<VV> Canadian Winter Rally story

[Rich Carroll]

On 05/17/2010 10:40 AM, Bill Elliott wrote:
> Rich ran (a Volvo) in 1968... against Paddy Hopkirk in a Mini (who was 
> technically disqualified when he added a separate radiator up from to 
> stop his overheating!)
>
> Very cool site:  http://www.shell-4000-rally.org/
>
> Bill
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "peter koehler" 
> <pkoehler01 at atlanticbb.net>
> To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
> Cc: <rc at palos.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 10:29
> Subject: <VV> Canadian Winter Rally story
>
>
>> Group, The CPF just received a booklet of info from Terry
>> Benson all about the Canadian Winter Rally that he ran
>> back in 1965 with a then-new Corvair Corsa. It is
>> interesting to note that the 1963 and 1964 versions of
>> this event were won outright by Corvairs. The 1965 edition
>> had 140 entrants and only 23 finished! There were 18
>> Corvairs entered and only one of them finished - in 5th
>> place. Some of the other entries I find amusing and
>> hopefully you will enjoy reading about them in an upcoming
>> article in the CORSA Communique.
>>
>> I think CORSA member Rich Carrol from the Chicagoland area
>> participating in at least one of the Canadian Winter Rally
>> events. There was an article in the January 2003 issue of
>> the Communique about it. Does anyone have that issue
>> handy? All of my CC's are packed up at the other house in
>> Michigan. Thanks! - Caveman Pete in PA
I ran the Shell 4000 Rally in 1968, 4200 miles starting in Calgary and 
finishing in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Yes, Paddy was disqualified after 
adding a second radiator, but it took the FIA rules committee a day to 
find a way to call it an infraction.  In the rule book, you must run 
exactly what the car was equipped with, and the Mini team interpreted 
the rules that allowed adding extra lighting and other rally equipment 
to include changing the four additional driving lights to three 
additional driving lights and an extra radiator for better cooling.  The 
official FIA rules did not specifically say you couldn't add a second 
radiator.  After further review, the FIA tech inspector found you 
couldn't modify the RADIATOR HOSES to add the 'Y' fittings to plumb in a 
second radiator, and technically the car was excluded for modified 
radiator hoses.  I had Volvo sponsorship $ for the 1968 event, and ran a 
123GT.

I ran the Canadian International Winter Rally from 1969-1973 or so.  It 
ran from Toronto to Ottawa and back on two successive nights, always the 
second weekend in February.  We ran for the Volvo, Chrysler, VW, and 
Jeep teams.  Winter rallys were unusually brutal on equipment.  All 
tertiary roads in Ontario are packed snow, not plowed.  You only saw 
road surface on highways.  On the tertiary roads, you would come to an 
area where there was a frost heave every 150 feet or so, where the frost 
had pushed up into almost like a curb running across the road at regular 
intervals.  Add to that the streams that run underground, pop out of the 
ground, run for a few hundred yards, (frequently cross a road) and again 
disappear underground.  These warm water streams flow all year, 
including at 40 below.  (And you don't have to ask if that is C or F!)  
You would drive along, see a stream, crash into it (it's surface was the 
road surface, some 12-18 inches lower than the packed snow) crash into 
the opposite bank, and emerge with a blanket of water (immediately 
becoming ice) all over the car.  Go through three streams, and your car 
had gained several hundred pounds, was top heavy, handled poorly, and 
you couldn't open doors, etc. And the rear engined cars had to use lots 
of wheel bearing grease smeared in the front wheel wells, otherwise your 
wheels would only cut slots in the freezing water, and you could not 
steer at all.

The Corvair was a natural at the Canadian International Winter rally, 
but as I remember the '62 and '62 were the winning years for Corvairs.  
These were very close to stock cars, some of the cars picked from the 
dealer showrooms a day before the event.

Rich Carroll