Galway Cavendish Forest Rally quick update

That will be my next event. August 8th near Catchacoma ON. Ken Nazeer will be my right seat man. It'll be his first ever event in a Performance rally, though he has much previous rally experience. Hopefully he has a good time. I am spending this week preparing the car. Thankfully so far I have only come across minor things that need doing (unlike after previous events). Attaching the header back to the exhaust is one of those as it became completely detached during the last event (Lanark Highlands). Other things include some rear brake adjustments, some ongoing rewiring (it is a 28 year old vdub afterall) a nut and bolt check and maybe even new rear hatch struts (the old broom I use to keep it up is lookin' a little outta place).

Co-driver needed

Sounds simple - everyone wants to get into a car. I am willing to work with someone new (new to co-driving, or rally...). There are a few important requirements however; 1) a strong stomach, 2) Equipment. Unfortunately this is not inexpensive. Rough costs are as follows; a Helmet (550), a Head and Neck Restraint (850) and a fire resistant suit (100-400ish). Fortunately for co-drivers these costs are not ongoing unlike with running your own car. Some drivers and co-drivers split entry and hotel costs. I am flexible on this however. 3) Commitment. Rallies are expensive to enter. 500$ is not uncommon + lodging/food/time away from work. When you pay to enter a rally, you come prepared.

Rallies are a lot of fun - but they are serious fun. It is not a hobby one takes up on a whim (unless your very wealthy that is, unlike myself).

If you're reading this (fat chance) and are still interested drop me a pm on the Maple Leaf Rally Club forums (www.mlrc.ca - Anthony_T) and we'll talk.

2009 Events

Here's the plan for 2009 + or - an event or two.
For sure I plan to compete in the following:
Galway Cavendish Forest Rally August 9th near Catchacoma ON
Rallye Defi - September 10th & 11th
The Rally of the Tall Pines November 20th-21st.

I am also exploring the possibilities of a U.S.or Quebec regional event.
Under consideration are the New England Forest Rally near July 20th,
The Ojibwa Rally at the end of August
or Rallye Charlevoix in the fall.
There might be others I'll find. Ultimately - the goal is to run another 4 events this year.

Lanark Highlands Forest Rally

Well, it's done - I finished, sorta. Or sorta not. I drove until the car died. It was raining and it doesn't quite like the rain. We finished 4 out of 6 stages. It quit on the 5th. BUT - unlike at the rally of the Tall Pines at the end of 07, after the engine swap - the car ran beautifully, up until it quit that is. Considering I hadn't run it at all for more then a year, I was satisfied. We could say the car ran better then I did. I was rusty for sure. Evan and I (Evan was my borrowed co-driver. He usually runs in the Lada with Jon Strack) forgot a few things which made a difference. 1st, neither of us remembered to bring a book in which to write out our notes (notes: the descriptions of each curve in the road which we write out before the rally during a couple pre-passes). This meant we woudl run using only a very basic set of instructions provided by the organizer. Okay, we thought - they did it in the olden days and went much faster then us. One catch - I also forgot how to calibrate the odometer we would need in order to make even these rudimentary instructions useful. The result - we ran the first couple stages completely blind (as they say in rally - without any info about the road more then what I could see). Our times were slow to say the least. I am not ashamed to say I am chicken. I also always have this thought at the back of my head when completing; "how long will it take me to fix this if I smash it up". Not really a good competition state of mind, oh well. We did do better as the day went on. When Evan was able to borrow another competitors notes (thanks Paul and Steven) I drove way better (Evan is quite good at knowing when to call the next turn in the road). to be continued...

no fame newsflash

well, the wording is a bit strong but...

The No Fame green & purple rally machine Mk1 VW Scirocco will be competing at the Lanark Highlands Forest Rally May 9th (www.lhfr.ca). It takes place near Perth ON. It will be only its second run since installing the new engine in the summer of 07. Unfortunately its first outing was not so successful as I had not properly reinstalled the shifter linkage. I hope all is fine now and that we'll get to focus on driving some great roads as opposed to nursing a car this event.

Wish me luck!

The Silly Seat

Getting to the garage this year has been quite the challenge as my wife has moved to NYC but the car still resides 4 hours north. The situation has had its silver lining however. It gave me the opportunity to try co-driving. It forced me to learn what was going on the other side of the car as previously I've been very happy to leave it to the co-driver. Anyhow - I am happy with myself for tackling it. Though I made some mistakes - I will feel like I better know what's going on during the event. Even better - I discovered that I enjoy co-driving. Yes, the other side is actually fun too. Thanks to Jamie Gardhouse for allowing me the chance to try my hand at it.

This said - I am not abandoning driving. I just need to put in the time to get my car in order. Though finishing Perce-Neiges (nationally) in 07 was a coup - I am not pleased with myself for DNFing Pines twice due to mechanical issues. My goal is to have everything in confirmed working order for the new OPRC spring events.

More photos

I found some other photos of me and the car at this site: http://www.motorsport.com/photos/drivere.asp?D=Anthony_Tremblay I must admit I thought it was really cool to find myself here. I also really like this photographer's (Michael Tan) work.