Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

"Sorry to see you've stopped your blog." A fellow competitor said to me at the Escape to Wisconsin Rally over the weekend.
I assured him, that I hadn't, it's just that my situation mean that I hadn't competed and as a result didn't have anything to write about.
Over the past year to eighteen months work had been very busy, with overtime piled on overtime, piled on overtime. I ended up visiting the ER with a stress related breakdown.
This changed a lot of things for me.
I find I don't like Mountain Dew anymore which might not be a bad thing.
Driving in the snow has become quite terrifying for me. The winter here in Minnesota was quite light this year. Even so during one snowstorm the day after Christmas, as we were coming home from the Twin Cities I was curled up in a ball in the passenger sear of the car with a hat pulled down over my eyes trying to shut out the conditions. So winter rallying was out. Will I be able to winter rally again? We'll have to see what happens next year.
Affecting this blog, my creative writing muse deserted me for a long time. I started a couple of blog posts but they never got finished.
But I've got to the end of this post so hopefully things are looking up now.
We love getting out on the road and meeting up with all our friends, So we hope to see you out there sometime soon.

Monte Carlo or bust

The Monte Carlo Rallye is in the news currently with the official and Historic versions of the event having recently take, or are taking place as I publish this.
As is my wont, I often Google subjects when they are in the news to see what I can find out about them. Historical tidbits and what have you, something that I might be able to drop into a conversation to either impress or bore someone (there are times when one or the other can be desirable). My Google search for the Monte revealed this nice set of stamps, commemorating the 27th running of the Rallye in 1958. The stamps had been sold but they are still rather nice to look at and I decided to investigate the 1958 running of the Monte Carlo Rallye. As it happens, my research revealed some interesting facts and stories.

The race had not been run the previous year due to the Suez Canal crisis in Egypt. Fuel shortages meant that fuel coupons could not be issued to the competitors. This meant the 1958 running was eagerly anticipated in the Rallye world, and a large field entered. This year also featured an important change in the running of the event. Prior to 1957 a feature of the last day of the rally was a range of automotive tests (a gymkhana) run on the waterfront in Monaco. This year that feature was dropped so that speed and timing alone would decide the victor.

The winners were Guy Monraisse and Jacques Feret in their Renault Alpine, from A. Gacon and L. Borsa in their Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Monraisse and Feret were privateers with no works backing, so their win was a remarkable achievement, even more so when you consider there was an exceptional snowfall on the first night of the rallye which meant that many drivers crashed out or abandoned. 

How bad was this snow? Only one car made it from Paris through to Monte Carlo on the concentration run. English Rally driving great Pat Moss' brush with the 1958 Monte was described in her biography "Harnessing Horsepower." This years Rallye was the first in which studded tyres were allowed to be used. Clearly this didn't help many of the entrants.

The two victors, being residents of the area of the rally, used their local knowledge of the roads to good effect in their victory. In one final twist the pairing didn't run as a conventional driver/navigator pairing but shared the duties equally. To prove the win wasn't a fluke, later in the year they also went on to win the Tour de Corse (Corsica Rally) in the same car which was later presented to Prince Ranier and now resides in the Monte Carlo "Top Cars" museum. 

There you go, a little Monte Carlo Rally history lesson just from a set of stamps.

In print again

A familiar looking article has appeared in the latest issue of Road Rally eNews.

Trans America Rallye Update

Back in the early part of last year, April as a matter of fact, I gave a mention to the Trans America Rally coming through the Midwest in June of this year.
I have an update. The latest info on the website says that the cars will overnight in Duluth, MN on June 16th, having approached the city by running along the south shore of Lake Superior. In the morning the entrants will set off for Grand Forks passing through Park Rapids and the Itasca state forest. The Itasca state forest has some wonderful rally roads that I'm sure the participants will enjoy.
I'm hoping that my work schedule will allow me the time to nip up there and see the cars.
No exact route is available as yet but the latest details on the route and the schedule can be found on the event web page.

Alcan 5000

Moss Motoring magazine is a handy publication from the sellers of parts for you little British Sports car. This current issue, numbered 1 for 2015 is of interest to the Road Rallye enthusiast. It is dominated by a warts and all write up on participation in the 2014 Alcan 5000 in a Triumph TR4.

