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2006
Thunderbird Rally
35th
Thunderbird Rally
-- February 18-19,
2006
Merritt - Vernon - Merritt
Round 1 of the 2006 BC TSD Rally Championship
Hosted by the West Coast Rally Association |
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Thunderbird
Rally 2006
Ron Sorem © 2-20-2006
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February 18 & 19,
2006. Merritt-Vernon-Merritt, BC. Rally
Master Paul Westwick, and the West Coast Rally
Association, presented the 35 th running of the Thunderbird
Rally, first presented in 1957. |
Thunderbird covered a varied
route with dusty gravel and white bank-to-bank
polished snow and ice. Forty-nine teams gathered
in sub-freezing temperatures at scrutineering – checking
for proper safety equipment, and that everything
in the car was secure “in the unlikely event” of
a conflict with a Thunderbird snow bank. |
Totem Rally, WCRA’s
November event, presented “Winter Roads with
Summer Ditches” (no snow banks). Thunderbird
had snow – just most of it had been plowed
aside. For 2006, the catch phrase might be “Summer
Roads – Winter Ditches” describing
brisk speeds on bare gravel, between 2- to 5-foot
walls of white. This is not to say there was no
snow – nearly every shaded corner was a combination
of bare wheel tracks and wall-to-wall ice. Gauging
(or guessing) how much speed to carry into each
corner kept the driver’s full attention. |
Day One began
with the Odometer Check, south of Merritt on 97C
to Loon Lake, through the tunnel under the freeway. Kentucky-Alleyne
Regularity began at 60km/h on Loon Lake
Road, well-traveled unbroken white, through the
replanted forest rolling gently with a few twists
before narrowing into deep snow. Through the Provincial
Park campground and picnic area, slowing to 18km/h
for the sole hardy camp trailer, then 6km of twists
and turns at 50 and 68. The regularity was uneventful
for most, however, Car 14 found a snow bank at
7.70km, shoveled out for most of the time before
Sweep, then forgot to clear the snow from the radiator,
where it froze – restricting air flow. After
a quick extraction by the big red diesel, the blocked
radiator presented an overheating problem, so Jeff
Bain and Michele Toffler bypassed the next regularity
to reach Princeton closer to on-time. Ironically,
their heater had quit working on the way to Merritt;
now the engine at least, was too hot. Other natural
features on the first regularity surprised Car
25 while approaching a checkpoint. Rounding a corner
at 68km/h Ron Janzen and John Hurton met a moose!
Ron was still a bit uncertain, and 7-late when
he passed the checkpoint. |
A very short transit brought
the rally to the 70km Otter Valley Regularity, second
longest of the weekend. Beginning on snow-covered
forest roads at 72km/h the route was smooth and
wide, interrupted by the occasional long sweeper
and back-to-back hard right into hard left. At
16.31km the speed dropped to 50km/h, a clue as
to what’s ahead. In 1km the road narrowed,
dropped left into the canyon for Otter Creek through
a long right over bridge. When Rally Master Paul
Westwick was asked if this “left over crest
dropping” was as icy as past years – his
reply: “H*** yes!”The
planned checkpoint and photo-op at the bridge was
scrubbed due to the deep snow. Snowy roads continued
into Tulameen, then snaked along the cliffs above
Coalmont on dry pavement, ending under the watchful
eyes of the big rock formations called “hoodoos”. |
A brief break in Princeton
for gas and snacks then on to Princeton-Summerland
Road, Bankier, and Osprey Lake. Osprey Lake was
used again (from T-Bird ’05) due in large
part to the icy conditions elsewhere. The fantastic
pre-run photo of Hedley-Nickel Plate hillclimb
on the website doesn’t convey how it became “just
too slippery”. |
Osprey Lake Regularity parallels
and criss-crosses the abandoned Kettle Valley Railway
(KVR) whose roadbed now carries the Trans Canada
Trail. Teams were presented with an easy rolling
path at 60 and 65km/h, then down to 50 for a bridge,
checkpoint, and hairpin hillclimb before a brief
6km stint creeping up to 68 at the end of section. |
The transit passed through
Summerland, south through Penticton and Okanagan
Falls on 97 before climbing into the hills again. OK
Falls Regularity at 73km was the longest
of the event. Beginning at 72km/h, speeds dropped
to 55 for the first hairpin-left, then a 90-R,
and long hairpin-left, on dry gravel. Climbing
through more instructed hairpins and increased
speeds, the rally entered the snow-zone, becoming
all white with “nice big snow banks”.
The initial steep ascent may have been the “spoiler” for
the little 1969 Saab Sonnet of Satch Carlson and
Russ Kraushaar. The hilltop CP caught the bright
red V4 at 1-late (under winter scoring this becomes
a zero), followed by on-time absolute zeroes for
the remaining five checkpoints and best score on
the section. Speeds on top of the plateau ranged
from 60 to 72. |
A short transit through
the Idabel Lake area led to McCulloch Regularity.
This well-used access to snowmobile trails began
wide and smooth at 60km/h (a bit more urgent for
the twin checkpoint cars just arriving from earlier
duties on Osprey Lake). At 14km the road narrowed
a bit and passed through easy curves, passing a
huge snowmobile campfire and our “spectator
area” for Thunderbird. At 17km the road became
seriously narrow and twisted, prompting the question
from CP car driver — “HOW fast are
they supposed to be going through here?” — before
taking up position on a tight right, above Hydraulic
Creek on the outskirts of Kelowna. From this vantage
point, three cars could be viewed at once on the
hairpins dropping into the valley. |
Kelowna Transit led toward
Vernon and 49km Beaver Lake Regularity. Beaver
Lake climbed quickly on dry roads becoming snowy
twists through the many recreation sites skirting
Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park. On the snowy forest
roads, about half the field passed with flying
colors, the remainder found Beaver Lake “challenging” including
the hairpins descending to Vernon as the snow gave
way to dry roads again. Nine teams failed to make
the start, and a couple more were late but took
advantage of winter scoring to salvage some time.
