Good luck to all the "Volvo's" competing in The Trail of the Gnu rally

remember to keep the shiny side "UP"

hey thanks Ian!

we'll let you know how it goes!

i'll be headed to lethbridge after the rally so i'll update you folks sunday late night sometime...

check this out for a "driving day" calgary to rocky ~200km....a ~550km rally (80% off road), then another ~200 km back to calgary, then another ~215 km to lethbridge

hehehe...can't frigin' wait! that's more than driving to Fort St. John, which is ~958 km one way from Calgary



ciao

Woo! have fun and stay right side up with all windows and body panels intact!

If that doesn't happen.. his backup car (or parts) is ready and waiting

Geoff, I thought you sold that thing!

I like.

Nope.. I havn't sold a bloody thing! But that's all changing one at a time here..

C70 goes in the trader thursday, then once I get the 244 returned to stockish 240T spec that'll go in. Friend might be buying the Jetta.

The beater is my daily driver, which I've been having an absolute blast with! But my love for a pre 90 black or dark gray 740ti is so strong right now that I'm willing to sell everything aside from my project 242... which will be getting the 244s motor (for now).

Wasn't mine like the first 7 you rode in? And now you love them?

Haha...uhm, yes. First 7 series I have set foot in, but that's not exactly what sold me on them, it was a pleasant ride though.

I really want a wagon, don't want another 200 series, prefer the looks of a 745ti (dressed how I want it) versus a 245 or 945.

They are relatively cheap and I have parts, hauling stuff from home would be ALOT easier. Probably going to be alot more sound then the beater, more power.

Plus I can't get enough of how gattigang's 745 looks:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/ ... CF0087.jpg
I think I actually prefer pre 90, boxdrivers 88 has always been a fav too.

So i've convinced myself I want one.. if you guys will keep your eyes peeled for a 745ti preferably black or dark gray, I'd apprecaite it!

Sorry to steer the topic off course.. good luck Gnu boys!

I AR TEH BROKED!

What happened

well the shiny side stayed up...ALL RALLY!...but I still want that car Geoff, eventually anyway

here's some pictures and stories...

Meeting at the Best Western in Rocky Mountain House for the driver's meeting/registration/technical inspection








notice something new...oh yeah...the mean azz tyres!!!




i am so in love with these tyres, they are most amazing thing ever...these are my first set of brand new tyres, ever, they rock! can't say enough or find the right words to describe them, they give you confidence

first stage went okay with the usual hiccups of rookie's...calculations messed up a little bit, learning the timing etc...but all in all it went okay














then...Raz hit the ditch...(although a lot of people without studded winter tyres were saying how hard it was to drive in these conditions)



i tried to pull him out, but to no avail...while i was trying this, a subaru ditched on the other side of the road due to some overplow on the road....so i tried pulling him out...



...and was succesful...



by this time like 3-4 other car's behind us had come upon this utter mess of car's everywhere...after we got going the rest followed, and everyone got back on track for stage 2













this is where it gets fun...coming around a corner at about 80 km/h i got greedy and "put the hammer down" before fully exiting the corner, here we go sidewayz, i let off the throttle...BANG the tires gripped and threw the car around the other way...

picture turning right, sliding a lil sidewayz, then whipping around backwards/sliding sidewayz again...all at 70-80km/h still...

needless to say i hit the ditch...really hard






















with the warning triangle set up and my navigator holding the tow strap ready to get towed out, i began to dig out the car with my nifty folding shovel







this is when i realized i wasn't getting out until someone towed me out, we had slid thru the snow-pack-bank and hit the frozen-mud-bank (which was also covered in snow) on the side of the road, lifting my rear tires off the ground, so i had no way of getting the car moving

sweep came not too long after though, i had the whole car dug out and ready to go, it was an easy extraction...i was alright with what had happened although my navigator seemed a little shaken up, he told me he thought we were going to roll once we whipped around

the rest of the stages went off without a hitch, no drama. went half off the road once in some deep snow which slowed us down but we didn't get stuck or anything...the stages were lots of fun, lots of fast driving thru WICKED one lane roads thru the forest...such a sweet experience



^^^me and Jason (navigator) during a moment of rest waiting to start the next stage

here we are moving onto the second leg of the day...the night stages, which were so much fun and we actually ran faster during the night, i guess it was because i couldn't see all the danger's







so some day stages and some night stages, all really fun, learned a lot about my car and what it can do with some decent tyres on it, how much less i need to throttle thru corners and how well it handles on rough rough terrain, like 1-2 feet of air sometimes, just abused the thing! With a decent suspension/tyres/motor i really think this car could be a force to be reckoned with

SO...in closing, the goals of the rally for me was to A. Have Fun B. Finish the Rally and C. learn about rally'ing and improve my driving skills

all three of those goals got accomplished and that make's me happy...well worth the expense of tyres/time put into the car/entrance fee...WELL WORTH IT!

anyway...some more pictures

back in Rocky at the Rally conclusion...





^^^ ice cream hell yeah! i ate two of them

and back at home in Calgary!









going to lethbridge sunday afternoon instead of tonight...talk to ya'll later!

ciao

Didja try and get Raz's car started before you came home?

I'd be interested to see what roads you used. I've driven most of those backroads up in that area. Some at a relatively high rate of speed in the old Mercedes...

i spoke with him about it at Boston Pizza...he said it was pretty much shot, something with the fuel not getting where it needs to be....i forget



i can show you the route books sometime if you want

ciao