Thunderbird 2008 Day 1
Feb
2008
With a week to go before the Winter Alcan, Marvin and I decided to shake the car and ourselves down by hitting the snow between Merrit and Kamloops at the 2008 running of BC’s Thunderbird Rally. Joining us from TeamD are Greg and Bill in the Audi and Marinus and Renee in their BMW.
Our goal this weekend is not to win (I do tend to get caught up in the fever of competition and it can be difficult to keep me away from the prize when I get the bit between my teeth but I also have a tendency to be a snowbank-seeking missle so I am trying to strike a balance this weekend) but to keep the car out of the snow, straight, and to figure out what needs work between now and next weekend. There’s nothing more frustrating than unnecessarily adding to the list of prep tasks for no reason.
At the end of Day one, I think we have accomplished this. I’ve avoided getting stuck in a snowbank (though I haven’t avoided the snowbanks) and we have a few punch list items.
For the Annual Team Trophy, Marinus and Renee were drafted into the Portland-based Team Africa (Another Fxxxxxx Rally I can’t Afford) and Marvin and I were convinced to join the stand-up fellows of Team Fugawi? (acronym unknown).
As of this writing, we don’t know the scores from Day 1. I am expecting a score for our car of around 30-35 which I am fine with (breathe…) as I know that with a bit more exhuberance we could have halved that (or doubled it, some of those corners were a bit slick). Tomorrow will give us the tally as well as send us back out into the snow. Look for a report at the end of tomorrow.
February 9th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Glad to hear everything is still in order. How are the other TeamD’ers faring?
February 9th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Yes, there are time decs. Paul explained it in some way but I think it’s partially a response to all the requests. The time decs work a bit differently than down in the states. Tired but will discuss in the next day or so.
Everyone TeamD is alive and driving.
Marinus and Renee are having difficulties with their new 798a. Display issues and perhaps some other things. Marvin has run into a quirk wherein the split time on his 798a is truncated to 2 decimal places unless you are in Adjust ORM mode where it shows the normal 3 places. He is a bit annoyed at this but we persevere.
Greg and Bill are enjoying themselves but say they are at some times too chatty for their own good.
The roads by and large have been great. I especially enjoyed the last reg of the night. Lots of tight twists and the road conditions were ideal for right-foot steering.
We start early so it’s to bed for us. Enjoy.
February 11th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I know what Fugawi stands for.