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2004 Thunderbird Rally
February
14/15, 2003
33rd
Thunderbird Rally -- February 14-15, 2004
Merritt - Kamloops - Merritt
Round 1 of the 2004 BC Rally Championship
Hosted by the West Coast Rally Association
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Ron Sorem
© 2004
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February
14 & 15, 2004. 33rd Thunderbird Rally. Merritt-Kamloops-Merritt,
BC |
The Thunderbird Rally
has been around since 1957, has drawn entry
fields in the low twenties early on, and in the
low seventies recently. The 33rd running had 63
entrants prepared for snow and ice and a challenging
drive through central British Columbia. |
Saturday morning the snow
began falling an hour or so before breakfast. Snow
would continue lightly throughout the day and have
the added mix of occasional dense fog. The transit
and odometer check section left Merritt for Quilchena
and quickly onto the snow-covered back roads, on
what may be the best TSD rally in North America. |
The first regularity,
or timed section, of Leg 1, named “Minnie
Lake”, climbed quickly from the river level
into rolling hills with deep snow and speeds up
to 72 km/h. The first few cars had to deal with
a 10-wheeled propane tanker making a delivery to
Minnie Lake Ranch, but surprisingly cooperative
with the rally cars. The driver had honked and waved
as he passed the start of the section where all
the cars were lined up at the side of the road.
From our position in Car 6, thoughts of having to
pass in some unknown narrow section brought groans
from driver and navigator alike. Fortunately, the
propane truck gave a wide berth to the rally as
each car passed, and in fact turned off our route
just as we caught the truck. This would be the first
of many trucks-versus-rally encounters for competitors
during the weekend. A year ago this section was
run in the opposite direction, late in the day,
in much warmer conditions. The resulting melt and
rainfall left most of the depressions in the road
filled with water and slush, and of course the “Minnie
Lake” section was dubbed “mini-lakes”,
with spectacular water splashes at rally speed.
This year’s weather had changed the path to
a mixture of rolling roadbed linked by table smooth
frozen areas, all of which were now covered with
snow. |
A short transit section took
the rally past the Douglas Ranch, the largest cattle
operation in Canada, and on to the next regularity
appropriately named “Douglas Lake”.
Beginning speed was 72 again, lowering to 68 after
a couple of checkpoints, then down to 60, 55, and
50, as the nature of the road and the depth of snow
warranted. The last 7.3 km were relatively flat
with a wide roadbed and the section ended at 72
km/h. On to Highway 97 South at Westwold, a pioneer
community founded in 1864, we proceed to Falkland
for fuel and snacks. |
Leg 2 begins
at Falkland, northward again to China Creek Road
and the beginning of “Martin Prairie”
Regularity at 72 km/h. In 2003 at the beginning
of this section, drivers were looking back across
the valley beyond Chase toward the sheer-ice downhill
they had just completed. Conjecture this year was
we might be retracing the route or might in fact
run the section as a hill-climb. Either option brought
back exciting memories for some of the competitors,
quizzical looks from those who had not experienced
the adrenalin of the prior year. As it would later
turn out, we would cross the ridge, but by a slightly
different route, with just as many hairpin turns
in the steep ascent. “Martin Prairie”
contained two checkpoints and the speeds ranged
from 72 down through 40, with duration of 8 km for
a couple of the speeds and as short as 1.5 km for
a couple more. Varying the number and length of
speed changes keeping the navigators busy with calculations
and notes, or tweaking the computers in the Unlimited
class cars. |
A transit through Chase, the
“Skimiken” Regularity, and another transit
past Squilax, brought the rally to the beginning
of “Eileen Lake” Regularity. Speeds
began calmly enough, 50, 58, 55, 65, then 72 at
a checkpoint, and continue at 72 through another
checkpoint. Fortunately speeds slow to 36 for the
next instructions of “Caution! Hairpin L,
Exposure R” followed .33 km later by “Hairpin
R”, a cattle guard, and then “Hairpin
L” followed closely by a return to pavement
and an increase in speeds. Then 35.67 km into the
section, Car 6 experiences another close encounter
with a big truck. There is active logging in the
area, and equipment gets moved around on weekends
to new landings. A big white Freightliner cabover
with a lowboy trailer and a very large yellow machine
met our very small white Subaru in the middle of
a right corner between instructions “Hairpin
R” and “Long Hairpin R”. The truck
driver had met the course opening car, and five
other competitors, and evidently expected us at
some point or another as he had his right front
tire as far right as possible, but the long trailer
just kept getting closer to our side of the road.
