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To Adventure

n golf, scoring a zero means you didn’t and precipitation and fatigue and mis- and closely coupled. We’ll sink or swim as roads, the first local traffic, and the first includes veterans of the X3 squad that won honor of the marque, we are one of two play. By mid-afternoon on Day One of judgments… just as ours will. a team, like escaped felons chained encounter with a snowbank—by another this rally one-two in 2004. Gary Webb, E30 325iX’s running in 2008. Ithe AlCan Winter Rally, Renee and I But our course stretches out ahead of us together, locked in this little red metal box. competitor. It pains my heart to drive past who drove the winning X3, is now shar- But while the competition is fierce, the have already run the opening time-speed- to the northern horizon and beyond—and a We’ve already bobbled a bit. In that open- their hopefully offered tow strap, but we ing the wheel of Greg Hightower’s Sub- camaraderie is even stronger. Any crew distance section in Washington State and single round of play will take ten days. ing TSD section, the very first checkpoint must be firm: There are two more check- aru WRX. Behind the TimeWise rally com- from any can get advice and help from crossed the border into British Columbia; The standard golfers shoot for is “less catches us between marks, and we’re a little points before the end of the section. We’ve puter in that car is Russ Kraushaar, who the veterans on the rally, which first took to there, cruising east on Trans- 1, we than par.” In TSD , scoring a zero rattled about our time—not as badly as the had no major errors, and we’re cautiously shared the Roundel X3 with Satch Carlson the icy winter roads of the North in 1988. see golfers at a course just off the freeway, means you were perfect; there’s no such novices we see correcting wrong turns, or optimistic heading to the nightly drivers’ in 2004. With no X3s, no diesel X5s, no (The AlCan 5000 Rally, a more gentle sum- chasing their version of perfect execution. thing as par. And golfers play as individu- being passed by us and then re-passing, but meeting. Our perspective is soon restored: twin-turbo V8 X6s available to defend their mer event, began in 1984.) So when I These players roam over the greens and als, even in a foursome. One golf pro’s we know we weren’t perfect. Par, I suppose, Car Number One, carrying three AlCan victory, the invincible BMW team has been describe our in-car work assignments to fairways, finding infinite challenge in a foibles won’t directly affect her partners. means no worse than the others. veterans, sets par at three points for the day. scattered and reassembled in a single Russ Kraushaar and R. Dale Kraushaar— relatively small and well-bounded arena. But in the rally car, the dependency The second timed section of the day, We shoot a 35. Japanese four-wheeler, with Satch sitting Russ’ stepfather is in another Subaru— Their difficulties come partly from wind between driver and co-driver is explicit run after dusk, presents the first slippery That lead car carries a threesome that this one out in San Diego. Defending the they’re friendly and helpful, offering frank

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This year the Dempster was actually dry in places.

feedback on our practice, and we resolve to try some of their suggestions. Besides, we’re running in the Equipped class, mak- ing our calculations on computers that can’t be connected to the car, though we are allowed an accurate digital odometer. We should have a slight margin for error not afforded to the tightly competitive Unlim- ited class with their integrated computers. Day Two we run beautifully. On a long section named 11% Grade—for literal rea- sons—we see the hairpin and the uphill section early, drop to second gear before the apex; then it’s hard hard hard on the gas, straining for traction, up past the checkpoint crew that the hairpin tele- graphed. A following hairpin, this one flat, is soft and mushy, and I sink in the turn— so we must again try to catch up before reaching another merciless timing crew just over the next crest. Our ranking this day is better; the teams ahead of us have doubled or tripled their first-day scores—or worse—but we’re 10% lower than the previous day. On Day Three, encouraged by the change in our procedures, we try the same routine during the only TSD section in the 800-mile day—and we melt down imme- diately. The instructions are dense, there’s too much going on, too many changes too close together. Our time reports are scram- bled: “Three early!” then “Four late!” then “Way late!” as we pass the first checkpoint. It’s not working to split the workload this way, but rationality fights an uphill battle against panic, and strong language is used The 325iX on Hakkapeliittas proved capable on , , or dry roads. in the cabin before we fall back to our orig- inal practice. We finish the section in better

