Rookie Sirius Team Takes Second Overall at Alcan Rally!

We’re finally getting settled back in to life not on the road, and here’s the overdue conclusion to the Sirius Alcan Adventure:

The combined efforts of cars 16-18 resulted in the second place team prize for the 2008 Alcan Winter Rally. Our ‘all newbie’ crew is very proud of finishing closely behind the accomplished Arctic Challengers, who won the team honours despite one of their cars suffering some damage on the ice road. The Tres Hermanos RT took overall honours; the Alcan site still doesn’t have scores past day 4 so we can’t post all the details. The results were announced at the finish banquet, and a score sheet was distributed, but in the post-Alcan revelry we lost track of both. Josh and Evans left early to make it home the next day, so the points totals are listed in Josh’s post below. We made a leisurely trip back, stopping at the Eagle Eye for a mountaintop lunch, but it was cool to see our other teammates rushing happily home to their families.

Here’s the breakdown for each Sirius entry:

Josh & Evans Keatley – CAR 16 (grey Subaru Forester)
FIRST PLACE class IIE
9th overall
the ‘behind the scenes’ lowdown: Josh and Evans were the token father/son effort, and the Forester they rescued from the wrecker turned out to be a great Alcan ride. They were dependable teammates and Josh put on a heck of a show at the ice races, posting fast times in a non turbo car.

Jennifer Daly, Gord Ryall & August Ustare – CAR 17 (wrb 2004 Subaru WRX Wagon)
ICE RACE CHAMPIONS
second place class IE
11th overall
the ‘behind the scenes’ lowdown: If not for our day 4 sleep in, we might have had our class win and the team prize. Once we got behind, we had more of a fun holiday and didn’t pay a lot of attention to the points, but our TSD abilities still improved dramatically. When Gord started winning the ice races, I got to do more TSD driving. Gord has sworn off TSD entirely as of the last day of the Alcan, so August and I will compete as a team for selected events this year, hoping to continue on the improved and competitive pace we attained on the Alcan. The rally was a scouting mission for future adventures, and the draw to explore the Yukon and NWT is even stronger now that I’ve seen a little of what it has to offer.

Bill Beers & Doug Heredos – CAR 18 (Big Blue Dodge Ram)
second place class IIE
12th overall
FIRST PLACE favourite last minute teammates and road buddies
the ‘behind the scenes’ lowdown: We were lucky to have these two stage rally guys from Oregon as the objects of our pranks, impromptu cameramen / media hounds and dependable Kokanee company. The truck was an unlikely ride but they drove it with style and a sense of humour. If there had been close to the expected number of ice races, they might have been able to coax us into switching up for the Rex. They stayed close on the heels of the Keatleys, and the tightness of this race helped us overall in the team standings.

Adding one more blue Subaru to the mix made for a lot of camera opportunities and better chances to gang up on the Dodge, and by the end Stevan and Kristin were pretty much teammates as well. Stevan braved a pretty bad virus to join us for the token champange splash at the finish. Kristin was a great navigator and had a solid handle on TSD by the end, even though she had no idea what she was getting into when she started. We’ll be watching for them to turn up on the Canadian stage circuit in the future. I’m not totally certain, but their presence in our class, despite not having a rally computer, may have upped the Sirius Team score.

We’ll add thoughts, top ten lists and ramblings as the impact of our rally sets in, and we’ll be busy with the 2008 stage season very soon. It was 4 years in the making but I think we got everything we hoped for and much more from the Alcan Winter Rally. Immense thanks to Jerry and all the volunteers who set the route out before us.

Home! (Car 16, at least)

Well, after last night’s awards banquet and social to-do, the Sirius Rally Team has gone it’s separate ways and headed for home.  As the lucky ones closest to (one of our) homes, we managed to make it back to Calgary by 9 in the morning on Wednesday.  As it turns out, neither of us could sleep past 4 am, so we decided to hit the road.  The Icefields Parkway is spectacular in the daytime, but not much to look at at 5 in the morning.

So, a team update on behalf of the travelling Siriusians still on the road!

As a team we all did extremely well, especially for rookies!  Car 18, Bill and Doug, finished 12th overall and 2nd in class IIE, with 271 points.  This was a great finish for a great couple of guys.  They had the most entertaining runs through the ice race course, with the snowbank crushing power of the Dodge.   Car 17, Jen, Gord and August, finished 11th overall and 2nd in class IE with 261.4 points.  They claimed first overall in the ice races on combined times, beating all of the perennial favourites in this part of the competition.  We in Car 16 finished 9th overall and first in class IIE, with 159.9 points.  Most importantly, all of us on the team had a great time, enjoyed each other’s company and made it to the end of the event with relatively little drama.

