[Paul Westwick]

Just in advance of the eastern teams putting their cars on the rally train, I thought I might mention a bit about conditions.

Merritt has been unusually wet and cool for the past few weeks, with more rain expected. Expect mud, mud and more mud. Possible snow at the higher elevation stages, but probably just wet stuff that mud tires can dig through. The last time we ran these stages in wet snow conditions, the teams running snow/ice tires shredded them. Gravel & mud tires took the day.

The rough spectator stage from last year (the infamous asteroid field) is not being used this year. All of the stages are good gravel & mud roads, with a mix of tight technical stuff and a few places where you can stretch your legs and see how fast the car can go.

Reminder: the deadline for profiles to the spectator guide is this weekend. If you're planning on coming and haven't sent your team profile to Ken, please do so ASAP. It's free publicity, don't let it go to waste. email them to ken at rallybc dot com. If you already have a profile on the RDG site or somewhere else, feel free to send a note saying that you're coming and where to grab the profile info.

If your profile isn't here:
http://www.pacificforestrally.com/archives/2004/bio/1bio_TeamProfile.htm
we don't have it!

 

[Paul Westwick]

FYI - just posted photos of the higher elevation stages in the Canada West forum. Slightly higher probability of snow that I first indicated.

 

[jeffy]

Paul - thank you for the updates.
We are greatly looking forward to the event.

 

[Paul Westwick]

I gather that the snow was gone from the Helmer summitt later that day, but remember that we had wet snow on those stages at PFR in June 2002, so anything is possible.