Another take on Totem
24
Jul
2008
Jul
2008
Totem, the annual gravel TSD rally that starts in Cache Creek, British Columbia, is in the books for 2008. Detailed results are already available from the RallyBC website, so I need not relate every score now, but a few hints follow. To accurately set the stage, I should mention that there’s a Historic class for Totem. Bring your traction control, or your skilled throttle foot. Bring your gumption, but also bring your snow shovel and tow strap. And about those Historic (and near-Historic) teams… Gentlemen, you have my deep respect. I hope one day to find the “regular” Totem too easy, so that I’m drawn to join you in less-modern machinery and so feel afresh the quiver of uncertainty and the thrill of unknown adventure.
November 25th, 2008 at 11:09 am
“quiver” doesn’t quite describe it. “Clench” is perhaps more accurate.
Nice job on cleaning that last section. You know you’re ready. Let’s see that Saab come out and play!
November 30th, 2008 at 9:52 am
With 8.5″ ish of ground clearance, we’re always happy to see a stage of really deep snow.
But that over the pass stage just could not have worked because of how deep and defined the ruts were. If it was fresh snow and maybe not quite as deep, people would have contemplated passing the 2WD cars as they got stuck.
I think the cascading time dec thing is lunacy — it just means people won’t be able to keep the CAS (and maybe you could have if you could have passed…)
Also, it becomes a crap shoot in how and where you cause other people to take time decs by stopping to take a time dec, let’s say I stop right after a control and you have to slow down to avoid hitting me and take a penalty, or I stop right before a control, cause everyone else to take a time dec and then I take a time dec and zero the control.
None of these issues come into play when you can actually pass the other cars.
BTW We did hear Paul on the radio talking about time decs but it didn’t make sense to us as he’d just said “yes follow me out” when we said “are we transiting out?” and we were right behind him and car 1, and we’d had a discussion about should he pull off, should we keep pushing him etc. next time he got stuck etc. At the speed he was going we would have taken 20 time decs to get through that 2-3 km of really bad stuff.
I also don’t feel good about any situation where me taking a time dec would cause other cars to take a time dec.
There is a question in all there about communicating the status of a stage, bearing in mind the people without radios. e.g. What do we do the next time we encounter a tree across the road?
I much prefer the old way of doing things, the rallymaster says “ok we’re going to put a 30 minute pause in here and then you guys run the rally on time”, and you all sign it, and there’s no ambiguity.
I am pretty bummed about the 2WD cars (especially Dan and Hans) getting stuck on the very last stage. At the point we went through that control, I was thinking “oh crap, we’ve lost the rally, the dead wheel ODO cars will clean up here” — I never paid a thought to could they even get through.
I still feel bad about taking a time dec to change the flat.