TeamD Adventures

We’re back from our two-day pre-Alcan shakedown rally and are glad to report:  Mission Accomplished.

What was our mission, you ask?  With Alcan coming up in a week, the primary objective was to come back in one piece with no more work to do on the car than when we headed up.  Secondary concerns were around not getting stuck in the snow and trying out all the new bits on the car so we know what we have to work on this week.

Let’s get this out of the way now.  Yes, I did get into the snow a few times (mainly on day 1) but I never got stuck and I avoided the customary “oh crap” incidents.  The car behaved quite well and the roads gave me some good surface on which to practice some right-foot steering.

Day one ended for us before scoring was completed.  Day two came to light and the scores were still not printed.  Paul gave Marvin a quick peek before we hit the road and we think we ended day 1 with somewhere in the 23 range which is better than my estimate but still in my general ball-park.

Paul promised the same on day 2 but more so.  Meaning more snow, more snowbanks, more slippery stuff, and more narrow toboggan roads.  He delivered.

O’Connor Creek took us out and by Sorenson Gully.  Twig creek was anchored squarely in the middle by the aptly named McMillen Corner.  Peter Hope had us climb into the hills and then drop back out again.  Perhaps Peter’s Hope was for more snow.  If so, Peter is a happy guy.

The final regularity of the day, Minnie Lake, was a great exclamation point on a good weekend.  The warm daytime temperatures the last few days had melted the top layer of the snowpack and the night time cold had refrozen it into a shimmering crust.  As we cut through the scene on our plowed road, with the sun shining off the smooth snowy hills, it looked like we were driving through a sea of marshmallow cream.

We left without much delay and were not able to share in the trophy award ceremony.  The desire to get back before the roads got too dicey was more compelling than awaiting the completion of scoring, especially as we had not been pushing ourselves to get on the podium.

As of this morning, summary scoring has been posted.  Congratulations to Jason and Brandon for coming through with another win and a measly 21 points.  The formidable Sorensons came in second with 25 and Alcan Co-Competitors Glenn Wallace and R. Dale Kraushaar not far behind with 31.  Much to my surprise, our laissez-faire attitude netted us fourth place overall with 41.

First place Calculator with 64 were Josh Keatley and Christa Monasch who traveled in from Alberta for the event.  First place historic in their 67 Volvo were Gil Stuart and Chris Peake with 95.  The novice team of Karl Nylund and Shane Annandale.  Alan and Emma Perry were the winners in Paper class with a score of 327.

Fellow TeamD competitors the Damms came in with 62 and Greg and Uncle Bill rounded out our entries with 126.

Thanks to Paul Westwick and his crew for once again putting together a great rally.  There’s no wondering why Thunderbird is the best-attended rally in the region.