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You’re Going Where?! To Do What?! In A BMW?! The Alcan Winter Rally is an the AlCan? Anything that’s not Ocean. The car sagged in the back. AlCan: fewer spare parts, one less endurance event consisting of your car!” Fully loaded, it really sagged. The sleeping bag, shoe traction time-speed-distance legs, ice What about a BMW? I’d had a original springs were replaced with devices, fewer clothes. We slaloms, and long transits. The 325e in the early 1990s and loved new BMW ones. learned to wear our waterproof, rally covers roughly 5,000 miles it—but it didn’t handle well in the The automatic transmission windproof biking pants and boots in ten days, from Washington snow and ice of Colorado. I knew was swapped out for a five-speed all the time. In event the car goes State to the Arctic Circle and about the 325iX back then, but manual. The car performed much off the road, it is important to get beyond—far beyond. The lowest couldn’t afford one new. Finally, better. the emergency triangle on the score wins. after an extensive Internet search, Good are important to road. The next car is only one In 2006, we ran Mountains To Craigslist popped one up in maintain control on the icy roads minute behind on the TSD sec- The Sea, an Oregon touring rally. Salem, a mere 50 miles away. The that we’d encounter. We chose tions. There isn’t much time for We won the novice class that day, price was a reasonable $5,000 for studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas, getting ready to get out of the car. and we celebrated with Russ and a 1990 Brilliant Red coupe, sup- as did many other teams. The AlCan Winter Rally Katy Kraushaar, the overall win- posedly with only 75,000 miles on We replaced the stock head- offered an incredible journey. We ners. Somehow the AlCan Winter it. We drove down that night, took light wiring with large-gauge wire, started in Kirkland, Washington, Rally came up in conversation, it for a drive, noted the timing-belt short runs, and relays, added excited but terrified. Family and and Katy’s enthusiasm planted the replacement sticker, heard that it four auxiliary lights to the front friends lined the start and seed. But it seemed like a pretty had lately been driven by a bumper, and had a custom skid cheered us on. remote idea; we had been rallying grandma. We bought it on the plate built to protect the oil pan. The car performed well. It Marilyn poses at the Arctic Circle for less than a year. Still, Katy spot and drove it home that night. New heavy-duty battery? was easy to manage on the ice. It with Erik Horst’s 325iX. made it seem attainable. The car had several little Check. All fluids replaced with had enough power to climb the hills and cross the mountain passes. We were fortunate to fashion, but it takes scores of miles after have good weather during the that to decompress from our failure. In a trip; the weeks leading up to the slow release of tension, like the groaning rally were cold, around -50°F, but realignment of Bear on its under- the coldest we saw was a -10°F lying escarpment, apologies are offered briefly on the Dempster Highway and accepted, and we resolve to scan future early one morning. Most of the TSD instructions for such troublesome time, temperatures were between spots to avoid a second Chernobyl. 10°F and 34°F. But the damage may already be done. We saw Northern Lights in Already more than half of the timed sec- Inuvik. tions are complete, so we’ll have only a We saw a steaming moose few more chances at perfection. Now we are truly north, in the Yukon and the North- on the Dempster Highway; we west Territories; for the next few days, the also saw silver fox, deer, elk, rally checkpoints are go/no-go style. If we bison, and caribou as we posted make it to Inuvik several hundred miles several first-time accomplish- above the Arctic Circle, and then Tuk- ments: Mile 0 on the AlCan High- toyaktuk, another 120 miles up the frozen way, driving on the from Mackenzie , and then back down to After a few more events, we issues, and one big one: it was an synthetic versions rated for Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, crossing Eagle Plains, just twenty miles south of the