Hi Ryan

Yup, it's the rule 21.a of the RSO rulebook, defining the crew and leaving the passengers up to organizer's discretion (which is why I posed the question to the organizer themselves eventually, as Alan suggested as well:)).

And as I noted in that e-mail, I'm generally more then willing to have our score disqualified because of the advantage (real or potential) - we're still at the point where it's more about the fun then placement. Heck, should we ever actually score well on the big drivexes, the knowledge alone is satisfactory enough:).

But as expected, the organizer policy disallows it; just figured it wouldn't hurt (too much;)) asking

uh oh, now I'm in trouble!  

We have reached the maximum number of entries for the 2005 Ontario Winter Rally.  Online payment has been closed.  We are creating a waiting list so you may still enter and pay by cheque.  You will be notified if a space becomes available.

Well, i'm sure we've all seen and read the update from Ross made after the friday night green crew.  I saw this post on saturday night..... just before I left on my little excursion to the cottage (which just happens to be on Wollaston Lake).

My first warning..... there are deer out there!  Slowing down just before I crested the hill at the end of county rd 46 where it meets South Wollaston Lake Rd., I had a deer come out of the trees, and down onto the road.... probably missed it by a few feet at the most cause I steered away.  It's 1am, and that darn deer is probably thinking "I wonder what that noise is.... hey there are lights coming.... I should go see what they are"   Grrrr..... darn deer!  

I only ended up playing on South Wollaston lake rd. and the lower 1/3 of Old hastings.  

South Wollaston is for the most part well plowed, and fairly wide (as wide as a tight road can be).  The first bit of the south end has some nice frost heaves, and is a mixture of well packed snow, with some sections of gravel and sand, as well as the odd icey corner.  Unless conditions change drastically, it will be easy going to keep the given CAS on the first section of road.  After the entrance to the Gut Conservation area, or what I would write as  ' keep left into CAUTION hard downhill right, dim lights past house', the road gets much tigher, and icy.  There is still the occasional corner with gravel poking through, but don't expect to have 100% traction.... the ice is still there (as was demonstrated by a hard uphill left, which first saw grip slowing down, then a nice slide around the corner with the AWD).   I definitely could not keep the same pace in the 2nd section as the 1st.  The last section of road is much wider as it is more populated.  Generally no heaves, and great traction.

Then to the cottage.... quick drive down to the lake on Wollaston Lake rd in Coe Hill.... yup, cottage is still there.  

Taking Ridge Road running along the lake, the first 1.5km is very rough and full of pot holes.... must be related to that 'Caution, Trucks Turning' sign. Take it easy on that part, cause it's very rough.  Getting away from the lake saw the explorer come out in me.... picking the first cottage road and heading down it.... plowed, but narrow....   just fun to explore my lake a little.  Ended up on one road that was so narrowly plowed, I figured that if I had to open my doors, it would be a challenge.  Also that feeling of 'hmmm... where do I turn around' ..  Of course, if the plow got in, there must be a point where he turns around.  Also climbed one very steep hill that i'm not even sure how a truck with a plow could get up.....  crawling up it, I could feel the Torsen center diff doing it's job of transferring power before the wheels started to slip.  

If roads like that one are any indication of what Ross has in store for us, expect slippery conditions, cause those little roads were very slick when it came time to stop.

Back on Ridge Road, down to Steinberg Lake road, and over to the lower 1/3 of old hastings.  To begin, the road quickly narrows, and fitting 2 cars past eachother would simply be impossible.  Hope no one gets stuck behind a slower competitor on that section, cause there's very few chances to pull over and pass.  This lower section is also very slick.  I don't recall ever seeing gravel or sand until I reached the paved cross-roads by hwy 62.  Lots of ice, and lots of snow.  I didn't get a distance, but be warned.... about 2 km or so after a bridge and it's 'Max XX Tonnes' sign, there is a slight downhill right into left.... that outside snowbank is very overplowed (overplowed into a little gully), and that piece of road is very slick....  had the car in a slide around the turn trying to prevent understeer into the snowbank.

The drive back down was nice... at 3am, hwy 62 was completely empty, and I had earlier switched a set of the Bosch 225's to the pencil beams (I have been running 4 driving beams all year...just to see what the pencils were like).  Those things are useless on a twisty road, kinda handy when the twisty road straightens out, but on a long paved straight, they are fantastic.  Less scatter to the sides to distract you, and more light down at the end of the road to show you the corner coming up.

As for conditions, of course... wouldn't you know it.... monday they are calling for ice pellets, and rain or snow.... so from sunday night to monday night, it is expected to get 10-15cm of rain, and close to 5mm of rain.  So, looks like it will be nearly impossible to predict the conditions of the roads.  Just try to keep it out of the banks.... cause they're very solid!

A little more of a teaser for those in the winter rally mood. This is a video I took this past weekend on Bear Cave Rd, the Hekkla/Bear Cave stage from Voyaguers a few years ago.http://www.rallysport.on.ca/images/Hekkla.wmv

As always, right click, save as please. Roughly 24mb. Oh, and if it disappears then you'll know you've been using up all of RSO's bandwidth and I had to take it down rather than kill the site  

Yeah, that one straight I hit 80, that was the peak the whole time. Most of it I was in second, occasionally up to third. With no sweep, etc, I didn't want to go any faster! REALLY slippery, glare ice under about 1-2" of snow, no sanding on the ice.  That one "moment" was pure understeer, quick grab of the handbrake and away we go!  

2 Days to the event.  Just thought I would offer this to anyone.... my dad's house is approx. 80km from coe-hill, just outside Norwood off Hwy 7 (hwy 7 to 46, 46 north to 504, 504 to 620, and 620 to rally hq).  If anyone needs to do any last minute mounting of lights etc. in the garage, i'm sure he won't mind.  I will be sticking around the house until roughly 6:00-6:30.... getting the car loaded up, and possibly mounting the camera.

If anyone has any issues on the way up that they need to check out or fix (electrical issues, mechanical issues, etc),  give me a call on my cell.. (705) 730-4465, and I might be able to help out.

I've also got the 2m mobile radio in the car... haven't figured out what freq. i'm gonna listen to on the way up, but if anyone's up for a chat, let me know ahead of time... i'll be sure to listen for ya.  Perhaps the 145.450 repeater? (i'm assuming its running in the winter).

Doug T.