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2005
Heart of Darkness
April 30/May 01, 2005
Round
2 of the 2005 BC TSD Rally Championship
Hosted by
the West Coast Rally Association
Presented by Specialty
Subaru |
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(Start
in Hope at 2300, turn around in Merritt, finish
in Chilliwack around 0800) |
Synopsis: a fun event that
both Marvin and I agreed we'd do again. Scoring
was to the second. For some reason I thought they
were using a one second grace rule, but that wasn't
the case. |
Arrived too early - we left
in the green Saab at 4pm, arrived for registration
about 6:30 or so, twiddled our thumbs for tech at
8:30, then sat on our butts waiting for driver's
meeting at 10:30. Next time we would arrive a bit
later, I think, or at least go out to see a movie
or something after registration. |
We went east from Hope at
11pm then a very brief (5k) TSD on what turned out
to be the prediction of very rough roads. Then a
VERY fast, longer TSD (65 kph on some very loose
gravel and fun corners - it woke Marvin up) section
before heading out to Highway 5 and over the Coquihalla.
Then some more sections that are a blur, a too-long
break at the Chevron in Merritt, then back over
some of the same sections, plus a new one with a
water splash or two, before heading over an initially
S L O W transit (15-20 kph due to bad road) to the
highway and back through the toll booth to revisit
that first rough regularity from the other direction
-- much more smooth going downhill, or maybe it
was my inability to see potholes any more. Then
an agonizingly slow 45 kph TSD on the paved back
road into Hope, where Marvin offered to gnaw off
his own foot if I would only go faster. Were we
pretty giddy by that point? Indeed. |
Gary Webb and John Kisela
had a real eye opener on the TSD before the break.
While going over a cattleguard, the back window
of John's Subaru Legacy shattered. They finished
the event in fourth place -- having a draft didn't
seem to much bother them. |
Rallymaster Kevin Holter did
a pretty good job in his premier role as a rallymaster.
Wasn't a Paul Westwick routebook, but a good first
attempt. An Excel error in the 3rd TSD had us in
first place when the provisionals were posted, and
after that was repaired, we dropped a place. He
also screwed up the directions to the finish in
Chilliwack, but that was simple enough to figure
out, even in our pie-eyed state. One thing he did
that I've never experienced is come up and introduce
himself to all the competitors at the start -- something
that's definitely possible when there are only 11
cars. |
They collapsed the awards
and gave out simple certificates for 2nd and 3rd
overall, and plaques for first. They also had a
raffle for a variety of gift certificates, in which
the workers also participated. The WCRA enjoys enthusiastic
sponsorship. |
We had a good time, even though
the lost sleep would drag me down for the following
days. It was TONS better than Road Not Taken. Much
closer to home and completely lacking in that special
brand of SCCA National-level whining. All the goodness
of B.C. roads and we didn't see a single local on
any TSD section except the last, and those were
going the other way. |
Tight scores: |
1 Peter & Timothy Ryce
/Mazda 323 GTX 11
2 Dan Comden/Marvin Crippen /Saab 13
3 RJ & Ren Carroll /Subaru WRX 14
4 Gary Webb/John Kisela /Subaru Legacy 15 |
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