Prologue

September 12

Taxi to the Remax, attend mandatory meeting. Bob Giannou spoke, the RCMP spoke, we reviewed signs, we received a blessing from the Faster Pastor, who may or may not get his Porsche together in time. Then it was out to the the ball field for the big group shot.

We had an out time of 12:18, but cars were coming and going, and we were confused about what was going on. Other teams were confused as well. We eventually left, sort of on time, and worked our way down the pier. We were immediately ushered toward the ceremonial archway, and given about a 15 second countdown. We could sort of hear our introductions, and apparently she made some comment about how she wasn't sure if SilverHare was about an animal or about aging or something. Anyway, Jane takes off quickly and we miss the turn off the pier back onto the street. We pull a u-turn by this yacht and head back 50 metres to the turn. It turns out that we weren't the only team to do that, and they eventually put an arrow there. Other teams got lost getting out of St. John's as well. So I got my mistake out of the way early – real early.

We made our way out to Flatrock for the prologue stage. Now prologue is a chance for the team to get rid of the butterflies. It doesn't count for scoring; it's just a practise, or shake-down, run. The different classes are given their target times, or, in the case of Grand Touring (GT), our average speed to maintain. For GT, for our two runs, they also gave us a time window such as we would have on Day 3 and Day 5 – 10 seconds, and 3 seconds.

We head out. (video link). First corner and there's an Intermediate Time Control (ITC). These are secondary time checks for the GT class to ensure the team is on time. They can be anywhere. We hit this one at 0 seconds – perfect. In reviewing the video, I hadn't seen the second one, but I'm pretty sure we were good there as well. There was a left into this narrow lane, then an acute right, don't cut about 100 metres in. It was really tight, with a large rock on the inside. Swing back on to the main road and we're up a few seconds. I think at one point we slowed down to about 40 or 50 km/h on this nice road just to lose some time. We zeroed the flying finish (FF).

Off to the local school for a quick bite (fish chowder and sandwiches – catered by the Comfort Inn), and back to the stage for a second run. There's a delay in starting the second go-round. Remember I mentioned that prologue is a practise stage? It doesn't count for anything? It's not a place that you should be throwing around your factory car and taking it out of the rally before it started? Oops. Nuf said.

We got going again – after the ambulance delivered oxygen to a resident, after they cleaned up the aforementioned factory car, after they let a resident out to take his son to the hospital! Good second run. Our “discussion” of the previous night is resolved, and I'm delivering the notes to her the way that she wants. (I'm a man. I can change. if I have to...I guess). Jane's having too much fun, and we're 11 seconds early on the second ITC. That would mean an 8 second penalty if it was scored. We zero the FF.

It's off to the Confederation Building for some laps. This is more a showcase of the cars for the residents than a practice. We can run as many times as we want in a loop around the government building. Two main thoroughfares have been closed and there are good number of spectators. Cars are started 15 seconds apart, and behind us in the line-up is Frank Sprongl, many times rally champion, in his 450+hp Audi Quattro. I guide Jane through the course, through the chicane and up the hill that leads to the front doors of the building. Across this roadway is a pedestrian walkway that is raised like a wide speed bump. I caution Jane to make sure she takes it easy. I'm wondering why she moved over to the right so much, when I see to the left Frank about 2 feet in the air over the jump. Missed it on the video, but you can hear him as he catches air. We follow him and listen to the sweet sound of those 5 cylinders wailing. Jane did a second run, then I had a go. We parked it after that; there was too much potential for catastrophe.

We went back to the hotel to pack for the morning and to arrange leaving stuff with the hotel for the week till we return Friday. The car goes back to the rink, where there is lots of activity. We hop a taxi to the Keg at the pier for a complementary dinner, joining Ferdinand Trauttsmandorff, Christoph his son and navigator, Ferd's wife Chris, and his mother Pauline. Ferdinand is in our GT class, and thus, our competition, but we mix and mingle and trade tips and tricks with whomever.

Friday is an early start – 6:30. Breathalyzer test, then out just after 7:30 to a 130 km transit to the first stage. Stay tuned – more to come.

Bruce – 11:21 pm.