Description of the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally:

The competitive stages of the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally will be run entirely on a single road.  The road surface is primarily gravel and hard packed dirt (when dry).  In general the road is quite smooth in comparison to many stage roads and should not be considered a 'car breaker.' unless you attempt 'forestry.'  The road is quite narrow in most places and will demand precise driving at speed through a hardwood forest.  The condition of the road in early May is not entirely known, but it appears well drained in most areas, running near only one low marsh.   The stage takes place between about 200 to 300 m above sea level.  The trip northwards on the road (from the HQ end to the turnaround) will see an elevation rise of about 100m.

The rally-usable portion of the road is approximately 12 km in length, however, due to financial and safety considerations the stage portion of the rally will be restricted to just less than 50 km in length.  The Organising Committee felt that the best use of the road from the competitor’s enjoyment point of view was to include 5 stages of approximately 10 km each.  This will require a one-time transit of about 30 km to the north-end of the stage via paved public highways.  Thereafter, stage ends will take competitors either to a short turn-around, or a 10 km transit Service in McDonald’s Corners, at Rally Headquarters.  The total transit mileage is approximately 80 km, bringing the total rally distance to approximately130 km.

The Lanark Highlands Rally will provide competitors only with a ‘blind’ routebook for 2009.  Stage Notes will not be provided.  In lieu of Stage Notes, we are working on scheduling a two-pass recce, as this is now becoming a common practice in Canadian rallying.  The first pass of recce may occur on Friday night, along with registration and scrutineering, and the second pass on the morning of the rally.  Rally cars will be permitted on the recce.  Expect the recce to be closely monitored by rally officials so that safety and good relations with the local population can be established, permitting future rallies.  The schedule is drafted but far from final – the final details will appear in the Supplemental Regulations.  Please consider this as preliminary information - subject to change.

Craig Hamm
LHFR Routemaster