye opener on the TSD before the break. While going over a cattleguard, the back window of John's Subaru Legacy shattered. They finished the event in fourth place -- having a draft didn't seem to much bother them. | ||||||||||
| Rallymaster Kevin Holter did a pretty good job in his premier role as a rallymaster. Wasn't a Paul Westwick routebook, but a good first attempt. An Excel error in the 3rd TSD had us in first place when the provisionals were posted, and after that was repaired, we dropped a place. He also screwed up the directions to the finish in Chilliwack, but that was simple enough to figure out, even in our pie-eyed state. One thing he did that I've never experienced is come up and introduce himself to all the competitors at the start -- something that's definitely possible when there are only 11 cars. | ||||||||||
| They collapsed the awards and gave out simple certificates for 2nd and 3rd overall, and plaques for first. They also had a raffle for a variety of gift certificates, in which the workers also participated. The WCRA enjoys enthusiastic sponsorship. | ||||||||||
| We had a good time, even though the lost sleep would drag me down for the following days. It was TONS better than Road Not Taken. Much closer to home and completely lacking in that special brand of SCCA National-level whining. All the goodness of B.C. roads and we didn't see a single local on any TSD section except the last, and those were going the other way. | ||||||||||
| Tight scores: | ||||||||||
| 1 Peter & Timothy Ryce
/Mazda 323 GTX 11 2 Dan Comden/Marvin Crippen /Saab 13 3 RJ & Ren Carroll /Subaru WRX 14 4 Gary Webb/John Kisela /Subaru Legacy 15 |
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