2003 PFR Fact Sheet - PFR

2003 PFR Fact Sheet - PFR

What is the Pacific Forest Rally?

During the 70's and 80's the Pacific Forest Rally was a fixture on the national rally calendar. Revived once again in 2000, today the event is based in Merritt, just 2.5 hours east of Vancouver. In a short time the Pacific Forest Rally has re-established itself as a favourite event with both competitors and fans alike. Despite holding the rally in mid-June, extreme mountain conditions arise to challenge the drivers, as dirt, rock and even snow test their driving skill. Being the fifth event of the Canadian Rally Championship, and the third in succession here in Western Canada, the Pacific Forest Rally comes mid-way through the current championship season. Some of the local teams will be well on their way to challenging the eastern-based crews for the championship lead, virtually guaranteeing a spectacle of competitive driving.

Our team of organizers is dedicated to making this event one of the best in western North America. Their professionalism and thoroughness ensure that every aspect of the event is just right. The reputation of our group and the picturesque setting in the Nicola Valley have helped achieve instant success, as fans and competitors continue to flock to this event. We are expecting a strong field of at least 35 teams from across Canada and the USA to compete in the rally in 2003.

The Pacific Forest Rally is well on its way to becoming the premiere event in Western Canada. In a short time we have established a top-level spectacle that meets the requirements of the Canadian National Championship. However, this achievement alone is not enough - our goal is to make this event something that fans, the local community and our corporate partners will all be excited about and proud to be a part of. The next phase in reaching this objective is to grow the participation of fans, volunteers and competitors by creating an environment that simply demands attendance. We want to create a festival-like atmosphere that simply captivates and enthralls the public.

Last year fans were introduced to our main spectating area at Active Mountain, home of the Merritt Mountain Music Festival. The Active Mountain area features a highly visible network of twisting gravel roads close to Merritt and with great access for fans. This unique-in-North America rally venue allows people to get out and see several kilometers of continuous rally action. In taking this venue to the next level, we will be creating a festival-like atmosphere with on-sight concessions, easy parking and radio announcements.

Through our primary communication tools-the event web site (www.pacificforestrally.com), Spectator Guide, and Rally Poster-we provide accurate and up-to-the-minute information to fans, competitors and the media.

For more information: Contact the organizer, Paul Westwick at (604) 682-3296, or Ken Kwong at (604) 808-0536

Rally Head Quarters will be at the Merritt Civic Centre, 1950 Mamette Ave, Merritt, BC.

Media Accreditation contact: Ken Kwong, (604) 808-0536 e-mail: ken@rallybc.com

2003 PFR Stories

Posted by Andrew Comrie Picard on 06-16-03 at 01:17 PMRandy-"Off road" doesn't really capture it. In the first place, the new engine we installed on Thursday was damaged on startup on Thursday night and so we stayed up all night Thursday diagnosing it. On Friday at 11am we took the decision to just build another engine out of the parts from it and the previous engine we'd lost at Rocky that we still had around. We found another set of lower bearings in Vancouver and spent Friday afternoon at the machine shop. By 8pm we had all the components for an engine machined, cleaned, and sitting on a table. The organizers very kindly gave us a dispensation (reviewed by the stewards) to scrutineer us if we could show up for the start.By 5am the engine was built. By 6 it was in the car. We put in the break-in oil and began to drive up to Merrit from Vancouver. At Hope (roughly halfway) we pulled to the side of the road and changed out the breakin oil for the synthetic. Then we started running up the boost and tuning the air/fuel on the computer on the highway to Merrit (I'm sure a lot of the trucks on the road at 7:30 am on Saturday wondered why we were accelerating brutally up the hills with the brakes on). We arrived at the start at 8:30, got scrutineered (THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO ASSISTED - Ken, Martin, Dennis, Paul, Ben, Alain, Tom, etc. etc...), and checked in 40s into our minute.We transited to the first stage with everything in good order and started. This was a victory in itself. The first stage was fantastic - like Acropolis. Very twisty, challenging, blind, big drop-offs - terrific. I loved it. At the 8km mark we were happily sliding around a right-hander and the right front wheel tracked over a rock imbedded in the road - not a huge one, but one that you wouldn't think much about. Immeditately the steering wheel went limp and we went off on the outside - turned out the steering knuckle broke at the ball joint pin so the wheel jammed in the wheel well and threw us to the outside - all the inside tire treads were neatly sheared off by the wheel well. When we looked at the damage later there were three layers to the shear point so we reckon we cracked it somewhere earlier in the stage and it just chose that point to let go. Unfortunately we haven't had the budget to life-cycle parts and I think that knuckle had done as many as a dozen rallies. Maybe we can't afford not to life-cycle now.Happily there was a small tree and a wire fence on the exposure side and happily we went off fast enough not to roll but to land on a plateau about 15 feet down. The car will rally again. Whether we have the money to do so is another matter...So it was a terrific shame to DNF after all the amazing work that the crew did to get us to the rally. Several of them literally did not sleep between Thursday morning and Saturday night. As Tom McGeer said, the victory was in part just getting to the start line. So it was a bittersweet experience, but on balance a great homage to the crew.Note to all - this event has terrific roads. Soon it will be one of the best events in Canada. ACP www.musketeerracing.com
Flirting with the laws of physics. Posted by Glenn Wallace on 06-16-03 at 05:04 PM< Note to all - this event has terrific roads. Soon it will be one of the best events in Canada.>By the way.... there are even better roads that are used on the TSD rallies in the same area (e.g. Totem, Thunderbird) that I don't think could be closed for this event. I believe 1 stage was though.I am hoping next year that more of them can be used, although I'd agree that the roads in the event were great. And what about that route book? Excellent!!!!!! Glenn Posted by Tmachnik on 06-16-03 at 07:58 PMcompletely agree with the quality of the event, it was the toughest, most challenging, thrilling rally I've done in my 6 event career so far. At times it felt like I was watching the in car footage from a WRC event, the roads were so amazing.The route book was exceptional, my co-driver is now easily 3 times better than she was before this event, she wasn't even using the odo a lot of the time or looking out the window, she found her zone and must have been using "the force". After overcoming sudden severe motion sickness on the shakedown stage the day before the rally, she stunned me with her performance on Saturday's stages . Well done Amy. I think we're ready to try pace notes now. Congradulations to the entire organizing commitee, the volunteers, and marshals, the event was smooth, and well organized. The atmosphere of the whole town was freindly and welcoming. We will be definitely be back next year.

Tom

 Posted by August on 06-18-03 at 04:53 PM
What's the word on your car Chad?Posted by Chad
Nothing, its fine It's just a minor flesh wound Posted by Paul Westwick
When we heard from sweep over the radio that you were off, we asked them if you were officially DNF, and if so to collect the time card. They answered "The time card's in the car, and it's NOT safe to retreive it." That remark had us just a mite concerned...Posted by Chad
Yes, well the thing is there was a potential for the accident to be severe, at least for the car. But in all reality, its not even "a minor flesh wound", I really didn't do any damage to it.
But on the other hand, I know I'm extremely lucky, and that you don't get away with things like that twice.