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2005
Thunderbird Rally
February
19/20, 2005
34th
Thunderbird Rally -- February 19-20,
2005
Merritt - Kelowna - Merritt
Round 1 of the 2005 BC TSD Rally
Championship
Hosted by the West Coast Rally Association |
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Thunderbird
Rally 2005
Ron Sorem © February
21, 2005 |
February
19 & 20. Merritt-Kelowna-Merritt, British
Columbia. The West Coast Rally Association presented
the 34th running of their brisk Winter TSD: Thunderbird
Rally 2005.
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Friday
evening tech inspection was under clear moonlit
skies with brisk temperatures. Saturday morning
tech and late registration found cars covered
with a “dusting” of powder snow and
what seemed like colder temperatures, and an increasing
cloud cover. |
The Odo
Calibration ran southwest on the Coquihalla to
Coldwater and doubled back on gravel roads, to
begin the first Regularity, through Kane Valley,
at 57km/h on a wide forest road with mixed bare
frozen gravel, ice over gravel, and a dusting
of fresh snow over ice as the route gained elevation.
Average speeds increased to 60km/h as the route
leveled out. Continuing through the ranch yards
and twisting along the valley the snow depth increased
as well. At 15.62km a right turn, at a checkpoint,
then slowing to 45km/h the route became a narrow
twisting track through the trees, with occasional
sharp turns and exposures on the outside. Not
a place to try the unbroken snow. Hidden ruts
pulled against steering. The best line through
the corners was probably staying in the line the
last pickup truck made before the freeze. Between
exposures on sharp corners the rally was under
the watchful eyes of a large herd of wooly horses
at the Black Pine Ranch, and of course, the watchful
eyes of checkpoints as well. The last 4km of the
Regularity drove through ankle-deep to boot-top-deep
new snow with only the tracks of the advance cars
to follow. |
A short
Transit south of Aspen Grove on 5A took the rally
to Coalmont Road and the Otter Valley Regularity.
70km Otter Valley was the longest of the day and
began with wide groomed smooth snow with occasional
sweeping bends at 72km/h, allowing drivers to
practice technique while offering a bit of recovery
room between actual snow banks. At about 13km
into the section the banks became noticeably closer
together and the average speed dropped to 60km/h.
At 17km the practice should have paid off as the
average cut to 50km/h, just in time for a sharp
left down hill, not in the route book. Very “slippy”,
followed immediately by a checkpoint. The route
now narrowed through a canyon but was fairly level
as speeds increased steadily through 60, 65, and
70 at pavement. The shaded, icy corners along
Otter Creek provided ample excitement and the
following checkpoint at 40km caught a few by surprise.
Slowing, through the pioneer town of Tulameen
at 45, up to 68, then 45 again through nearby
Coalmont. After dodging the snowplows and avalanche
rocks, teams were greeted by a checkpoint coming
out of the twisty bits at 72km/h. Surprisingly
the first eight cars zeroed this control, 12km
before the break at Princeton. |
Leaving
Princeton the Transit headed northeast toward
Osprey Lake. A section of loose gravel over the
pavement in a tight chicane caught the first casualty.
An impromptu and unplanned shortcut took out one
Golf control arm, and although this stage-prepared
car’s sponsor had an outlet in the area,
they could not get a replacement and were out
of the rally. |
Osprey
Lake Regularity claimed the only other car to
be forced out of the event. Dennis Gunn’s
1986 Audi 4000 Quattro, with Brian Hackney in
the right seat, made it 24km into the section
under its own power. The rest of the trip to Penticton
and Kelowna was with a tow truck attached to the
front bumper. A futile search for a replacement
spindle would have to continue on Monday.
East of Pentiction, the rally climbed steeply
up the bluff overlooking the city and Okanagan
Lake, for the 51km OK Falls Regularity. An acute
right, onto more snow, interrupted wide smooth
snow pack at 70km/h, with tree-lined roads interspersed
with exposures and hairpins. At 45km the route
began its descent through more hairpins and exposures
(including one spot from several years ago that
retired a Mazda 323GTX). Once into Okanagan Falls,
the rally followed Eastside Road into Penticton
for fuel, then up the bluff again for the same
start as OK Falls. |
Idabel
Regularity traced the previous run through 14km,
then left instead of right, and an average of
72km/h on a virtual main highway in the woods.
Six checkpoints kept crews on their best behavior.
Teams encountered sections of deep snow, bare
gravel with dust, and a brief episode of snow
over ice. |
A short
Transit brought the teams to the Big White ski
area Regularity. A 4km climb up the main access
pavement (with heavy skier traffic), then an acute
right, down the twisty narrow descent to the highway,
through two checkpoints for a Transit, and returning
to the end of Idabel. |
McCulloch
Regularity began on a wide route, with wheel-high
snow banks at 60km/h. The road narrowed and the
average speed dropped. The road narrowed further,
actually becoming pretty tight in spots. The snow
was getting deeper, as were the frozen muddy ruts.