As one travels to the very right-most edge of the
road, sometimes the road disappears. In this instance,
the car came to a stop softly on the skid pan, reverse
was selected as the trailer blurred past, and after
several feet of spinning all four wheels, Car 6
was back on the road, the computer was adjusted,
and forward motion attempted, slowly on the snowy
uphill climb, then somewhat faster, through several
more turns with questionable traction (and odo readings)
to of course, a checkpoint. Thanks to the truck
for 20 late, but better than a couple of the alternatives.
The balance of the regularity to Sun Peaks transit
was uneventful, past the checkpoints and photographers,
with “zeroes” at both, and no damage. |
“Louis Creek”
Regularity begins on a relatively steep but smooth
incline at 62 km/h for 7 km, then somewhat levels
out and the speed increases to 68 for 9 km, a short
quiet zone at 55, then another 11 km at 68. The
rally has 15 minutes to get to Barriere for fuel
and snacks, and a 20-minute break. |
Leg 3 begins
with crews relieved and refreshed. 3 km to the start
of “Westsyde” Regularity where yet another
encounter with big rigs occurs. Two very large snowplows
begin to pass the line of cars awaiting their out-times.
A car pulls out of line to block the path of the
plows. Five cars then proceed ahead on the section
to the first intersection, execute the acute right
turn, and await the actions of the plows…
Fortunately the plows went straight ahead on the
main road, where the rally turned right. “Westsyde”
is 26 km of 45, 50, 55, and 60 km/h. A 15 km transit
to Jamieson Creek brings the beginning of the last
Regularity of the day. “O’Connor Creek”
ranges in speeds from 65 for 11 km, to 55 for 16
km, a short stretch at 65, then 55 for another 13
km. Speeds increase through 60 and 65 to 70 for
the remainder of the 66.22 km section. During much
of the section, snow was sufficiently deep for the
early cars that maintaining rally speed was “challenging”.
For later cars, the rutted snow could be “difficult”.
Dinner and stories in Kamloops to end Day One, 454.33
km (282.92 mi). |
Leg 4 begins
Day Two with a 26 km transit out of Kamloops to
the 74.40 km “Tranquille-Red Lake” Regularity,
longest of the event. The first checkpoint is only
a short distance into the section (relocated because
the checkpoint crew in rear-wheel-drive could not
climb the first hill) and catches several competitors
by surprise. The climb up the ridge is twisting
and steep, covered with overnight snow over afternoon
ice and is cloaked in dense fog! Checkpoint two,
at the top of the climb, in the fog, afforded little
chance to regain lost time. Immediately following
the checkpoint is instruction “Caution: Exp
R for next 6 km” and deep snow, in fog, spares
any view of the exposure but keeps speeds low as
well. Checkpoint three allows an opportunity for
those who accumulated points on the hill climb,
to utilize the Winter Scoring cushion and not incur
further points if they had made up even a little
of their lateness. Past Red Lake into a narrow twisting
cut to a cattle guard and speed changes down to
40 km/h followed by “Caution!!! Hard R, Big
Exposure Straight Ahead. Exposures continue for
2 km”. Downhill, 40 km/h (24.9 mph) in deep
snow over ice in very twisty little corners, sometimes
difficult to maintain the speed. Surprisingly no
checkpoint in the usual place at the bottom of the
hill, so no harm. Checkpoint four at 50.58 km calls
for a right turn, again climbing the side of the
ridge to the top of Copper Creek, where deep snow,
and more fog slow some cars more than a minute.
Others seemingly have no trouble and manage to pass
other rallyists. The descent begins at 50 km/h with
“Hard L”, “Hairpin L”, “Hairpin
R”, “Hairpin L”, cattle guard,
where Car 6 regained his position on Car 7, then
“Hairpin L”, “Hairpin R”,
“Tight Hairpin L” (as if the others
weren’t tight!) whereupon Car 6 “widened”
the exit just a bit too much and parked for 18 minutes,
less than half a km from the last checkpoint. Car
6 vacating their parking spot just in time for Car
28 to do exactly the same thing, only “deeper”,
necessitating the assistance of the “Sweep
Truck”. (Sorry Jeff!) |
“Battle Creek”
Regularity had so much new snow that the speeds
were dropped by 20 percent. The adrenalin left over
from extracting the car and regaining position for
the start, put Car 6 early at the first checkpoint,
but the deep snow and fog brought a 30-late at the
second checkpoint, followed by an uneventful run
into Cache Creek for fuel and refreshments. |
Leg 5 followed
the break. Beginning with “Barnes Lake”
Regularity which consisted of one timed lap around
the ice-racing course on Barnes Lake, and the remainder
of the second lap to hone sideways skills. (Unfortunately,
after several cars, the “grooming layer”
at one corner broke through—only a few inches
deep, with another 18 inches of actual ice between
cars and the water—but the water hazard caused
cancellation of the run for later cars.) A return
to “Battle Creek” brought smooth polished
surfaces on the graded portion, turning to very
rutted and washboard surfaces on the deep snow section,
after sixty-odd cars had driven over it. “Tunkwa
Lake” Regularity consisted of 39 km at 65
to 72 km/h with a short section in the middle, in
the deeper snow, at 58. Long sections without instructions
or references may have caused some anxious moments
when the last checkpoint was spotted far off to
the right of the route with only the white top of
the car visible in the snowbank. A long transit
into Merritt for the finish of Day Two and awards.
