Monday’s first two stages were called on account of road construction.

The work wasn’t on the route proper, but the dump trucks servicing the work would have been barred by closing the road (and there were a steady stream of the trucks). Methinks the town council weighed the relative benefits to the community, chose pavement over entertainment, and revoked permission.

So we opened with Colliers, run twice, blasting through the woods on a ten-foot trail then bursting out to fly along the waterside road in a village. They’d built two chicanes in to manage the fast cars’ velocity. One chicane peeled off the main road through a church parking lot pockmarked with mostly-marked bumps. The second inserted two short concrete bridges twenty feet and ninety degrees apart. Between the bridges, a pothole — large enough to get its own mention in the route book — took a victim, ripping the right front wheel from a BRZ.

Roads so narrow are easily blocked, but luckily the BRZ was running last. Unluckily, the plan was to go through again. And for some reason we Grand Touring cars were released, and we must have all come upon the warning triangle, the car with wheel askew, and the chagrined crew member holding the ‘OK’ sign. The 30 or so ‘Targa’ cars had to scrub the stage… (those folks are less disciplined than the GT crowd).

We moved on, to an pair of stages in mirror image. The first shot down a tapering valley, over some sideways hillocks, and petered out, as the valley became an inlet with steep rock shores. Stop or get wet, that’s the choice there.

We pivoted as a long chain of cars and lined up for the return. The outgoing route notes had “CAUTION crest into medium right downhill. Don’t cut” a couple km in. The first car on the road, a fully prepped Subaru, had some problem with that turn and wound up off to the inside. No one hurt, but the crew’s management of the situation seemed not to be practiced, and the confusion (plus concern, always, for safety) scratched another stage.  In reflection, it’s probably good that the driver/co-driver aren’t “used to crashing”, eh?

Tough day today.  We took some points. Tight twisty roads, heavy rains high CASTs.  Hitting the max speed ceiling trying to make up time.

The GT40 crashed into a bridge. Noone iinjured but that’s 4 cars out.

We finished day 1.  The speeds are brisk.  The rain is changing them to condition 2, which are slower.  2 cars off today no injuries.  One pothole tore the wheel off one car.  Blown head gasket on the porsche.  2 cars moved out of our class.  Top cast today was 101kph on wet twisting roads with 12second grace windows.  Tomorrow 9 second windows.  Eeek!

Day -2: The six ay-yem alarm shattered our rest period. After staggering through the shower, we threw some stuff in the car – and the car wakes up much better than we had, starting instantly and barking its bark. We headed up the peninsula for Flatrock and the rally school.

Picturesque? Yah. We might get used to the scenery after a week, but at this point it’s stupefying. “Flat Rock” sounds like an unimaginative name for a town, ’til you see the slab of rock they’re talking about. Then you’re impressed they could put any words to it.

And these towns have been around a while… some places settled in the sixteenth century? Okay, I can see that. The accents are an oddments mix of Scots, Irish, West Country England, and I-don’t-know-what. Arr they nice? Shurr. Are they law-abidin’? Shurr, mostd’ time.

The rally school taught one key lesson: drive in the center of the road. The shoulders are worn away, rough and ragged, and tire hazards are everywhere. We went through two practice stages at low speeds. On the second, we missed two turns by misunderstanding the route book. Hopefully the turns will be clearer when all the taping and marking is done.

Day -1: Technical inspection, held in a hockey arena with its ice covered by heavy plastic tiles, took awhile. Even the relatively mild regulations controlling our equipment bear interpreting, and some negotiation and discussion with the inspectors. The Targa cars, many of which are heavily customized, drew the largest share of the inspectors’ attention, so we weren’t done ’til 4 p.m.

Then a slight surprise: for the benefit of publicity and event promotion, the organizers had set a ‘car show’ for the public running ’til 9 p.m.  Following that surprise, another: the cars were then to stay overnight in the arena. Hmm. Our hotel is 15km away. We negotiated an escape, based on the “normalness” of our station wagon, and drove ourselves and our teammates back to the Holiday Inn and bed. Our teammates’ car was too interesting to be paroled.

Day 0: Preview/Prologue stages. The four of us were early awake, out to the arena, through the breathalyzer line, and then… in a meeting. Something about safety. And another meeting. Something about speeding outside the stages. And almost another meeting, but instead a general rush for the exit. 40 cars, many barely street legal, trotting up the Torbay Road at the 50 k.p.h. limit toward the first stage start.

Four runs total today, two each of the two practice stages, which helpfully were the same we’d run at legal speeds two days before.  There were hundreds of spectators along the stages, in little cliques near their homes or in moderate crowds near corners that promised excitement.

We missed no turns today. And we were mostly in the center of the road.

There were some clock issues both on the organizers’ side and on ours, so we’re not positive we’re perfectly on pace – but no penalty points are given today, so ehhh.

Tomorrow, the seconds count.

So far in the prologue, the car is handling well.  Tomorrow we have 12 second windows, on either side of perfect zero.  Tuesday it will be 9.  By Friday 2.

They’re everywhere!

Tomorrow we do the prologue or practice

legs.

Registered waiting for tech

.