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Rainier Auto Sports Club |
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The Wishbone Alley GazetteFebruary, 2004Rally News *Winter Alcan: A few weeks until the gala Start ceremony in Kirkland. Team Subaru has a representative of each model, with Glenn Wallace’s Impreza STi having the most power. He removed the intercooler water sprayer kit, since he doesn’t think he’ll need to cool intake air. He got hold of a ICOM HF (HAM) radio, with the 8-foot whip antenna. Add GPS and a few other antennas and the car will look very odd, even in this crowd. Diana Horst says men are walking through her house mumbling “That’ll be cool” as the Horst/Wiley BMW and the Hogan/ Comden WRX get the little things that make 5000 miles of very cold touring fun. BMW has a new SUV, and three of those are being prepped. No word on whether Satch is actually going to be in one of them, although he’s involved with the deal to some extent. (Spiritual advisor?) Larry Richardson commented a few years ago that it was hard to find warm clothes in Southern California. The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO’s are being prepped in that warm and sunny land. Makes one wonder if the cars will be “ready”. Kevin Barrows (N7GXZ) will be doing sweep in his somewhat powerful white pickup truck. The Alcan starts February 18. The latest news is at www.alcan5000.com.
* Thunderbird: 55 entries as of last weekend, making it the most popular TSD in the NW for the umpteenth time. The McMillan/Crippen, Tennis/Millman (Saab Monte Carlo) and Sorem/ Sorem teams will represent RASC. Rod and Lee Sorenson are coming back, from Sacramento. The SAAB Sonnett crowd will again prove how much fun snow is.
*Armageddon: Nice way to spend a day. 22 entrants took the tour, which was crafted to mix the TSD sections fairly well with the Transits and “Montes”. The 9.9-mile Odo Check skirted Lake Samish, and the first TSD ended up somewhat north of Burlington. So much for what passes for the coastal flats, and on to skirting the hills. The feared (or eagerly anticipated?) snow was clearly visible a few hundred feet up the hills, but the route cleverly denied that pleasure. The scenery, while restricted by the snow-laden clouds, was worth the trip. Whatcom County skirts the Canadian border, and Rallymasters Ken and Sue Lingbloom found yet another place where the border is defined by a simple chicken wire fence. New additions to this bulwark are tall towers with cameras that can probably pick out whatever the border guards need to know. We also saw snow geese in their natural habitat- picking through cornfields, and some ponds providing comfort to other birds not smart enough to winter in warmer climes. The 40% spent on TSD was about perfect in this writer’s view; the gravel was a let down, being mere unpaved road. The frequent availability of potty stops may reflect the “graying” of the audience, or sincere, intense discussion from past rallies. Twenty checkpoints overwhelmed the scorers, who holed up in an RV at the Boss Tweeds Restaurant parking lot in downtown Bellingham. I hope this isn’t a new trend. Kirk and Mark Simons took 3rd Equipped, with Kirk driving, I think. RASC sent no Novices or SOP’ers. Horst/Willey had 16 points to get 2nd Unlimited, Hogan/Comden were 4th with 154 pts. Nolte/Devore were 5th of the 9 entries in that class, with a huge score. We were having fun.- MN
*DOO WOP – Scheduled opposite the local HAM gathering, the February 6 outing features the famous Brooklyn stage, which covers three counties, among other things. Nolte is recruiting workers for the non-spectator Smith Creek stage on Saturday- e-mail or call him at (425) 652-3578 if you can squeeze it into your schedule. The rally is headquartered in Hoquiam, so Sunday can head north to the fine rally roads near Quinault.
* Sno*Drift SCCA National ProRally was won by Pat Richard, from Canada.
*As the SCCA ProRally series disintegrates, a new series by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) organization has appeared. The Kentucky rally, which parted with SCCA a few years ago, is on the list. Maine Forest rally. There’s one in Alabama, too. Prescott is part of a west coast series. The Rim of the World seems to be part of the SCCA, NASA, and California Rally series’! That would be a long awards banquet! http://www.nasarallysport.com/
* NWR-SCCA Worker’s Party: no surprises, it went as expected. You didn’t miss a thing.
Club News Dues were paid at the January meeting, and still more lucre is due before March. $20 for families, $17 for singles. No penalty for late payment, but we’re working on that.
Trivia * Gail McDonald was finally worn down after a short, eight-year “testing” period. She consented to marry John Nispel in mid- January. Congratulations. * Kirk and Terry Simons got a Tioga motor home. The travel trailer is gone. * FOOTZ: First Order Of The Zeros. A new “club” in town. Working with Chuckanut Sports car Club (Bellingham), the March Friday Niter is the debut. * Mike Jones thinks he may have a “nibble” for his garage queen. The Firearrow is now eligible to be in the Historic Class. * Team D, the secret clique somewhat associated with U of W employees and wannabe employees, is sporting new jackets. Being research oriented, the Team converged on the ice-racing track in Ashcroft, B.C. to practice for the upcoming cold weather rallys. Eric Horst experimented with tire pressures.