Car 9 Navvie Stu Fealk (dad) calc’ed out
a “late” time for Driver Dan Fealk
(son). No sooner had the announced lateness been
noted, and the Subaru XT-6 immediately found a
snow bank. Sweep arrived, and they rejoined the
route, clearing the last CP with 2331 seconds lateness,
reduced to 19-late under winter rules. |
Accommodations, dining,
and camaraderie at Vernon’s Prestige Inn
allowed the rally to relax and await scoring, after
479.55km (297.98mi), although that would be a long
wait, and a very short night for the organizers. |
Day Two began
with a transit through Lumby to Trinity
Valley Regularity. The route was 36km,
with a slight rise early, then gradual fall along
Trinity Creek to the Shuswap River Bridge at Ashton
Creek. Speeds were 72km/h over the mostly bare
gravel, slowing to 65 for well-sanded snowy sections
before pavement. |
Salmon Arm transit took
teams 52km north, to near Tappen, where the route
turned west on Skimiken Lake Road for the Turtle
Valley Regularity. The section, including
Turtle Valley Road has been deep powder for past
events; bare roads this year, with only occasional
sanded snow areas. |
Chase provided a break for
fuel and food, before Highway 1 and the Thompson
River Bridge took the rally to 36km Loakin
Bear Regularity. A recurring theme for
the forestry sections, Loakin Bear Creek Road began
with bare gravel, climbing rapidly at 58km/h into
the snow. Speeds ranged from 60 through 72 on the
gentle route skirting the Provincial Park and alongside
recreation sites. Several km later the snow diminished
as the route dropped at 36km/h through hairpins
to the ledge above the Thompson, ending at Pinantan-Pritchard
Road. |
Crossing the Thompson and
Hwy 1, Duck Range Regularity ran
through Martin Prairie and Duck Range cattle country
on dry roads. |
Reaching Hwy 97 again, near
Monte Creek, the rally turned south for 14km to Twig
Creek Regularity. Twig Creek began after
running through the log sort yard at Monte Lake
Forest Products. A few km into the section the
rally would have to share the road with firewood
cutters, before continuing at 65 and 72km/h to
the first scored checkpoint where 27 cars scored
zero! There would be a long gap before the next
CP. Road conditions gradually became all snow,
no sand, with taller walls of white to buffer one’s
indiscretions. At 24.8km an acute left, under the
shade of big trees, could have been a great photo-op,
given enough crews. As the Rally Master pointed
out, just 0.6km later at 25.4, the CP and photos
would be busy. Downhill, off camber, in the sun — melting
and refreezing — nearly a “square right” with
exposure and trees on the outside edge. The first
cars made it (some checkpoint cars put on a good
show) then Car 4 pushed “just a little wide” on
exit, high-centered on a small berm of ice and
rock, with no way to regain traction. They would
wait for Sweep; and their triangle would sufficiently
warn the rest of the field against the same fate.
There was some minor discussion of the conflict
of scoring the CP, while everyone slowed for the
triangle, but all were affected in the same way
and the necessity to slow down overruled any grumbling,
and saved swapping paint! As the road opened up
into cattle country on the Douglas Ranch, 72km/h
cattle guards provided numerous hard-points for
calculations and tweaking the computers, over the
30km to end of section. |
The transit followed the
main road 10km to the Village of Douglas Lake,
turning south along the Douglas Creek drainage
for Minnie Lakes Regularity. As
this section undulates through rangeland, the low
spots on the road become mini lakes in the wet,
with spectacular water splashes at 60km/h, but
were now mini skating rinks – frozen solid.
Turning north at the ranch gate, Pennask Lake Road
is wide and smooth (except for a couple of cattle
guards) and turns to bare gravel as it drops the
last 10km to Nicola Lake, Highway 5, and the 23km
transit into Merritt. |
Day two covered 370.52km
(230.23mi) in 7 hours. The weekend total read 751
(528) in just over 16 hours. |
Congratulations to 1 st
Overall / Unlimited, Peter Hill and Geoff Hill
with only 12 points. (3 rd on day 1) Peter becomes
the “winningest” Thunderbird driver
with this, his fourth win. First Historic Equipped
/ Second Overall, to Satch Carlson and Russ Kraushaar
with 17. (2 nd on day 1) 1 st Calculator / 5 th
Overall, to Steve Richards and Gary Reid. 1 st
Historic / 9 th Overall, to Richard Childs and
Helen Welter. 1 st Novice to Luc Girouard and Bernd
Schmitzer. Continuing their streak, winning the
Pacific Coast Challenge in 2005, First in Paper
to Steve Perret and Kathryn Hansen. |
Thunderbird is known for
many things, and now may count a cure for motion
sickness: Dave Sharp of Edmonton and Marcel Chichak
would routinely catch one of the Historic cars
on the steep T-Bird hill climbs, then have to follow
along in the twisty narrow sections with no chance
to pass, falling a few seconds down, behind the
minute-late car. The smoke and fumes from the oily
exhaust contributed to Marcel’s motion sickness.
On day two they had an opportunity to move into
a vacant starting slot, a few numbers ahead of
the Historic car. No fumes, no nausea, fewer points
with a cure. |
Full results
and photos at www.rallybc.com
More rally stories at www.tsdroadrally.com
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