Mountain Trials Rally this weekend

[motrhead]

The Mountain Trials Rally takes place Saturday June 12th, in Merritt BC.
For anyone that may be in the neighbourhood, the 3rd round of the Western Canadian Regional Rally series runs this weekend. The event starts at the Railyard Mall at 11:00AM,covers 350km (with 110km of special stages) and there are a number of special stages with spectator viewing areas. We only get two stage rallies in BC a year -the other is the Pacific Forest National Rally, October 1/2 , also in Merritt and over the same stages.
Further info is here:
http://www.rallybc.com/MtTrials/2010/2010mountain_trials.htm
I take my son to three motorsport events a year, and this is number two...we will be standing out in the woods (with probably another 100-200 hardcore rally fans) come rain or shine, and I will post pictures :)

[Double02]

I won't be able to make it, but look forward to seeing your shots. We should see if we can get a few guys out to see the October event.

[B10er]

Hmmmm...

Maybe I'll drive out - sounds like fun. Any attendance fee, place to park, best viewing spots, etc...?

[motrhead]

Info here:
http://www.rallybc.com/MtTrials/2010/2010_MT_Spectator_Info.pdf
No attendance fees...spectators are an afterthought for rally racing in general. The spectator locations are in the PDF. The first location is only a few km out of town, and you can only see a few corners, the Helmer stage involves a km or two of walking in the woods, but you can find your own spot to spectate from.
The service park is in the lot of the mall downtown.
Rally fans tend to be more committed than other race fans, and are used to a hike into the woods to spectate ;-) There are no conveniences. Bring your own beverage and seat.

[motrhead]

Well, we went, and we enjoyed ourselves, but the field was quite small this year. I think last year's late cancellation (fire hazard) hurt the field, and the number of spectators for this year. There were about fifty spectators at the first spectator area, and only about twenty five or thirty on the hike-in closed stage where you had to stay until the end. I would expect at least twice as many.
There were supposedly sixteen cars entered (I think thirteen competed), but only ten finished. The weather was glorious, so it was a nice day to be out in the woods.
The field was dominated by Subarus this year, with a lone Eagle Talon, a Golf MkII, a late Celica front wheel drive (7th gen.-2000 on style for those who care), and a first gen. Neon. The Volvo 240 turbo I was hoping to see was absent, as were half a dozen other VW Golfs that are usually competing. The Golf DNFed, and the old school Legacy DNFed, so it was Subaru 1-2-3-4, Talon 5th, Subie 6,Neon,Celica and the last runner was another Subie.
All in all, I enjoyed myself, and will attend again next year, although I desperately wish I could be competing rather than spectating! I will try to post a couple pics when I get them off of the camera. I was busy with a film SLR, so the digital pics are mostly taken by my nine year old :) There was a nice early 2002 (red) with Washington plates driving through the Helmer stage with the officials course cars (sweep cars). I don't know who the guy was, but the suspension looked to be much too stiff for a rally car. Maybe he was checking out the stage for the fall races, who knows. I still prefer the classic cars myself, rally cars or otherwise.
The October 1st/2nd Pacific Forest Rally (I only attend on the Saturday-2nd) should have around thirty-five entries, so it will be a much better show, and we can expect to see the big name national racers there (and it is normally filmed for tv).
FYI, just in case any of you have not driven the highway from Princeton to Merritt, the stretch from Princeton to Aspen Grove is one of the nicer drives in the province: winding and twisting all over the place; up and down hill, and half of it without shoulders. Just watch for rocks on the road. The scenery is nice, with a whole string of small lakes. I have been going that way on my motorcycle for years, and long before that my Dad was flying us through there in his Volvo 122 most weekends. The old Mazda MPV took a bit of a thrashing since we were running late both directions (but we made it in near record time:).I do love RWD.
We'll be taking the Volvo turbo to the fall event.

[jkcma]

Thanks for the recap. It sounds like a fun event to attend.

[B10er]

Cool - thanks for the write up! We should probably make a point of heading up to the October event if its the one to go to. I know I'd really like to check it out...

Take Care,
C