2007 OK Lake Rally Test Day in Review

The rally teams present at the OK Lake Test Day logged about 100 km of seat time on Saturday, and the event was a great success. Alliance Rally Team, Prescribed Burn Rally and the Rocket Legacy ran the stage until they were exhausted. The Tisza Motorsport Team made a few fast runs but were forced to retire early because of a suspicious oil leak. All the teams were happy with the stage, especially the tight technical sections.

This was the first test day organized in BC and it was a good chance for new organizers and volunteers to get oriented to stage rally planning and execution. There were a number of people present who got their very first rally car rides, and all pulled into the finish control with huge grins.

Thanks again to everyone involved. The Sirius Rally Team is plotting for another stage event in the Okanagan for the coming year: another test day, possibly, or maybe even a full regional in the snow!

Link to Sirius’ event photos HERE.

Check out professional shots from Formula Photographic HERE.

Check out event photos on the Okanagan Racing site HERE. (not a very user friendly interface but lots of car shots.)

OK Lake Rally Test Day Tomorrow

The first Okanagan rally event in recent history, planned by Sirius Rally Team staff, is taking place off of Bear Creek Main FSR tomorrow. There are reports of snow within about 200m of the stage finish, so it is shaping up to be a wild ride. There will a car from Alberta and one from Kamloops out for pre-PFR shakedowns, as well as the local Prescribed Burn Car, and a car from Rocket Rally. The latter two entries will be showcasing rally up close in the right seat for raffle winners and volunteers.

Volunteers should arrive @ 0800. Recce begins @ 0800, and the first car out is @ 1000.

Thanks to the Orchard City Amateur Radio Club for HAM support, and Coldwell Banker for providing lunches for our new volunteer crews!

Click HERE for supplementary regulations.

Sirius Zeros at Gold Digger

The Gold Digger TSD Rally results have been posted. Gord and Jennifer collected 3 zeros, the most ever during their somewhat unsuccessful but seriously enjoyable TSD careers. Although they placed at the back of the pack, and ahead of only one team – pals and foolhardy TSD’ers Onur and Jeff, Gord and Jennifer are almost getting good enough for Alcan!

Click HERE for results.

Watching and Wandering at Defi National Stage Rally

Over the Labour Day Weekend, Gord made his debut as a rally spectator at the Defi National Stage Rally while on holiday in Montreal. The rally takes place a couple of hours outside of Montreal in small towns around Ste-Agathe and Duhamel. Joined by Jennifer and displaced BC rallyist and pal Andy, who extended generous hospitality and pure insanity behind the wheel of his minivan, they experienced Quebec rallying at its chaotic best.

In Quebec the spectators haul their chairs, coolers, bbqs and other rally gear onto school buses to be transported to the stage. Bus after bus was filled with people and there were big, enthusiastic crowds at the spectator points; the party atmosphere added a lot of fun and craziness to watching the cars speed by.

Friday was the easier day for spectating, but we enjoyed watching the in town tarmac stages, getting a bit lost, and tearing around the early stages after they were closed on Saturday. There was a little bit of rally carnage – a lucky scrape along a tree early in the rally, and multiple cars complaining and limping out of the final stages, adding to a decent total of mechanical DNFs.

The event was typically dominated by Antoine and Natalie in their Tiburon, who have signed on to promote Hyundai’s new performance parts and are newly sponsored by the manufacturer. Matthew L’Estage looked extremely fast on the stages until he trashed his transmission. There were some quick and entertaining VWs at the back of the pack that were fun to watch. Alberta friends Eric and Leanne were looking quick as well, but had too many flats on the longest Saturday stages and fell out of contention.

In total the Sirius Rally Team has been present at all but one of the Canadian National Rallies this year. The Pacific Forest Rally is up next in October, where Jennifer and Mark will be striving for their best finish in the (hopefully) newly painted Prescribed Burn Rally Car.

Click HERE for event photos. (caveat – professional photographers we are not)
Click HERE for event video clips. (again, short amateur clips for fun)

OK Lake Rally Test Day Sirius Style

On September 22 the OK Lake Rally Test Day planned by Sirius team members is coming to Kelowna! Jennifer and Dave have been working extremely hard to make the event a fast and fun preparation day for the Pacific Forest Rally in October. The day will be based on a new group of rally keeners who will be volunteering for the event for the first time.

The 7km stage was chosen by the Sirius Team after hours of scouting the Okanagan Forest Service Roads. It has been praised by experienced rally planners from the West Coast Rally Association, who are supporting the event. A fun combination of newbie volunteers and an experienced WRCA crew should make for a well run and enjoyable event for the test day entants. Gord and Mark (Prescribed Burn Rally) will be representing the organizers and giving new rally fans short trips in their rally cars in order to promote the sport. Mark has raised charity funds by offering a rally car ride as a raffle prize, and the winners will be getting into the right seat as part of the test day.