*”Rally reader” a success. After admiring the Stevens rally reader for decades, Nolte made his own, and tested it on the Armageddon rally. After glancing over at the RI’s in the navigator’s lap for longer than a few decades, and finding said navigator’s hand resting on the critical parts, this was a delight. We learned that its just plain difficult to tape together more than 6 pages of instructions; four pages worked pretty well. It takes 45 seconds to change rolls. For this particular rally, we didn’t try to write mileages on the RI’s, and didn’t bother to check off each RI. *The SPEED channel will have it’s Swedish WRC coverage on Sunday, Feb. 8, 6PM. The Lingblooms were there.
FOR SALE / Wanted: * Future Classic: TSD rally-ready 1983 Audi Turbo Quattro Coupe. Mars red. 170K miles. Lots of goodies, well maintained by owner (retired mechanic) $ 7,500.00). E-mail Peter Linde at pjnconn@yahoo.com. * Icom IC-25 25 watt 2 mtr, about 20 years old, works great, big red LED readout, $75.00 * Uniden VHF FM handie talkie, 6 ch crystal controlled, fairly new battery pack and desktop charger, $50.00 * Icom 2AT thumbwheel handie-talkie, 2 battery packs, $50.00 . Roy Ward, 425-485-6225 roy.ward@verizon.net
RASC Calendar 2004 Northwest Stage Rally Schedule Feb 8- Highway Cleanup, Tumwater, WA March 6- Doo Wop 4, Montesano, WA March 7- Doo Wop 3,Taholah, WA April 3/4- Reno 1 & 2, Reno, NV April 22-24- Oregon Trail ProRally, Hillsboro, OR May 22-23- Bighorn, Edison, AB May 28-29- Rocky Mountain, Calgary, AB June 5- Dryad Quest, Shelton, WA June 6- Shitepoke, Shelton, WA June 26- Mountain Trials Rally, Merritt, BC July 24-25- Rally Café, Bremerton, WA July 31- ORV Sprint 1, McCleary, WA Aug 1- ORV Sprint 2, McCleary, WA Sept 11- Sou'Wester, Olympia, WA Sept 12- Simpson Stages, Shelton, WA Oct ? - Mt. Hood, Hood River, OR Oct 16- Pacific Forest Rally, Merritt, BC Nov 7- Kananaskis, Cochrane, AB Rallying in B.C. Feb 14/15- Thunderbird May 01- Heart of Darkness June 04/06- Coast to Coast July 24/25- Gold Digger Oct 30- Midnight Nov 13/14- Totem Local TSD • Call the NWRC Hotline (206) 256-9627 for latest info on Puget Sound TSD events. NWRC Friday Niters start at the Eastgate (Bellevue) Park and Ride. Reg opens at 6:45, FCO 7:31
Feb 13- Friday Nighter, NWRC/ORCA Feb 18-26- Winter Alcan 5000, RASC Feb 29- Katchem Monte, PSRC Mar 12- Friday Nighter, FOOTZ/CSCC April 9- Friday Nighter NWRC/ORCA April 18- Raindrop, RASC Kirkland, May 14- Friday Nighter, NWRC/PSRC May 15- Jack's Rally, ORCA. Bellevue, WA June 11- Friday Nighter, NWRC/TS June 19-20- No Alibi, RASC, TSD gravel Ellensburg-Clarkston-Ellensburg July 9 Friday Nighter NWRC Aug. 13- Friday Nighter, NWRC/ORCA Sept. 10- Friday Nighter. NWRC Oct. 2- Night on Bald Mountain, ORCA Oct. 8- Friday Nighter NWRC/RASC Nov 6- Armageddon XXIII,CSCC, Bellingham, Nov. 12- Friday Nighter NWRC/ORCA
SCCA National Pro-Rally Jan. 30-31- Sno*Drift* Rally, Atlanta, Mich. April 23-25- Oregon Trail, Hillsboro, Ore. May 7-8- Rim of the World, Palmdale, Calif. Jun 5- Susquehannock Trail, Wellsboro, Penn. Jun 24-26- Pikes Peak Int'l Hillclimb, Colorado Springs, Colo. July 30-31- Maine Forest Rally, Rumford, Maine Aug. 27-28- Ojibwe Forests, Bemidji, Minn. Sep. 24-26- Colorado Cog, Steamboat Springs, Colo. Oct. 22-23- Lake Superior, Houghton, Mich.
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