Sirius Rally Team

I had every intention of dragging Gord and August back to the hot springs this morning, but I think we really needed our sleep in time, still recovering from the chaos of the first few days of the Alcan Rally. Having no internet at Liard was a treat; we had a chance to chat and relax without dealing with tech frustrations and frantic uploading. I’ve been able to enlist the guys to help with the updates as well. It was fitting that Gord agreed to write about yesterday, since it was his big day as the iceX champ. Josh, our teammate from car 16, was in the hunt for fastest time, even though his rennovated Forester lacks a turbo. His advice of the day, a mantra he followed, was “brake LATE”. We have some video of him ‘kissing’ the snowbank on the final outer corner, and he put on a great show.

It feels as though we have resurfaced in the civilized world today – we’ ve started to wonder about what’s been happening at home while we’ve been gone, and August and Gord are once again tied to their cellphones. We started at Liard and we’re sleeping at Dawson Creek, and here’s a little bit about how our uneventful but enjoyable day unfolded:

We are finally getting the hang of this TSD thing. Gord has generously agreed to let me do the remainder of the TSD driving, and August is totally on with his spreadsheet and the real time challenges of keeping us on perfect time. We had two regularities, both about 12 miles in length. The first was near Fort Nelson, taking us through a snowy neighbourhood and around the airport turnaround at 10 mph. I think Gord lets me drive because I’m good at going really slow when needed. As one might imagine, Bill and Doug are having trouble doing slow average speeds in their massive truck, and they’re in for it even more because August has just told me there is a section requiring an average speed of 4 mph tomorrow!

The second was part of the Old Alaska Highway, and I was nearly driven to distraction by a fierce and colourful sunset along an old road with a crazy bridge and lots of turns. We’re still waiting for the scores, but it felt great. I’m sad that the rally is ending tomorrow, since today has been a pretty happy and effective day for the team. There’s a lot more to say, but the rally is in its last hours and I am eager to enjoy the time we have left. August’s friend Ryan is here to keep us company, and we’re starting to organize our homecoming plans. I’ll be fleshing out the details of all the posts as they come back to me, and we’re aiming to have photos up before we leave for Jasper tomorrow.

JD

Update: The scores are in and we finished the day with a tiny 6 points overall. That’s only 3 points per regularity; with each one having 4 checkpoints, that’s a lot of ones and zeros (and one two, but still, I’m proud). Our teammates, car 18, are only 2.4 points ahead of us overall, so the story of the day will be Rex vs. Dodge for the win.

The first job of day 8, which began in Whitehorse, was to repeat the Lost Lake TSD regularity, which the team nearly missed last time around because our alarm didn’t go off. For our Lost Lake revenge Jenn was at the wheel, August was in the right seat and I was the checkpoint hunter, drinking some Tim Hortons in the back. I witnessed some outstanding driving and navigating by Jenn and August and enjoyed some outstanding coffee from Tims. We ended up with just 16 points for the regularity – a big improvement from the 200 points we got last time! The second section of the reg was nearly perfect – only ones and zeros. After Lost Lake we returned to the IceX course for another race, my favourite part of the Alcan.

Last night us and other teams lobbied the rally organizer to run a reverse start order, giving teams with a higher starting number a better chance to put down some fast lap times. Last time there was a big difference in grip and available lines from the first to the last laps. Today, with an extra turn at the start and very polished ice from the last race the conditions were very ‘slippy’. Fearing the wrath of the Rex, some competitors were swapping tires last night, hoping for their best chance at keeping up.

All three of us had clean runs, no spins or snowbanks! With the promise of a cold beer for fastest lap of the day from teammate Doug, I drove flat out. I came across the finish line after my second lap running on only three cylinders, and a flashing check engine light. The problem was quickly remedied in true ‘Rocket’ style and the Rex was ready to run again. Results were not posted until late, and suspense had been killing me as both runs felt slow. To my surprise both runs were fastest of the day by about four seconds….yes!! Jenn and August both put in respectable times as well.

Day 8 ended at Liard Hot Springs after a ‘brief’ 400 mile transit. On route we stopped in Watson Lake and had look at the 70,000 plus signs posted at the Sign Forest of the Alaskan Highway (I only counted 69,886). We ended up up to our nuts in snow trying to see them all. Later in the drive we were greeted by a herd of elk/caribou, and up the highway a whole bunch of buffalo rooting through the snow. We pulled in to Liard in near last place again, but we were the first to the Hotsprings. We hiked the trails, but the small upper pools couldn’t compare to the big main pool, steaming and sulphury, with staircases and benches, but totally pitch black. The water temperature was patchy, but some lazy treading water evened it out nicely. We let our eyes adjust and searched for stars, but eventually the rest of the rally arrived with beaming headlamps, and we called it a night. One of the other competitors has a telescope with him, we found out, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to see some clear skies before the rally ends. We joined Bill and Doug for a few drinks in their sans plumbing bare bones but charming cabin, and we got to bed on time for a change. All and all another satisfying day and it’s off to Dawson Creek tomorrow. Can’t believe there are only two more days left - it has been so much fun.

GR