[John Vanos]

results can be found at
http://www.rallye-charlevoix.com/fr/resultats/resultats.htm

Interesting...Buffum leading, ACP in 2nd!!! Mcgeer in 3rd
Havas looks to have hit some trouble. Pilon out with enginge failure, Richard with suspension, erickson with power steering

 

[Doug Woods]

>Interesting...Buffum leading, ACP in 2nd!!! Mcgeer in 3rd
>Havas looks to have hit some trouble. Pilon out with
>enginge failure, Richard with suspension, erickson with
>power steering

John:

I just got back home (7 hour drive) after watching today's stages.

Buffum was looking very, very good. ACP probably doing better than he anticipated since he wanted a steady run to a good finish. Warmbold in the Toyota WRC was not very good.

Pat Richard crashed out 2 km into the first stage - right in front of me! He had to swerve to avoid spectators on his line, hit a rock and mowed down about 20 saplings - end of rally.

Lots of specatators. Parking lot was full and a km long line of parked cars on the road in either direction.

Doug Woods

PS - I was fortunate enough to get two rides in the co-driver's seat with ACP during the practice stage.

 

[Havspeed]

RE: Charlevoix results-Leg One

October 25th, 2002
For Immediate Release:

# # #

Boundless Determination Overcomes Insurmountable Difficulty

With a remarkable display of perseverance the 'Dynamic Duo' of Havas and Eric "T" have successfully completed leg one of the 2002 edition FIA Rally International Charlevoix, and as we go to print the Havspeed.com team is unofficially classified 12th overall.

The day began with great promise as marshalls clad in orange wigs (supporting the teams' wish to turn Charlevoix their color) saw the Orange Mazda, in difficult snow and ice conditions, set a time 14 s quicker than the european team of Warmbold's WRC car!

On SS2 a flat and mid-stage change lost the team over four minutes, and then whilst on transit to SS3, the car stopped. In a few short minutes, Havas had diagnosed a poor fuel pump, and figured out rapidly switching the circuit breaker on and off would operate the pump enough to continue.

To many observers, it was the certain end of the rally the team. But for Havas and the "T", it is merely another test of resolve. For the next four stages, the pair would alternate "pumping" duties, and despite a few 'moments', completed the final stages, SS5 and SS6 9th and 10th OA respectively!

Some quick work at the days' final 40 minute service enabled the installation of an additional in-line fuel pump, so the Havspeed.com car is safely in Parc Ferme and ready to attack the stages once again when the rally resumes at 6am Saturday morning.

"Both Eric and I are very tired, it was crazy. At first we both thought it was hopeless, but we refuse to lose. We will never give up, ever! Tonight we are feeling like we have survived a war, and this is war. Tomorrow is a new battle, and we are looking forward to the fight," said Havas.

"We start our rally tomorrow," said Eric "T". "We have dropped some places but I'm sure that a lot of four-wheel drive teams will be checking the time sheets tomorrow."

"It's fantastic the support we are feeling... Do you know that half of the organisers, including Rally Finland's Simo Lampinen are wearing orange ribbons? We have no choice but to keep going!" Said Havas.

Be sure to check out the teams' progress on the official RIC website:
http://www.rallye-charlevoix.com and http://www.havspeed.com

# # #

Andrew Havas
http://www.andrewhavas.com

 

[Doug Woods]

RE: Charlevoix results-Leg One

>"It's fantastic the support we are feeling... Do you know
>that half of the organisers, including Rally Finland's Simo
>Lampinen are wearing orange ribbons?

I also wore one of Andrew's orange ribbons while spectating and signed his rally car - which was not easy to do since it looked like have the population of Quebec had signed the car!

Doug Woods

 

[John Vanos]

I am so jealous of you Doug! Anyways, was Pat angry? I would sure be! I take it by the drive comment that you didn't stay for todays stages?

 

[Doug Woods]

>I am so jealous of you Doug! Anyways, was Pat angry? I
>would sure be! I take it by the drive comment that you
>didn't stay for todays stages?

John:

No, I did not stay. Yes, Pat and his navigator (Alyson Marlow) were both upset - but did not display anger. They acted very professionally.

The spectators were not really standing on the road, but were on the edge of the road on the inside line of a right hand bend over crest. The first three cars through (McGeer, Warmbold, Buffum) did not have problems, but Pat did. Talking to Alyson after the accident, it was clear that their notes were made to cut the corner tightly on the inside.

Two comments on this incident. Yes, the spectators could have been better positioned, further to the inside of the corner (they were there the second time the stage was run, and there were more spectators then). But, from a competitor's point of view, spectators in Canada are not that experienced and marshalling is not yet up to par. Thus, if I was competing, I would tend to be very carefull for two to three kms at the start and finish of each stage (especially at Charlevoix where the stages are very long and any minor time lost at the start and finish of a stage is really insignificant, since the rally is one of attrition).

