WCRA website promoting Stage and TSD Rally Sport in British Columbia
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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Final Results - All Pages
 
Results - Overall & by Class
Details - Leg 1 & Leg 2
Details - Leg 3 & Leg 4
Supp Regs (pdf)
Entry Form (pdf form)
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.

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.
Complete results, photos, and more rallies can be found at www.rallybc.com
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