The Alcan 5000 is a road Rallye that starts in the Seattle area driving through Canada finishing in Alaska. A Rallye of long transits between timed to the second TSD stages. The road conditions vary from fast straight Tarmac, through speedy gravel roads to pothole strewn switchbacks. Much local wildlife like Bears and Caribou and suchlike can be encountered.

As I stated this is a "warts and all" article. You read about when the head gasket blows. When the navigator is scared by encounters with cows, you know about it. Plus you do feel their relief and joy when they finish.

I was fascinated reading about the event. It might be fun to take part. Now to persuade my navigator.

You can read all about the event and enter it at http://www.alcan5000.com.

Christmas Lights

A very Merry Christmas to the readers of this blog wherever you are in the world. I wish you everything that you wish for yourselves at this festive time of year.

Things have been a tad quiet hereabouts due to the pressures of work and preparations for the holiday season. Plus, the writing muse has deserted me of late so I had trouble putting together pieces for the blog. There are at least two blog posts hanging in limbo right now.

But last night, Saturday December 20th, we got out on a rallye. The Holiday Lights tour in the suburbs of Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

The Holiday lights tour is a hybrid. Part road Rallye, part festive fun. Put on by Mark Larson, who also puts on the highly successful Tombstone Trails tour Rally in the region around Halloween. This  event consists of driving around the local holiday lights displays and answering a series of questions about them. This tour is very popular and the thirty places available were quickly over subscribed.

Lorrie and I made some seasonal effort. She dressed up in one of her many Christmas sweaters and I, lacking a suitably festive garment, sported a Santa Hat. We reversed our usual driver/navigator roles. I like to think I'm a better than average map reader and Lorrie isn't comfortable map reading. Swapping roles is all part of the fun.

The event appeals to a wide spectrum of people. The local Road Rallye community, retired rallyists and the general public. All pay their three dollars for a map, instructions and questions sheet and set out at one minute intervals to navigate the 25 mile course in about two and a half hours.

You'll be thinking that 25 miles in a 150 minutes would pose no problem. 

Think again.

You're not the only 30 cars on this adventure. There's Stretch Limos, mini buses and large coaches on the route as well as well as other members of the general public checking out the same lights as you. Getting to the displays can be quite the adventure. Once, we even parked our car 100 yards away from a particularly large display and walked there because that was as close as we could get. 

But no matter, the whole thing was a great deal of fun. The map was easy to follow and the questions were a good mix of simple and testing. 

The displays ranged from the simple to the complex, sometimes the simplest of displays providing the most testing questions to answer.

A race car themed display in one yard.

How many candles can you count?

We made it all around the course without too many problems, we took a wrong turn once, but that was because the street sign had been twisted around and because I was following the map I could quickly see what had happened. We also missed a turn in South St. Paul but thanks to the map and the layout of city blocks it was easy to get back on course. 

Because of all the other people out and about I don't think anyone made it around the course in the allotted time, so it's a good job there were no time penalties assessed. Everyone had a great time and after enjoying some tasty pizza at the finish point there was an informal answer giving session where it was discovered that The Westberg sisters, Gwen and Liz were the winners with only two of the 70 questions answered incorrectly.

The post race question answering session.

If, like the Twin City Rally Club, you don't have an official "Holiday Party" you should perhaps consider an event like this. No prizes, just some friends having a good time doing what we usually do. 

Quote of the night comes from Liz Westberg during a discussion on counting candy canes. 

"A shepherds crook is not a candy cane. It says so in the generals". We burst out laughing. This gives you an idea of the good humor that the event was conducted in.

So a big thanks goes out to Mark, our organizer and his crew of helpers. We had a great time and plan to do the event next year.

I, my friends will see you next year. Wether it be on these pages or out on the roads at a rallye. I hope that your roads will be clear and your motor runs smoothly.

Iced Rum Runner 2015

Due to work commitments and a jam-packed Land O' Lakes region winter rallye schedule. Sadly, there will be no Iced Rum Runner in 2015.