It pains me to be the one to say that TeamD got off to a rocky start today on day one of the Alcan Winter Rally. After an easy day of rally Eric and Steve are standing second in class with a score of 23. Dan and Jim are third in class with 34. Rob and Nick are fourth in their class with a score of 84. But overall those scores make us a little sad.
Read on for more detail including full standings.
Rob and Nick in car number six have the best excuse, they missed a turn on the first scored TSD second and went a long way down the road before realizing that they had made a mistake. They retraced their steps and recovered.
Eric and Steve suffered navigator trouble. A miscalculated odometer calibration factor had them running about eight seconds off for the first scored section. They got that corrected but not before collecting poor scores at two checkpoints. They didn't completely ruin themselves being only 13 points out of first in their class, but they have no room for further mistakes.
Dan and Jim have good technique, scoring well early in the day but are still trying to understand where they gained points later in the day. They'll get that pinned down tomorrow for sure!
In the run for the team trophy TeamD is in third place behind Team Challenge Driving holding second place and Team BMW lands in first place. The team trophy placement is calculated based on the average of each cars position in their respective class.
All is not lost, we're still holding strong, headed into our first ice race in the morning and two scored TSD sections in the afternoon.
Overall standings:
1. Car #1 Ahearns, Schneider, Webb with 3 points 2. Car #3 Carlson, Joy, Kraushaar with 6 points 3. Car #2 Kraushaar, Engstrom, Richardson, 8 points 4. Car #4 Eklund, Rounds, Reid, tied with 10 points 4. Car #10 Wallace, Hightower, Carozza, 10 points 6. Car #12 Miller, Duchene, Wood with 13 points 7. Car #7 Horst, Willey with 23 points 8. Car #11 Hogan, Comden with 34 points 9. Car #8 Bornhop, Kott, 53 points 10. Car #5 Elder, Elder, 71 points 11. Car #6 Dunn, Marcuse, 86 points 12. Car #9 Wright, Fuhrman, 128 points 13. Car #13 Gilland, Boyd with 217 points 14. Car #16 Brown, Morris, 259 points 15. Car #14 Weaver, Weaver, 340 points 16. Car #15 von Richthofen, Touring Class
Soggy was the start of our first day. The drive to Kirkland was brief but after a late night getting the last few essentials into the car, we were feeling as if we'd been going for hours. The prospect of embarking on this rally had us excited, though. The start location at the Silver Cloud Inn showed us a parking lot packed with rally and support vehicles anxious to get going. Family and friends of TeamD were on hand to cheer and pass out homemade cookies (greatly appreciated). Cars departed on their number/minute after 0800. We went against the flow of rush hour traffic and quickly made the 90 miles to the beginning of the first scored TSD section with plenty of time to spare. The section we drove was reminiscent of the rally we just did last month -- in fact it was identical if memory serves. At least, some of the checkpoint locations seemed familiar. We had no problems crossing hte border; our favorite Canadian Customs question was "Are you carrying more than $10,00 cash?" TeamD has a lof of support, but not to that level. Yet.
It was another 400 miles to our next scored section just north of Williams Lake, BC. A brief moment of panic was experienced on the long transit when the computer's odometer quit rolling its numbers. A loose conneciton was quickly located and fixed. The temperature sensor, on the other hand, is apparently a lost cause. We were hoping to be able to have a good display of outside temps but the relocation of some other wires or a possible short in the sensor wire was showing tropical temps outside. I don't think it's quite 90 degrees out here! Even more odd was the fact that transmitting on the ham radios seemed to make the temp display increase. Now -- we know there are some hot air bags in the car but this is a bit much.
A seemingly mandatory stop for the rally crews was at Chuck's Auto Parts in Williams Lake to pick up last minute supplies of winter wiper blades and Canadian-quality windshield fluid. One rallyist had in his hands the last battery blanket to be found in the store. We're glad we spent so much time in prep! They didn't have a temp sensor but we later located a replacement in Quesnel.
Though we have been up this far north on previous BC rally events, this was a new road for the TeamD WRX crew. Confusion early in a referenced instruction had me experiencing a moment of navigator panic until I remembred that with the Timewise computer, I have lots of control. The scores we saw later tonight confirmed my fears, though... my mistake cost us some points. It was quite warm for this section -- right around 40F, which meant the road was very sloppy. Most of this section was unpaved and Jim's WRX with its Nokian tires had unquestioned grip on the slimy surface. A large number of checkpoints and speed changes kept things busy in the right hand side of the car.
Can't forget the scenery. We've done the drive up as far north as Cache Creek during daylight hours only once. The trip up the Fraser River Canyon is quite nice. Even better was seeing the stretch up to Williams Lake -- something we've only done in the dark before.
Quesnel is home to about 10,000 people. Named for one of Simon Fraser's lieutenants on his historic voyage, it was also a jumpoff point for some of the local gold rushes in the late 1800s. We're staying at the new Sandman Inn -- sure to be a regular stop on future Alcan events.
Tomorrow we start out the day at the Goldpan Raceway in Quesnel -- a 3/8 mile oval track that has been plowed for us. Should be fun!
No time to post pictures -- we may get some out tomorrow. Eric's turn now.