Heart of Darkness 1999 TSD Rally -- Presented by West  Coast Rally Association
Round #2 BC TSD Series -- Sanctioned by Rally Pacific Motorsports

 Sponsored by: ABT Communications Inc., Nokian Tyres & Wilkinson's Automobilia

After a  one-year hiatus, the Heart of Darkness Rally returned to the BC TSD rally  calendar. On April 17/18, twelve competitors turned up to challenge the 178 kms of  regularity and 426 kms of Monte Carlo sections;  for a total course length of 604 kms. A  healthy field of novices (7 out of 12 entrants!) ensured tough competition in this class.

During the first section, "Over the Hill", the team of Stanely/Jang in  a  Toyota MR2 made the unfortunate mistake of following the check point crews out onto the  course, maxing their points in the process. However, everyone else seemed to enjoy warming  up on this popular  stretch of Slesse Rd and all teams eventually made it through to the  Coquihalla transit.

Still smarting from their off's during this year's Thunderbird Rally, the  Rally Masters toured the competitors past  the soon-to-be infamous site of their follies.  While everyone managed to make it through the aptly named "Rally Masters'  Demise" section, a local returning from some late-night activities saw fit  to hold up  the rally just shy of the end of section.

Thanks to some hard bargaining by rally envoy Howie Wong in the 1953 Ford Zephyr, the  course was reopened for the promise of future delivery on a bag of  potatoes! After adding  ten minutes to accommodate this delay, the rally resumed its steady progress towards  Princeton - thanks Howie!

Leg Two began with an admittedly long transit through Manning Park  during the wee hours  of the morning, but all 12 competitors eventually regrouped for the "Shakespeare  Loves Othello" section. Unfortunately, the Stanley/Jang MR2 suffered a puncture  during  this section, dropping them from contention.

Moving steadily westward, the aptly named "Mission Impossible...?" section  proved the undoing of half the field. A forced left on Seux Rd. caught everyone  out,  except for Lang/Bodnaruk in the Saturn SC1. This hard lesson in route precedence resulted  in max scores for 5 out of the remaining 6 novice competitors, leaving novice class  honours to  Wiedemann/Donaldson in the Mazda MX-6.

The sure and steady performance of Welland/Passmore in the BMW 2002 served notice that  Historic Class has a new leader (following the departure of Ted Wilkinson's  Cortina  from the series), as their second overall, and first in class, was deservedly won. And,  finally, after 9 hours and a mere 137 amassed points, the overall winners were  Westwick/Dobric in the  Toyota Celica All Trac.

Congratulations and thanks to all the entrants for coming out, you made this event a  success. Thanks and appreciation also go out to the check point crews - Aart &  Pat Van der  Star, Alan Barnes (it's a shame about the truck!), Dennis Wende, John  Kisela (the RATMBLE rules!), John Rapson, Kellan Roman-Barnes, Ted Wilkinson and Tony  Latham.