decided to buy a car and dedicate automatic. We gritted our teeth and extreme cold? Check. Antifreeze the Arctic Circle, geocaches in Circle, we avoid 410 penalty points. it to unpaved rallying. With a real joked, “Hey, we’ll have a free hand good to -50F? Check. Engine three provinces. rally car, we could go on the to drink coffee with.” But the auto compartment sealed? Check. Katy Kraushaar was right. uring these long transits, the rally trav- AlCan. First we made up a list of didn’t leak, and it shifted well, and Additional power taps in the pas- The camaraderie among the ral- els in teams, using a buddy system to Rally enthusiasm undergoes some changes during a ten-day marathon. we didn’t want to rally in: the car passed the viscous- senger compartment? You bet. lyists was reason enough to go. Dlessen risk. Our team of two iXs, a Audis, Subarus, big SUVs, trucks, coupling test, and we thought we’d We rubbed silicone on the rub- Now the roof rack holding the one-wheel drive Saab—an intercooled Heading up into Inuvik, far into the Arc- don’t shimmer, they shift. For the first five two-wheel-drive rigs. We wanted give it a go on a rally. We prepared ber seals around the doors and shovel, hoe, gas can, and spare turbo four-valve motor plus open differ- tic, the twilight is impossibly long; the sun days we don’t even turn on the audio sys- a car not too new; after all, we’d the car for the No Alibi rally held in trunk so they wouldn’t freeze shut. tires is gone. The studded snow ential on a front-wheel-drive car equals sets diagonally for two and a quarter hours. tem, overloaded by sights; we’ve reached be running the car on gravel and eastern Washington in 2007. Part- We checked brake pads, wheel tires have been replaced by the one-wheel drive—and the obligatory Sub- You can see the roundness of the globe. visual maximum bandwidth. But later, run- snow, so it should expect some way through the rally, the brake alignment, fixed several warning summer tires. The mud and aru travel closer together the farther north From the other iX, Eric Horst murmurs on ning south atop the ridges on the middle rough treatment. But we wanted a caliper came off. (See Roundel lights, aimed the headlights, and muck have been washed off the we go. The other cars on the team all have the radio, “We live on a big old ball, folks.” Dempster, we’ve adjusted and go looking car that would be dependable (like August 2007) A faulty service while installed extra backup lights and car, the survival gear removed, at least one veteran AlCanner; we’re the The sun’s light glances off the atmosphere for a soundtrack, Making Movies by Dire our Honda), require little mainte- grandma owned it was to blame. two running lights on the roof rack sponsor stickers unstuck. There rookies, and we had been worried about here, like the rebound of a skipped stone Straits: High on this world, c’mon and take nance (like the Honda), and have We were able to make a quick for bad-visibility conditions. are a few new dings, and a head- keeping up on the long transits. But dif- over the , or a bullet’s ricochet off a low ride with me… so far from home, reasonable horsepower (err, not repair and keep going, but it was The week before the AlCan, we light and fog light are cracked. ferent cars in our team share the lead, and stone, or the abrupt scattering of glass par- don’t you think of me… sometime? different portions of the road seem to suit ticles as a rock chips the windshield. We We’ve tiptoed north to Tuk and back like the Honda). obvious that more work was ran the 2008 Thunderbird Rally in It looks like just any other certain drivers better. Renee goes like hell see a mirage of cliffs and fog banks, chang- again between freeze cycles. The local Other rallyists offered advice. needed before we’d confidently Canada. Anything we didn’t need commuter car. But we know bet- on the lower Klondike, and eventually she ing to fractured lines, like sandstone strata folks bemoan the -54ºF last week, and we “What’s the best car to take on aim the car toward the Arctic would be left behind for the ter.—Renee Damm must lift slightly to reconnect the team. shifting horizontally. The fractured lines depart Inuvik just ahead of a coming bliz-

