TeamD Adventures

Friday night was unseasonably warm. My first trip to the car Saturday morning said so; descending the stairs from the second floor balcony at the hotel, I heard the sounds of escaping water in the downspouts. The roof’s snow cap was disappearing. We went to breakfast, early, so as to stay out of the crush later. The short drive to and from the Coldwater Cafe brought out our sunglasses. With temperatures up, I bled off a bit less air from our BMW’s tires than I’d planned to – since rocks and potholes now seemed more likely than rivers of snow. By start time, Reid was walking about without a jacket. Our own AlCan-spec coats and pants stayed stuffed in their bags. At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, we’d been through three full sections… and no snow. We weren’t having much trouble holding the CAST, and we expected others weren’t, either. At The Thunderbird, both Unlimited cars and Historic cars run full computers, which meant that a dozen cars might then share our score. The Thunderbird is one of the great rallies of our time. Next year is the rally master’s Silver Anniversary. Watch for it to be announced in 2012 — and let’s make it a sellout of 60 cars.

(Dan’s photos are here) (Warwick’s photos here , and Event web site will have results and links) First I want to thank co-driver Hans for all the help prepping the car. After doing such dirty jobs as installing the power steering pump and bathing in PS fluid, he went on to navigate us to the smallest amount of points we have ever scored on a two day event. Well, it would have been the smallest score … 48 cars entered the event and all finished. I think that may be a first. Of those who went into a snow bank or ditch, all were extracted with little or no damage. Probably the most harrowing experience was had by the Sonnet and 240Z with windshield wiper problems that made proceeding in the blowing snow and then later mixed rain/snow more than a slight problem. Always good to think about those ancillary systems and how they can shut you down if not working properly. We left Seattle for Merritt, B.C. on Friday afternoon. With the car properly timed and running well, along with clear roads, the climb up and over the Coquihalla pass was uneventful. That would change in 24 hours. In Merritt we connected with event teammates in an ’01 Subaru WRX (Jeff & Marvin, winners of last year’s event, Unlimited, car#1), an ’83 Audi Quattro (Steve and Eric, Historic, #8) and an ’05 Subie Impreza (Steve and Kathryn, Paper, #17). To round out the team Jeff signed up a novice class car from BC, a 2011 Subaru STi (Scott and TJ, #38). Jokes about them sailing off the first curve proved unfounded. We were assigned #9 and were happy to be behind our friends in their loaner Audi. Dale (Subaru Forester). The four (or was it five?) way tie for third was decided in the same fashion. The team prize is still undecided, but we know that with the Audi’s mechanical and the Saab’s operator problems, Team Rainier is not a contender. And the Saab’s score? 303. We scored 3 points on Saturday and I scored 300 on Sunday. Those points are mine, all mine. The Thunderbird Rally is the premier BC event. We never know what the weather will throw at us, and that’s part of all the fun. Thanks to Paul and his crew for another primo rally.

The No Alibi Rally is June 4-5 and it is looking mighty good. Last weekend Marvin and I measured the route, which begins and ends in Moses Lake and overnights in Lewiston. Our cunning plan was to leave on Friday at noon for the start at Moses Lake, run the event as far as Dayton, spend the night there and then measure the rest of the route on Saturday and be home that night in order to not completely use up the weekend. After getting back to Ritzville and Moses Lake, setting checkpoint stakes by flashlight, we were able to change back to street tires and proceeded home over the pass. The I-90 transit home is usually not my favorite drive due to the inordinate amount of crappy drivers and left lane bandits that appear in the Ellensburg vicinity, but midnight on a Saturday makes for a much quieter drive.

For No Alibi this year, I changed seats, and ran as a navigator with Steve Perret . Steve’s got years of autocross experience and done thousands of miles on stage rally roads, which is why his nickname is “Smooth”. With so little experience co-driving, my nickname last weekend would have been “Spaz”. Maybe I’ll stay in Equipped. Oh, Steeeeve…