McCulloch then dropped off the mountain with hairpins
and exposures above Hydraulic Creek, into Kelowna
for the night, after more than nine hours of rallying
over 460km (286 miles), passing 27 scored checkpoints. |
Day Two’s
morning driver’s meeting brought news that
the rally had been caught up in Kelowna’s
street racing enforcement campaign. Citizens seeing
cars with numbers brought the 9-1-1 call log up
to speed, so to speak, and with the cooperation
of RCMP, the organizers agreed to scrap the second
running of the crowded Big White Regularity to
avoid the skier traffic and a potential repeat
of the previous night’s complaints. McCulloch
II Regularity would give teams a chance to see
the ruts and exposures on a clear and bright morning. |
Once
again through Kelowna, crossing the lake, climbing
west into the hills. Bear Creek Regularity covered
seven checkpoints over 72.45km. This Regularity
started deceptively. Dry gravel and dust would
soon change to snow patches, then, with the warning
to “watch for logging trucks” the
road was snow-covered in the shaded areas. At
16km the rally left the main haul-road. The path
was narrower but still recently graded. There
was much more snow as the route steadily gained
elevation and the graded banks were now hood-high.
Speeds dropped from 72km/h to 68 to 57 and 50
for a tight section with occasional recreational
traffic. The scenery was spectacular, with white
over green, under brilliant blue skies. At 39km
the rally overlooked Cameron Lake, with a post
card perfect scene of the lake, the campground
at the west end, and the white velvet broken only
by a lone animal track; a straight line westward
across the frozen surface. Within the next kilometer
a checkpoint and photo-op would record the continual
widening of the road, with several cars exploding
through the fresh powder and at least one taking
the ever-widening track a bit too far, then as
spectators, waiting for sweep. |
The
route was well packed, the elevation gains and
drops were minimal, and there were few sharp corners
with which to contend. One such corner however,
was troublesome for at least four competitors.
A pickup truck was parked at the exit to a downhill
left-hander. If the rally cars were the least
bit out of shape here, the choice was truck or
snow bank. All chose the snow bank. Unfortunately,
a checkpoint was only a short distance away. Car
8 (Horst/Willey) completed most of Bear Creek
with a flat tire. Whether the flat preceded their
snow bank choice, or the other way around, they
managed to recover before the checkpoint and tie
Car 1 (Wallace/Dumaoal) for the Regularity, but
would fall two points behind them for the Overall
win. At 52km another checkpoint was well hidden
and cars were timed entering a bridge before they
had a chance to see the checkpoint crew. 10km
further along, in much deeper snow, the rally
cars shared the road with snowmobile traffic,
some nearly maintaining the 55km/h average, on
and off the road. Surprisingly, no conflicts;
both sports enjoying the drive. The deepening
snow brought a choice of line through some corners.
For one checkpoint crew exiting the stage, avoiding
the slippery inside line for the less traveled
outside line proved to be the wrong choice. Their
long “off” into knee deep soft snow
was the second of the weekend for Brian Hackney.
Saturday’s broken-spindle-Audi navigator
had volunteered as an extra checkpoint crewmember,
back seat ballast, and as it turned out, an extra
hand at the shovel. |
A 15km
Transit on 97C, then Elkhart Lake Regularity began
at 45km/h with the warning: “Caution!! Big
Frozen mud hole, suspension-breaking if you take
it wrong, followed by ruts for 250m”. Speeds
for the first two-thirds of the 38km stage never
exceeded 50km/h, but were challenging for the
technical aspect of the route. An acute right
turn (with checkpoint) tested hand-brake versus
three-point techniques. Later, two hairpins proved
tricky; one “caution-ed” in the route
book, the second possibly more treacherous, without
a “caution”. |
A quarter
kilometer Transit (under the highway) led to the
start of Kentucky-Alleyne Regularity. Running
reverse direction from past years, the route passes
Loon Lake, Kentucky Lake and Alleyne Lake (hence
the name) ending with a warning of winding roads
for 6km, at 50km/h, only to increase average speed
to 68 a mere 1.24 km later. |
At last,
the 5A Transit took the competitors to Merritt
for the finish and awards after a Day-Two drive
of 274.24km (170.41 miles) in six hours. |
Thunderbird
2005 covered just over 734km (456 miles) in Spring-like
weather. Never-mind there was still a month of
Winter remaining. Current (1987-2005) Rallymaster,
Paul Westwick, assembled a great route and a great
crew of volunteers providing timely scrutineering,
ample checkpoints, and prompt scoring. |
Vehicles
included 2004 Subaru Sti (3), Volkswagen Type
1 Beetles (2), BMW 2002 (2), and the 1967 Austin
Mini Cooper S… a crowd favorite, finishing
only one spot behind one of the 300hp Subarus. |
Classes
ranged from 22 Unlimited to 13 Calculator, 11
Novice, 5 Historic, and one Paper S.O.P. purist. |
Manufacturers
other than Subaru (26 of 52 starters and 16 of
the top 20 finishers) included Audi Quattro, Austin,
BMW (325ix, 325is, and 2002), Chrysler family
(Shelby Lancer, Laser RS, and Voyager AWD), Ford,
Mazda (323GTX and RX7), Nissan, Saab, Toyota,
and VW with Beetle, Golf, Jetta, and Rabbit. |
Congratulations
to Glenn Wallace and Miller Dumaoal (11
points), holding off Eric Horst and Steve Willey
by two points, for Glenn’s second consecutive
Thunderbird win. One point further back were three
cars tied at 14, all past winners of BC snow events. |
Moving
up to Calculator class from Paper,
Dan and Stu Fealk continued their string of class
wins, again by only two points over Martin Chung
and Christa Monasch. |
First
Historic went to Larry LeBel
and Marcel Chichak in the bright red Mini with
92 points |
First
Novice west to Jayme and Ava
Franklin in a 2004 Subaru WRX with 189. |
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