You Can’t Win A Rally From A Snowbank, Redux.

My old timer rally mentors have always said that to be a true rally driver, one must master 2WD.  It can be very easy to step into an AWD, ABS, GPS and rally computerized setup and take on the biggest TSD of the season, but this weekend, Simon and I are doing things a little differently.  He’s doing all the math on paper, crunching numbers in his head, and I’m driving his beater VW with only two wheels driven and more decals than horsepower.

We ended up with a proud 63 points on the day, a true feat in paper class, until I stuffed the front end into a snowbank a few km before the end of the last scored regularity, which inflated our total to 375.  Simon seems thrilled to have added slamming into snowbanks, shoveling for his life and jumping into a moving car to his list of experiences, and his newbie enthusiasm is infectious.

He’s very right to say that we’re lucky to have finished at all, given the meteorlogical tirade unleashed upon BC today.  The Thunderbird entrants and volunteers faced thick, visibility sucking snow, great winds, massive snowdrifts, flash floods and torrential rain.  The last regularity was cancelled, a rare change only seen in extreme conditions, and my shoulders are still in knots from the death grip I held on the steering wheel from dusk until we arrived in Kamloops.

I can’t report for certain how things stand at the top, because there’s still paperwork and time decks to be done, and it’s all very serious in the unlimited class.  After even he required extraction from car 1, the rallymaster will probably be up most of the night sorting it out.  I can say that our Eis Munky teammates are fairing fantastically, and we might have even been the leading team, if Simon and I hadn’t stuffed it.  Glenn and R Dale are in first place, our historic entry is barely into the double digits, and our novices have only 85 points.  The only Eis Munky entry that might be having more fun than Simon and I is Warwick and Izzy, who are sitting high up in the huge calculator class, with 121 points.  All these results are non official, and highly subject to the rumour mill and hearsay that permeates the end of TSD day one.

We’re all looking forward to a clean start tomorrow, and it’s not impossible that the Eis Munkys could bring home the team prize, despite my intial assertion that we’re just in it for the stickers and cookies.

On my 32nd birthday, I am embracing the time we spent in the snowbanks today, and I’m proud to be pursing something that I love, despite the fact that I’m really not very good at it.  Rally, maybe like most motorsports, is a fickle mistress.  The highs are euphoric and rewarding, but the lows are harsh and can linger, if I choose to let them.  I’m so thankful for dear codrivers and friends who remind me that finishing and enjoying the adrenaline ride are the best reasons to do it over and over again, and who really think this is epic fun, even when we don’t ‘succeed.’

As I write this, my codriver is still so dedicated and churning out endless pages of paper aiming to keep us on time for day two, and it seems clear that what matters is the stories we can hear and tell tomorrow, and the memorable and engaging company we’ve enjoyed during our crazy two day adventure on the backroads of BC.  TSD rally is a wicked, thrilling way to spend a weekend, and it attracts some of my favourite people ever.  This event has been a tough but lovely birthday gift, and we’re only halfway there.

Eis Munky RT Fills Every Class at 2011 Thunderbird TSD

After missing the exit to the City Centre and nearly ending up with a detour through Helmer stage, Simon and I arrived in Merritt tonight to get ourselves ready for TBird tomorrow. With a big entry field and lots of Alcan teammates returning, I’m really excited to drive the wheels off Simon’s newly repaired Jetta this weekend. Huge thanks to Craig Ross of Classic Auto Repair (Armstrong BC) and XRoss Motorsports for the mechanical wisdom and muscle this week.

The tone of the event was clearly set when I received the following text from Alex as we pulled into HQ:

“One of the teams brought a keg.”

Nice. I sampled some of the delicious Scottish Ale generously provided by Ryan and Jack of car 22, a flat black Volvo that I narrowly missed recruiting onto our Eis Munky RT as I lurked around the scrutineer, hoping our turn for tech would come. The beer they shared made the fact that we barely passed tech inspection that much more entertaining. Instead of the friendly Volvo team, we gained Mike and Garth in the red superbeetle as our historic entry, in a car that I’m fairly certain I’ve seen on its roof at least once in the past. It’s clear that this year’s Eis Munkys have good company, sweet decals and delicious snacks as our priorities, and my hopes are on team AFRICA for the Savoia Aero Trophy.

The one hundred competitors registered for this year’s Thunderbird TSD Rally have retired to their hotel rooms, resting up, or doing seemingly endless calculations, depending on which seat they’re riding in tomorrow. The talk at tech this evening predictably centred around the weather, in particular, rising temperatures that could turn the two day back road adventure into a messy slush fest. With showers and highs of nine degrees Celsius forecasted for Kamloops tomorrow, teams far back in the large field could be facing deep ruts and difficult conditions, and the weather would seem to favour the unlimited teams at the front end of the start order. The entry field this year features a much larger percentage of historic entries, and this class will be very competitive.

The Thunderbird TSD Rally is the most renowned and celebrated TSD in the Pacific Northwest. Teams have travelled from as far away as Arizona and Saskatchewan to rally in pursuit of perfect timing over two days and almost 400 km of challenging winter regularities. Fourteen previous winners are participating this year, including multi year winning team Satch Carlson / Russ Kraushaar, and multi year winning drivers Peter Hill and Glenn Wallace.

The 2011 Eis Munky Rally Team is a lively and complete one, with a car from every single possible class. The Eis Munky Rally Team for 2011 will be:

03 Glenn Wallace (WA) & R.Dale Kraushaar (AZ) Subaru Forester (unlimited)

29 Warwick Patterson (BC) & Izzie Egan (BC) Subaru Impreza Wagon (calculator)

32 Jennifer Daly (BC) & Simon Oakley (BC) VW Jetta (paper)

40 Jeremy Bourdon (BC) & Andrew Purnell (BC) Subaru Sti (novice)

50 Mike Palm (WA) & Garth Hales (WA) VW Superbeetle (historic)

Thunderbird will be the very first TSD for both members of the Eis Munky novice entry and Izzie, the calculator class navvie.   The Thunderbird Rally has a notable history of inducting new and unsuspecting rallyists into winter driving under duress, and this weekend is likely to be no exception. In 2005 Jennifer and codriver August Ustare accumulated a massive points total after high centering on a snowbank, costing Arctic Challengers teammates Glenn and R Dale the overall team win. Six years and a 2008 Winter Alcan Adventure later, Glenn and R Dale seem to have forgiven her, as they agreed to join the 2011 Eis Munky RT. Glenn and R Dale are essentially the team anchors, and the entry most likely to succeed this weekend. The rest of the entries will be happy to finish, although Jennifer and Simon will gain at least second in class if they don’t DNF, as one of the only two entries brave enough to tackle paper class.

Car 32 will be tracked through Helios Global Tracking, and can be followed by logging in HERE.

login: rally
password: markzoom

Follow the SpecialStage.com pre event thread and updates HERE.

Twitter updates should be available under #bcrally, and if we’re not exhausted or partying, I’ll try and keep things up to date here.

Rally on
JD