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The Arctic has an awesome beauty that justifies any excuse to drive through it.

zard. Some of our car-preparation steps now seem unnecessary; but we plug in the Yukon Highway 5 is the Klondike block heater anyway, when there’s power. Highway between Whitehorse and Dawson City. The first falling snow of the trip comes at Kilo Marker 238 southbound on the Demp- ster. We can’t exactly complain about the good weather, as it’s let us cover miles with relative ease. Only our few tastes of obscu- rity in foggy sections, on the ice road and lower down, give hints about how slow and nerve-wracking it could have been. The good visibility lets us drive to higher limits. There are few surprises on the Dempster, as its engineers have drafted gentle radii, and no unwarned curves over crests. The AlCan Rally is a ten-day road trip through rugged country with a bunch of people who’ve been on the roads before, and the veterans set a blistering pace. The other rallyists pass without having heard mur, “Of course!” and the harmony con- goal of each day: the overnight stop. Sure, from the tardy ones, we finally pull over on tinues. Ballet on ice. It’s too slippery to there are timed sections or ice-racing a high ridge and wait. We kick the snow walk on, so we’d better drive. slaloms along the way, but we’re all march- around for a quarter hour till even the sweep The middle and upper Dempster High- ing toward the horizon from the time we truck pulls up. Sure, we’re fine, we tell way lies atop the ridges of the Continental wake. Folks are a bit disoriented because Sweep, but we’re looking for Car Four— Divide, as the Rockies taper off into the sea the miles click by so easily. And we’re get- Cue the view of headlights over a at the edge of North America. The sur- ting a lot of practice in the slick stuff. After hillock three humps back. The black iX rounding landscape cuts the furrowed brow 1,200 miles on the Dempster Highway and slows barely a whisker as they pass us; we of a morose teen-ager. Off the Dempster, the Mackenzie ice road, a driver’s toler- dash for our cars and set out in pursuit. the Klondike Highway runs through terrain ance for lateral slip increases, and the radio They’re out of sight, and we chase them rather more muted. It’s impressive enough, warnings from our teammates—“a little for miles at supra-freeway speeds—but wide and empty and sprinkled with minute slick there”—mean something very dif- still within the range of comfort. That’s a trees and clinging snow as far as the eye ferent than they did a week earlier. Big variable standard; near the end of the day, can see—but compared to the scene around snowy downhill? Upshift. Sign says 50? the whole pack steps it up. Our steering the Dempster, it’s the smooth cheeks of a Slow to 80. (Those are kilometers, folks; corrections have become quite delicate, portly man. The Alaska Highway traverses we’ve not entirely lost our minds.) like the color contrast of new snow on old, rather than scales the Yukon, the terrain dif- On the other hand, coming down from as much a probing for road feel as a direc- ferent again, more open somehow. Maybe Inuvik, the other iX stays behind in town tive. “Would you like to take this line, the valleys are wider, or—possibly and we lose radio contact with them. At first Niner?” The car generally says yes; but related—maybe there’s more water our three cars notch back their speed, but as when the car suggests a correction, we mur- throughput in a year. The Dempster is dry,

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Tire Rack 1/2 page Ad page 103

4/c

Hood up to keep cool, Marilyn waits her turn for another ice-racing lap.

the pavement when we near the lower end Renee Damm models the of the Klondike Highway. East of White- latest in rally style. horse, there’s generally both a center line and a fog line on the pavement. The Moun- ties show up once in a while now, but rally traffic has settled down into little convoys nicely spaced, and though we’re running fast we’re not a spectacle. It’s some mea- sure of this event that I have gone faster on the Alaska Highway, with the temperature well under freezing and the surface so vari- able only one line for either the left or right tires could be chosen, than I’ve ever driven the iX before. The last four timed sections are widely Metric Mechanic dry, dry—in spite of being covered with holding the door strap. Once my brain spaced, and by Day Ten, we’ve got our rou- ice. Here along the southern edge of the warms up enough, I cycle the power locks tines figured out, our own procedures 1/2 page Ad Yukon Territory, the look is more like lower twice and things are back to normal. dialed in. We’re running the Kraushaars’ page 103 B.C., or the Pacific Northwest of the USA. The second ice slalom is much slip- suggestions, and we take only seven points Traveling as hard as we are, the degrees perier than the first. The iX has ABS, but from eight checkpoints. of latitude fall off quickly. Driving south for loose snow or gravel—or ice—ABS is On the final day of the rally, the last car from Tuk, the effect is like a time machine, a hindrance. We disconnect a sensor and in the field, #24, finally gets it right. They 4/c accelerating the arrival of Spring, the roads the controller goes to fail-safe mode, nor- run with zero error for each measured leg, clearer, the trees greener, the sun higher in mal power-assisted brakes. With the studs and finish with an eight-part sum that’s the the sky, and the return of signs of human and the heavy siping, the Hakkapeliittas’ same as each of its addends: 0. Twenty-four endeavor. We cover months in days. straight-ahead stopping power on ice is cars had ten chances each to run perfectly Down in Whitehorse again, I wash the impressive; with ABS engaged, however, on time, but only one has done so. It’s been car against co-driver’s warning, and the it’s terrifying: The brake is a pedal with no a long road and a lot of effort chasing that surface freezes instantly once I leave the effect. We try to make the call at each stop zero—the rally equivalent of a hole in one. Mighty Wash. Things seem good that whether we want the computer assist or In the final tally, we lead all other night— the doors open easily—but the next not, and should probably just put a switch Equipped entrants by 38 points. “First In morning the trunk is immobile and the dri- in the cabin to make it easier. Class” is the etching on the highball-glass ver’s door will open, but not latch. We drive My co-driver is confused by the re- trophy. It’s a precious treasure to be packed around Whitehorse looking for breakfast appearance of divider lines in the center of away for the long drive home. 

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