BTW, where Pat went off and mowed down the trees, about a dozen spectators had been standing in that exact spot 10 minutes before the first car was due. The efforts of the course opening car, the marshalls and some knowledgeable spectators convinced them to move. If not, we would certainly have been looking at multiple deaths.

Doug Woods

 

[John Vanos]

Well, Day two is over. Apparently it is really snowy up in the mountains there because two stages were cancelled due to volume of snow! here are the results so far:

1.) Buffum
2.) ACP!!! 5:38 behind buffum
3.) Thomson!!! 10:12 behind
4.) McGeer 11:31 behind

The rest are very far back

Havas is fastest 2wd and less than one minute from Barbe's open class talon. EDIT Barbe has been time barred so Havas moves into 9th place about 5minutes back of losier in an evo5

Vincent DNF with motor again

I hope Thomson can hold off McGeer tomorrow!
GO ACP!!

 

[PAddy]

That's quite the lead Buffum has. Too bad about Havas, he certainly dug himself quite the hole early on with those mechanical difficulties.

ps, go ACP...

 

[John Vanos]

Well, it's over. Bufum won by almost 6 minutes. ACP secured 2nd place!!! Great drive Andrew! Thomson staved off McGeer who he was battling until the very end for an incredible 3rd place. Havas was first 2wd and 9th overall. A good recovery after his earlier problems.

Ok, now, who was there? Can anyone sum up the conditions throughout the rally? Any interesting stories?

Cmon, lets hear it!

 

[Morison]

WOW, that Buffam guy might have a future in this sport!

 

[PAddy]

>WOW, that Buffam guy might have a future in this sport!


Hahahahahaa.....last time i heard that, i almost fell off my dinosaur

 

[Rich W]

McGeer had gearbox troubles from Fridays stages. It progressively got worse till eventually he had only second gear and reverse on Sundays stages which would explain that he made up the lost time and lost it again. He also lost 5 minutes trying to change a flat 2 km into a 22km stage. But good results for ACP and Thompson. Buffum still shows that he has not lost his touch. Conditions were brutal . It rained near rally headquarters and it was snowing up in the stages which turned into mud in mid-afternoon and then snow again overnight. Tire choice was key to the results.

 

[John Cassidy]

We went out after stage six, day 1, having two flats and one spare. We drove over 20km on the rim and then it became too dangerous to continue.

The conditions were brutal, the scenerey beautiful, and the field filled with strong drivers. Tire choice was key. One team went through six tires on day one. Good thing the Yokohama boys were on site! ;-)

I'll definitely be back next year to challenge the event and I'd recommend it to anyone that wants a serious challenge!

Cheers! John

www.lastditchracing.net

 

[Don Kennedy]

Will you have 1 or 2 spare tires?

 

[Daman]

WoW...that was a Hell of a good show!!!

Thanks to all the competors!!!! i wish there would of been more cars..but overall its was a great weekend for all the rally fans! the place is just so...so nice...the snow was very cool....we ad a blast !

we will do all we can ro race in that rally next year...me and my copilot made it our #1 goal for next year.

 

[John Cassidy]

Don,
I think we'll fit in as many spares as possible! ;-) At least two in the car, and a bunch in the trailer! Because the conditions were quite varied, it was a tough call for a team on a limited budget like ours which tires to bring. We ran Hakka 10's which I think were acceptable for the conditions, but there was a wide range of tires used by the various teams.

Again, I'll be back to challenge Charlevoix again! It was awesome!

Cheers! John

 

[AlanPerry]

Wow, John, good thing I bailed on co-driving for you at Charlevoix. I already have enough experience changing flat tires (as well as not completing a Canadian event because of insufficient spares) riding with Ross

Congrats to ACP! Good work!

alan

 

[John Cassidy]

Very funny Alan! ;-)

I'm sure you'll have to change another flat at your next rally just for saying that! ;-)

It was a weekend of flats for most teams. I'd like to know how many tires in total were used for that event....

Regards, John

 

[warwick]

I heard that there was going to be an FIA observer at this event again this year...anyone know what he thought of the event, or if he had any comments?

 

[Andrew Comrie Picard]

Thanks to everyone for such incredible support! It means more to me to have had a good result as a privateer, with lots of rally friends including amazing volunteer service from Francous Vielleux, Roger Sanderson, and Robin Emard.

It was a very difficult rally - very long, varied conditions, requiring a lot of strategy. The fact that the leading cars held position for two days does not indicate how carefully we were calculating how fast to go. The Sunday stages had dry sand, mud, slush, ice, snow, and deep snow all in a single stage. People on different tires had to strategize where to make up time. Very interesting. Also a great education to be second car through on Buffum's tracks. Pretty good, that guy!

More soon - watch www.musketeerracing.com

Best,
ACP
Flirting with the laws of physics.

PS - yes, two years ago we started as car 62 in the Lada...and DNFed on Bataram for the usual reasons.