All of this was announced at the end of rally banquet at the Jasper Inn, where each car and team was described with some highlights, along with their scores and standings.  A computer projector showed photos and videos from the event, and great fun was had watching all the clean lines and major stuffs from the ice races.  After the dinner, we all chatted and talked about the event and rally in general.  It was great being able to kick back and get to know so many people from across the continent(s, for car 12).

All in all, a fantastic event and a great experience!

Josh

Car 16 Inuvik to Tuk to Eagle Plains to Whitehorse to Liard Hotsprings to Dawson Creek Update

So we’re back in civilization, or at least Dawson Creek, just across the Alberta border in northern BC.  Since my last update we have travelled north from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, been fogged in on the Beaufort Sea on the drive back south, spent the night in the 1970’s chic Eagle Plains Hotel, returned to Dawson City, Whitehorse and points south, and are now at the end of the Alaska Highway.

Day by day updates:

Friday – Departed Inuvik NWT for Tuktoyaktuk via the ice road.  Arrived in Tuk about 9:30 am, and got some good pictures of ourselves at the Trans Canada Trail marker at the tip of the town.  Walked around town before heading back south again, and got invited in to the town office by the staff, cause they were surprized to see so many cars driving to the town that time of year.  Headed south on the ice road in a thick ice fog, but made it back to Inuvik safely.  Did a little shopping and got some photos of the unique architecture around the place.  Headed south to Eagle Plains on the Dempster Highway. 

Saturday – Departed Eagle Plains early for a side tour to Dawson City in daylight, discovered that at -30 and the middle of winter, Dawson is pretty much shut down.  Got some great photos of Dawson, then headed south for Whitehorse.

Sunday – Had a short (8.4 mile) TSD section in Whitehorse, then off to the lake for an ice race.  Managed to only pick up 4 points on the TSD, and then didn’t take maximum points at the ice race!  Our teammates, Car 17, took fastest overall time of the day, to lead the ice races overall for 4WD studded tire cars.  After the ice races, we headed south on the Alaska Highway to the Watson Lake signpost forest and the Northern Rockies Lodge where we spent the night.  This place is amazing – almost the middle of nowhere, and just a great facility.  Saw about 50 buffalo along the highway on the drive.  Very cool!  On the way down, stopped at the Liard Hotsprings for a soak, and got to relax in the steaming water while the air temperature was about -5 degrees.  Great way to end the day.

Monday – a long transit day, we headed south on the Alaska Highway again, ending in Dawson Creek.  Along the way, we had TSD sections in Fort Nelson and just outside Dawson Creek.  Picked up 16 points total, middle of the pack for the day, but we are still managing to lead class 2E.  Had a short parking lot session trying to help Gord, our teammate and Subaru tech, patch one of the officials cars whose timing belt seems to have jumped a few cogs.  I wasn’t much help, but I felt good about contributing a flashlight.  We are resting up for the final day tomorrow – 330 miles south from Dawson Creek to Jasper, with one TSD and lots of transits.

Josh

Send the Sirius Rally Team Real Time Email Messages

The Rom Comm tracker is working better than ever since we brought it in from the cold just before we hit the ice road. It will be amazing to see our route plotted along the Mackenzie Delta and the ocean in the years to come, but now we’re hoping to use it to keep in touch with our families and friends. To send a message directly and instantly, check the siriusrally box on the main menu, and hit the ’send email’ button. Popups MUST be enabled for this to work, as a text box will open for you to type your message. August has tested this and it works well, so feel free to send us greetings or scoldings or any notes from home. The tracker is in the rex, car 17, but we are in close contact with the Keatleys in car 16 as well as Bill & Doug, and Stevan and Kristin. We could probably send word along to any team on the rally, as long as we know who to look for, so please include names and car numbers.

Connect with the Sirius Rally Team via Rom Comminications HERE.

Sirius Team Organizational Meeting

We’ve been busy, disconnected, and simply having too much fun on our adventure to keep our Alcan diary updated and orderly for three days, so there’s lots of stories to read. Josh and Evans are in Car 16 and Jennifer, Gord and August are in Car 17; the individual team posts can be reached by clicking on the new Car 16 or Car 17 categories. We’re still having a great time with Bill and recent Birthday boy Doug in Truck 18. Check out their blog HERE, especially a quick clip of our recent snowball attack. Fourth in our convoy are Stevan and Kristin in Car 19, another blue Subaru, who are posting their Alcan diary HERE.

