So the story is out on Car 11's ill-fated attempt to make the Arctic Circle. Sadly disappointed, we were quickly cheered up by our teammate's willingness to take us on board so that we could at least make the ultimate journey north.
The scenery here is difficult to describe and the photos can't do it justice. I kept trying to compare what I was seeing from the front seat of Car 6 (a spacious Mazda 323) to anything I'd eyeballed before, but came up short.
A wonderful ride up in the Mazda was followed by a delicious dinner in the Mackenzie Hotel. Fortunes changed, as I was asked by the Baron to ride with him to Tuk tomorrow. Since he gave me the key to the Audi S4, it should be an interesting day...
What a great morning! We rolled out of Dawson City, topped off fuel at "The Corner" then pulled out in convoy of Cars 6, 7, and 11 up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik. At just about Mile 12, I noticed the "Check Engine" light for which Subarus are sometimes famous and said "Dan, did you forget to put the gas cap back on?". Then I saw the red battery icon. Oops.
A quick "We got trouble!" call on the business band radio brought our 3-car convoy to a halt....
.... Before I popped the hood, I revved the engine and could see that adding RPM did nothing to increase the volts showing on our new built-in voltmeter. Under the hood? Everything looked fine. Belts belting, pulleys pulling, fuses fusing, and all electrical devices working as designed. The one obvious problem? Not charging. I looked at all of the connections to our new alternator and couldn't see anything out of order, but our voltage was dropping...12.6....12.5....12.4...... It didn't take but about 13 TeamD seconds and a short consultation with the sweep trucks before we turned off all lights, radios and accessories and high-tailed it back down to Dawson City.
We pulled the WRX in behind the Eldorado Hotel, plugged in the block heater, grabbed our toothbrushes from the boot and went to chat with the Matron D'Hotel. I sauntered up to the front desk and said "Ummmm. We're with the Alcan Rally and our car sorta died. Can we leave it plugged in behind the hotel...and can we leave you my car keys in case we want to call a tow truck from Inuvik? Oh, and is it OK if we drop-ship an alternator here?" The matron took my keys, dropped them in an envelope, and promised "I'll just drop them in the safe, dear." with a nonchalance that suggested she had just finished arranging tea service for little grey men from Alpha Centauri
Cars 6 and 7 sat on Dawson's Third Avenue gunning their engines. Eric, Steve, Rob and Nick (all very handsome and sexy men), literally grabbed me, Dan, and our toothbrushes, pulled us (one each!) into the GTX and IX and shouted "Dudes, you are going to Inuvik!"
. Over the next few hours the 2 remaining cars of TeamD clawed up the Dempster, eventually catching the Alcan sweep trucks at Eagle Plains (mile 270) and reaching Inuvik (mile 561) in time for the marvelous banquet sponsored by the BMW Car Club of America.
So, what happened with the WRX? Our 90 percent guess is that the voltage regulator in the new super-duper alternator is kaput. Another less likely guess is that the alternator sense wire lost connection. Bottom line, though, is that we (meaning I) made changes and "improvements" to the WRX too late in the game and didn't allow adequate time for "burn-in" and shakedown. I can only blame myself.
We were really bummed at not getting the WRX to Inuvik, and I was even a little more depressed at the prospect of a $500 flatbed transport of the WRX to the Subaru dealer in Whitehorse when a few aspects of this rally rose to brighten the skies as it were. First was the uplifting encouragement of Eric, Steve, Rob and Nick who simply pushed considerations of comfort aside and yelled "Jump in, damnit!" to make sure we got here. Cameraderie R Us. Second in that vein were the kind considerations of the Subaru Challenge Driving team who have noted "Oh, you know we have a spare alternator?" -- perhaps saving us that expensive flatbed trip to Whitehorse and maybe allowing us to rejoin the rally on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Inuvik is a bit cold but very nice. Our BMW dinner included a mixed grill of artic char, caribou and musk ox and a lively post-prandial discussion has ensued as to which was which. We are off in the morning to drive the frozen river to Tuk... Tuk.... Tuktoyaktuk. Dan has even arranged to help drive the Barons Richtofens' Audi S4 up to Tuk. What could be more fun?
It was a crisp morning, the air was still save for one small black BMW cutting thru the dawn.
We'd spent extra time in Dawson City applying veterinary care to some bitch we found behind the hotel. We could get time barred from the trip to Inuvik but it was worth it to save the life of this beautiful animal. We weren't the only travelers who slogged to Dawson city in hopes of Yukon Gold. The Yukon Quest dogsled race was laying over in DC. At some points during our little rally we had delusions of extremeitude, we thought we were bad-ass for laying down so many hard miles. But we were rank amateurs in any category of baditude that these Yukon Quest mushers would compete in. One musher to another who had just entered the bar, 'did you sleep last night?', 'yeah, about an hour and a half'. Here I am feeling depleted after 5 hours of sleep a night and they're getting an hour and a half. To top it off I'm spending the say sitting in a heated vehicle. Turns-out dog behind hotel was a retired sled dog who was reborn at the taxidermy shop. Our efforts to resuscitate it were in vane.
This is day 5. Our job is to get to Inuvik and hav a nice dinner sponsored by The BMW Car Club of America and Roundel magazine. There are no TSDs and the only scoring penalties were for not making the trip to Inuvik. The cheerful glare of the morning makes the drive to Inuvik seem like a slam dunk, we'll see.
But the taxidermy husky wasn't the only steed to stand static today. Turns out on the 25mile warm-up romp for Dawson Towne to Dempster Corner car 3 the Roundel BMW X3 (with Xdrive) snapped a suspension member leaving them badly inconvenienced. Eric's insensitive comment was, "I guess they just don't make BMW's like they used to". The plan was to cannibalize car 12 which was further down the results in order to get car 3 to Inuvik. They need to get to Inuvik or pick-up 400 penalty points for missing an two passage controls. The passage controls scores are either zero or some number based on your appearance at the control. They are time sensitive but are usually placed so that competitors can make them.
