Last night Doug Hollands (Chief Control Marshal) and I did a pre-greencrew run of the 2006 Ontario Winter Rally.  We found spectacular winter driving conditions – cold, clear,  freshly plowed snow roads and huge snowbanks.  The forecast is for very cold weather in the Bancroft for the next week,  so we are hoping for great conditions for the rally.

We found one piece of road that has numerous large frost heaves.  A local guru tells us that is unlikely to change before the rally,  so we have made some route changes to eliminate one pass of that section of road and to drop the speed very low when we do go there – basically we are making it a slow transit.  I do not believe in asking competitors to beat their cars up unnecessarily – we have lots of other great, competitive roads.  The one negative consequence of the changes is that it makes one Leg longer than planned; it is now 175 km. between gas stops.  That should not cause anyone problems,  but I wanted you to know in advance. Be sure to fill up immediately before the rally and at each gas stop.  BTW our main gas stop in Bancroft now has two premium pumps.

One of our best pieces of road has a 4 km. section that is not plowed by the local municipality.  We are very fortunate that a local resident and strong rally supporter, Mr. Thompson, has been keeping it open with the plow on his ½ ton pick-up for a nominal fee.  

The odo check is now posted online.  Be sure to calibrate your odo before the rally.

We are now at 57 pre-paid entries – very close to our cut-off of 60.  The starting numbers for those who qualified for the top 20 should be posted by tomorrow.  The remaining starting positions will be posted by early next week.

So get that car ready and finalize your plans.  Remember that every car must carry at least one reflective triangle (see Supp Regs for details).  We will be checking on route.



For further information about the event contact Ross Wood at
ross.wood@sympatico.ca To communicate with Kym McIntosh, our Registrar send your
e mail to  kym@tallpinesrally.com

Looking forward to seeing you on February 18.



Ross Wood,  2006 SOWR Coordinator