I’ve been around rallying for over a decade, but oddly it wasn’t until last month that I competed in my first ever TSD, the iconic Nor’Wester Auto Rally, which is sanctioned by the Rainier Auto Sports Club. Although I had a general understanding of TSDs, most of my experience as a volunteer, organizer, and media commentator has been with high-speed closed road stage rallies. Little did I realize how challenging and enjoyable these regularity rallies would be.
It all started with an email from one of my fellow Oregon Trail Rally organizers Mike Nagle who asked if I’d join him for Nor’Wester, and I’d be the driver. I like nothing better than a good road trip, and I figured my 2005 Subaru Outback XT ought to be up for the combination of both tarmac and gravel roads we’d be on. We were emailed a PDF of the route book a couple of days before the event, and I paged through it and saw words I’d never heard before. I know how to read tulips for a stage rally, but what’s a “free zone” or a CAST or MBCU? Thankfully my navigator had a lot more experience than I did.
We departed from Kirkland, Washington, just outside of Seattle, and headed towards the Northern Cascades National Park, where the route would eventually take us up and over the pass and to the small city of Omak. The first competitive stage was on some country lanes where the organizers noted the mileage of all the checkpoints as a warm-up, but there would be no more freebies from then on. That first day was all about learning, and it wasn’t long before we figured out my odometer was off by a tenth every 10 miles and my speedometer was a little slow. Maintaining the optimal average speed was challenging enough with climbs and descents and turns and surface changes, but it was getting the right communication between my navigator and me about upcoming turns, speed changes, and pauses from stop signs that proved to be the most critical. As the route took us up and over the mountain pass, we had one true zero checkpoint, and I was eagerly anticipating the next chime from the Richta GPS App to find out if we could get another.
Our competitive nature only increased after we discovered that we misunderstood the checkpoint scoring system and vowed to improve our performance as we left Omak on the final day. This time the route took us on more gravel roads, which I admittedly enjoyed the most. One of the most memorable was the Bill Shaw TSD (no relation). This 14-mile gravel stage twisted and turned up a ridgeline where we caught up to a farm truck loaded to the brim with hay one mile into the stage. Cursing our luck as we caught up to his dusty wake, the road suddenly widened, and we were able to pass with relative ease. We cheered as the next checkpoint showed we were just 1.3 seconds off. The finish to this stage was magnificent and included a triple caution exposure (as noted in the routes with “CAUTION !!!”) along the rim of a canyon with breathtaking views down to a river below. The organizers humorously added “photo opp” in one of the notes of the timed section as if we were going to slow down or stop!
The route then took us south, including a transit through the German village of Leavenworth, packed with tourists celebrating Oktoberfest. Before we knew it, we were on the final stage — Old Blewett Pass, a signature stage of the Nor’Wester. It’s nine miles of winding broken tarmac that steeply climbs and descends with regular hairpins. If the narrow road wasn’t challenging enough, it was maintaining a CAST of just 22 MPH that was the kicker. I learned quickly that going slow was exponentially harder than going fast. Maybe I need more helium in my right foot?
And that was it. One last transit to the finish, which was as it should be, we ended at a brewpub in the small town of Cle Elum. Our improvements included two more absolute zero checkpoints to the tenth of a second and several near zeros. For the day, we were just six points off the SOP class leader, who had many more rallies under their belt.
We took home second-in-class hardware, but what I enjoyed most about the Nor’Wester Auto Rally wasn’t the competition, although that certainly heightened the experience. It was the adventure of it all. The Rainier Auto Sports Club’s organizers took us on a scenic route with transits that included plenty of time to take in the sights. They chose roads that were not just breathtaking to see but also challenging to drive. I stated countless times that I needed to come back to this place or that on a future vacation. It was two days and 600 miles that created many stories that I’ll never forget. I’m now officially hooked on TSDs and am looking forward to the next touring rally in my area.
After the rally, I called up Ron Sorem, the Routemaster for my RallyCast podcast. We talked about the history of the Nor’Wester Auto Rally and how he and his team selected such awesome roads. You’ll also hear more of my experience from an audio diary I made as we did the event. You can find that on the Open Paddock RallyCast podcast located here: https://rallycast.openpaddock.net/e/rallycast-episode-108-the-nor-wester-experience/ or search for the Open Paddock RallyCast in iTunes or your favorite podcast app.
From the Road Rally eNews Clan, you truly need to listen to this podcast! It talks of rallying, TSD-rallying, GPS rally, and the challenges we all endure. Sorem does a wonderful job of explaining what all goes into putting a rally together and shares “memories of days past”!
In fairness, we will share that it is 75 minutes in length, and it never lagged! From Sorem’s interview to Shaw and Nagle’s in-car conversation during the event. We hope you enjoy it too!