The three BMW X3 cars hav been dominating the rally. Each is crewed by a different automotive magazine with a few non-journalists thrown in for ballast, and winning. The three magazines are Automobile Magazine, Roundel, and Bimmer. The later two being BMW enthusiast's magazines with the Roundel being the mouthpiece of the BMW Car Club of America. Two of the cars are first and second overall and the third is currently fifth (I think). Make sure you checkout their website at http://www.satch.us/AlCan/
While we're shouting out competitor websites. Subaru Team Challenge Driving is doing a great job of putting status on their website at http://www.challengedriving.com/ Ken Eklund, Paul's brother, is back at home updating the site. It has more 'spin' than Satch's BMW site or ours but is still a good looking site.
Dempster Corner is the gas stop where the Dempster and Klondike Highways meet. It's the last gas, and frankly last anything, for 370kilmoters. That distance takes you to Eagle Plains. The steps to Eagle Plains and Inuvik are within our fuel range but not within twice the range. Each time we get halfway thru our fuel range we hav to make a go/no go decision about pressing on. The weather today is clear and mild so I expect we'll hav a clean run into Inuvik.
Then thirteen miles up the Dempster highway the same luck that temporarily stymied two X3's hit a TeamD car. Jim's sheet-medal wrapped bundle of wires was having electrical problems. The theory is that the recently installed mucho-macho alternator was Tango Uniform and the battery wasn't charging. We couldn't talk Jim and Dan into abandoning the car in situ and instead the three cars of Eric and Steve, Rob and Nick, and Jim and Dan were heading back to Dawson City to evaluate our situation.
Now we are a lone black BMW tearing thru the morning in the opposite direction. The electron inhibited WRX was way out front trying to find a mechanic not in church on a Sunday morning and the reliable Mazda 323 GTX knew there was no hurry in them getting back to DC. Plans were being formulated and abandoned faster than Britney Spears' nuptials arrangements. The goal is to get all of us to Tuk, tho it will take some convincing to get Jim to leave his car in Dawson City. It's Sunday and the dealer doesn't open for another fifteen years (just after the Wal Mart opens at Prospectors Mall).
With the WRX parked and plugged-in at the Eldorado Hotel and six rallists crammed in two coupes we are cutting thru the mid-morning glare toward Inuvik. We acquired Jim and Dan rode in the ice slalom winning car of Rob and Nick. Having the bigger ego I got the back seat of our BMW. Well cocooned by an extra parka and luggage I now know how some of the third team members experience the Alcan. You, gentle reader, reap a bountiful fall-out from this arrangement. In the not-so-spacious beamer backseat I'm comfortably typing away with 8 hours of the same ahead.
Gassing up (again) at Dempster Corner Henry Joy show-us the broken suspension member from the BMW X3 he was driving. The best theory anyone had was that it had gotten bent at the first ice race in Quesnel and then finally failed 1500miles later. The part from the cannibalized X3 had been installed and teammates Satch Carlson and Russ Krashauer (sp, sorry Russ), Henry and a local mechanic were preparing to do a quick alignment job in the gas station parking lot. Knowing that they would be along briefly and making better time then us we bid them good luck and headed out.
The Alcan Rally is all about experimenting with and pushing personal limits. Today was a day to be cautious yet in the midst of taking extra passengers on and extra dangerous road Eric found the courage to try and match or break one of our team records. I hold the current TeamD Fast Pee record with a 64second bladder break. When making time it your highest priority the cessation of movement is your biggest enemy. So today went for a new record. The time is from when the car stops until it's safely moving again. I say safely because I didn't stop the watch today until the seatbelt buckle clicked, even though the car was already rolling. With the temperature and conditions we were under the gun. Horst had to turn-in a good time in order to write his name in the snow of our record books. Do you believe in miracles? I do. Horst did what he needed to in a mere 44.9 seconds. Clearly Horst is an athlete at the pinnacle of his career. Or is he just getting started? Later we tried to set a record for the 6 Man Arctic Pee but the need to self-document our attempt slowed us considerably.
Passing the 255km marker the temp dips down to -20C. This is some of the cold that we've been expecting and hav been previously denied. The scenery along the Dempster is extraordinary. A whole lotta white dumped on some rolling and sometimes mountainous terrain. At lower elevations we hav trees and scrub then higher the vegetation is gone and it's white and road.
After a quick gas and grub stop in Eagle Plains we headed for the Arctic Circle. There we passed the two Alcan sweep trucks who waited for us to take our quick photos. We feel much safer with the big capable sweep trucks behind us. Both are crew cab pickups with winches, spare gas and everything else you'd want in a full sized work truck. In Quesnel when I schredded a tire and we had to throw a spare on we were able to use the air tools in Kevin's truck to do the difficult work. We're making good time north of the arctic circle. Once we got over the bumpy parts and put a little push on the tempo we were even able to back-off and roll into town before the 7pm banquet.
This has been your live in-car report for day 5. In case it doesn't come thru in the writing. We're having time of our lives, adventure is what this is all about and today has served as a good adventure.
Cheers,
steve
Jim and Dan's WRX lost alternator power a scant 13 miles up the Dempster highway dashing their hopes of piloting it to the Arctic Ocean. Thankfully it chose that point only 13 miles of the 500 mile drive. The full team returned to Dawson City, we parked the WRX at the El Dorado Hotel and put Dan and Jim into the Mazda 323 and BMW 325iX. We will haul Dan and Jim North to complete the mission. We are two hours behind schedule and are back on the road to Inuvik. More on events when we arrive in Inuvik tonight.