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Total rally distance
782.14 km or 486.62 miles. |
More Stuff(s):
Car 1, last year’s winner,
and very experienced crew, Lee and Rod Sorenson
(Sacramento) managed to reset rally time one minute
off on Sunday morning, likely costing them the rally,
as they started Tranquille-Red Lake about a minute
ten down, and just managed to catch Car 2 at the
first checkpoint, substantially above rally speed.
Car 52, 1992 Legacy, Novice class Shawn Edstrom
(Kamloops) and Geoff Gauthier (Vancouver) experienced
an encounter with not one but two big trucks. The
trailer on the first truck was slowly slipping into
Shawn’s path, so the only alternative is steering
right and stopping abruptly in the snow bank. Geoff
calmly looks up from calculations, toward Shawn,
about to ask what’s going on, when he sees
the truck and trailer skid to a halt… “just
this far from our lights!” (holding thumb
and forefinger a bit apart). |
Car 63, Historic
class, White with Red, 1973 Ford Escort Mexico,
of Brady Joy and Mark Viskov, has more than enough
power (RS2000) but making it all stick on the slippery
surfaces is a bit of a challenge… Sweep “strongly
suggests” the Escort bypass “O’Connor”
Regularity and rejoin the rally at Kamloops. Escort’s
Day 2 began with the hill climb into the fog and
deep snow… The Oregon crew completed leg 4,
but skipped leg 5, arriving at Merritt with lots
of points, but still looking and sounding like the
top of the line rally car would have been in 1973.
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Car 43, 1974
BMW 2002tii with Richard Childs and Helen Welter
from Calgary doing quite well thank you in Historic,
until avoiding another competitor blocking the route,
the BMW stuffed… to be extracted only three
minutes later by fellow Calgary team Car 46, Ashton
Evans and Brina Selander in the WRX, taking only
enough time to pull the BMW out and then continue
on to 6th Novice and helping to secure the Team
Trophy for the Alcan Subaru Challenge Team. |
Car 14, 1988
Mazda 323GTX of Peter and Timothy Ryce from North
Vancouver are walking around the start of the Barnes
Lake ice section, and when asked if he was just
checking out the snow, Timothy admitted there wasn’t
much snow in Africa… Timothy has just returned
from the Safari Rally having finished 36th overall
co-driving a Datsun 510 private entry. |
On O’Connor Lake Regularity
a pedestrian walking his dog in the darkness tried
in vain to stop several cars without result…
He then pulled out his RCMP badge and did manage
to stop Car 12 of Jim & Cristy Breazeale, down
from Kenai for the Alcan Rally. Fortunately, Diamond
Jim is an expert at “explaining rally”
to folks, why there suddenly were cars passing this
man’s home every minute in the dark, and it
didn’t hurt at all that the Audi has “Rally
Official” on the side of the car. A brief
conversation and all was well. |
Car 30, 1989
Subaru XT6 of Dan and Stuart Fealk, report grinding
noises from the brakes, then smoke from one front
corner, then engine light and stalling… apparently
not sufficient problems to prevent them from taking
1st Paper and 14th overall. Unfortunately the power
steering failed enroute to Spokane. |
Of the 63 entries 60 started,
of those 35 were AWD with 30 Subaru, 3 Audi Quattro,
2 Mazda 323GTX |
Overall winners Glenn Wallace
& Greg Hightower, in a 2004 Subaru STi (300hp),
along with teammates R. Dale Kraushaar & Larry
Richardson, 3rd Unlimited, in a 2004 Turbo Baja,
and Paul Eklund & Kala Rounds, 1st Calc, in
a 2004 Turbo Forester, called their Thunderbird
Rally a “warm-up”, as the entire three-car
team is competing in the Alcan Winter Rally, 5000
miles long, leaving Kirkland Washington, Wednesday
morning following Thunderbird (two days of rest
and back on the road). www.alcan5000.com |
Alcan Subaru Challenge Team
took 1st Team with a 1.2 factor, followed closely
by last year’s winners, Team Fugawi ?, with
a 1.8 factor. |
Full class results, and the
“Savoia Aero SA sponsored Thunderbird Team
Prize” results, Thunderbird photos and other
BC rally information can be found at www.rallybc.com |
All
images are © RallyBC.com and the author.
Any other use without permission is in violation
of copyright laws.
Feel free to view these pictures, or download
for personal use only. |
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