We’re all in Inuvik resting up for the Tuk trip in the morning. Thanks for all the comments, and we’re taking last minute orders for the epic load of Tuk tokens for friends and family all over.

JD

Car 16 Day 5 Update

Dawson City, Yukon Territory to Inuvik, Northwest Territories – Halfway!

The day started with a clear, crisp, but not too cold morning departure from Dawson City.  While it was still dark, all the rally cars departed the hotel and headed back to the Dempster Highway corner, where we all turned north on the road to Eagle Plains.  While the sky was slightly overcast, the visibility was great.  The Dempster runs in a valley, and the road looks like gravel, but the frozen surface actually gives it great traction.  We stopped for a few photo opportunities, and the weather was amazing – just a few degrees below zero!

After Eagle Plains, the road continued on through to Fort McPherson and Inuvik, where we are spending the night.  We arrived at around 6 pm local time, just early enough to catch the sunset, and to see a few of the sights in town. 

We’re off early tomorrow for the drive on the Mackenzie river up to the Beaufort Sea and Tuktoyaktuk, than back south again to retrace our steps all the way to Eagle Plains.

Link to the Dempster Highway map HERE.

Late Car 16 Day 4 Update

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Dawson City, Yukon Territory

Wednesday morning started with an actual breakfast at the hotel restaurant, a nice break from the road food we had been enjoying.  We started the morning with the Long Lake TSD regularity, a short in-and-out road near the Whitehorse sewage lagoons (thanks for the tip, Marusia!), where we actually managed to score 5 points total over 8 checkpoints, including 5 zeroes!  Then it was off to frozen Schwatka Lake for the first ice races of the rally.

A Whitehorse snowmobile club plowed a track on the surface of the lake, and each car was allowed to take up to 4 runs (2 per driver, maximum).  Evans did the first 2 runs, and I took the second stint.  Considering that the car has only 165 horsepower, we did fairly well, running about 5 seconds slower than the top cars.  With 9 hours allowed to get to Dawson City, we paused for lunch with our friends Marusia and Brendan, and Marusia’s twins Audry and Callum, before heading north again.  When we were just short of Dawson, we stopped to see the total lunar eclipse, then continued on to the cool Eldorado Hotel in downtown Dawson.

Late Car 16 Day 3 Update

New Hazelton, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Tuesday was the longest travel day of the rally, with over 840 miles to cover.  The Sirius cars split up in the morning, with Jen, Gord and August leaving early to make a side trip to Bear Glacier near the Alaska border, and us following a little later.  We met up at Medzian Junction on the Cassiar Highway, a very scenic route north through heli-skiing country.  This road had been closed the previous week due to avalanches, and most of the gas stations along the route were either closed or frozen, making the trip a little difficult for the cars that went to Bear Glacier.  The rally had a stop for a great buffet lunch in Dease Lake, just prior to departing for a short TSD section on the highway heading north.  Then, cars 16, 17, 18 and 19 all travelled together as far as the Yukon border for a photo opportunity.  At the border, 16 and 17 stopped for fuel and then headed the next 460 kilometers to Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway.  This was a long, wide open highway that reminded me of the road in to Fort McMurray, just without the traffic.  All in all, a very long day, but lots of fun, with great scenery.

Late Car 16 Day 2 Update

Quesnel to New Hazelton
As we discovered late Sunday night, the Quesnel stock car track was too covered in snow to run the day’s ice race. Because of this, the organizers decided to add a TSD regularity instead, the (apparently) infamous 11% Grade road. This started at a local school and wound it’s way through some old logging roads and farmland. The navigator (Josh) discovered that there were several errors in the calculations, and was trying to redo them just before the start of the regularity. As it turns out, the road was quite difficult, especially with the checkpoint placements being located somewhere near the most difficult corner!
After finishing 11% Grade, we all returned to Quesnel and resumed the scheduled route, starting with the Blackwater Road TSD. This was actually a fairly wide open road for most of it’s length, but did not have many features to check the rally odometer against, making it tricky. After the end of the regularity, the road actually got much tighter and twistier, leading to some interesting driving from some of the cars, in particular the SUVs, which tended to launch themselves off the bigger bumps in the road. A long transit eventually led to the Fraser Lake TSD. This was a tricky section, due to the 12 mile per hour stretch in the middle. It was difficult to drive slowly enough through this section to make the checkpoint on time, and we ended up 20 seconds early. After we finished the 12 mph length, the remainder of the TSD was straightforward. We continued on north from there to Burns Lake, where we had a great lunch courtesy of one of the competitors and his friend Nathan at a local restaurant. After passing through Smithers, we finished the day in New Hazelton.