 |
 It's after midnight in Quesnel. Having troubles getting online. |
 R.Dale
and Larry during a TSD stage. They constantly recalibrate and refine the
inputs in search of that "perfect zero" checkpoint time. |
 Yes - in our class (Class I). We are in second place overall. |
 Trouble with the rally computer. |
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| DAY 1, cont'd: ...but there's trouble in Paradise |
 Here's a typical scene: we're waiting to begin a stage. What you can't see is, lined up behind us are 15 other rally cars and eight motorcycles, plus assorted rally vehicles and press vehicles. Ahead of us, checkpoint crews are skulking in the shrubbery |
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| R.Dale: "You rebooted it? You rebooted the rally computer? Why on earth did you do that?" Larry: "I didn't do it. It rebooted itself." |
So when you
are in Class I as we are (Class I is cars with "as much computer
as you want") everything hinges on the GIGO principle ("garbage
in, garbage out"). You spend all your effort to get exact info into
the computer, so that it will calculate exactly what you need to do right
now to get where you need to be when you should be there. If suddenly
you hear the computer play its happy little reboot music, that is very
very very bad.
But that's exactly what we heard on our first transit, and then again
on our first TSD stage, and then again on our second TSD stage, and...
Well, now it's become a familiar little tune, unfortunately. |
I gotta hand
it to these guys - they really handled it well. R.Dale pressed on regardless
in seat-of-pants mode while Larry, that monumental wall of zen, diagnosed
the damage, recovered the data and re-input it. I wasn't much help in
the back seat the first time it happened, but I quickly learned to fill
in for Larry and keep R.Dale confident in the course while Larry repairs
the damage.On
the first competitive stage, after some mad scrambling we recovered completely,
and got a raw score of only 6 - best in the rally. On the second TSD,
however, the computer dumped right before a series of controls, and we
took some damage. |
However, the unofficial scores I have right now show us first in class
(Class I) with 27, ahead of Pete Soper / Dave Dennison in their Subaru
WRX Wagon with 43 points and the Douthit / Ligot /Murphy Subaru Legacy
Wagon with 56. In Class II (SUVs and trucks with unlimited computers),
the Webb / Mooers / Kiesla Subaru Outback leads the rally with 8 points.
Subarus in the top four positions... ya gotta love that. p.s. Thanks SubieGal and the rest of you for the fan email! |
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