Day 5 – Quebec City to Old Forge

Day 5 commenced outside the parking gate at the Fairmont @ 8.11, our departure time to Sanair and onto Old Forge in NY State.
At Sanair we have a special test on a race track. Many obstacles including hairpins and chicanes. Target time 2 min 30 seconds. We did 3.58. A bit slow but not bad for Betty. She’s a big bird, the largest, longest in the rally fleet. It was a great track but obviously we could not complete with the spritely Mercs and Porsches.

We covered 630kms today A lot of Ks. We had to cross the border into the U.S. This went without issue though soon after we were faced with two police trooper road blocks, searching for two escaped murderers. We were twice asked to “open the trunk ” for inspection. Slows us down and requires more speed to ensure that we get to our destination within the required time.
Having successfully navigated to the border, a tulip book error threw the navigator into a spin and wrong turns were made. Many Ks later we found the error and we were forced to backtrack and return through a Passage Control station. Had we not done this there would have been a penalty that would have us lose our placing.
We drove on to the destination at Old Forge. A small settlement in the lakes district. A hotel located at the tranquil lakes edge was the time control check in and our room for the night.
We got in on time and the organisation had arranged a reception at the local fire station
attended by lots of interested locals and volunteer firemen and the police chief. Great time. They supplied the food and beer “low alcohol” naturally and fascinating to interject the local people with the rally team members. Great mix.
Then to bed and ready for the new day. We also maintained our 29th place. We need to do better!
It’s a relatively short 300k run through to Buffalo tomorrow. However two regularities are planned. These are where points are lost or gained. So a concerted effort tomorrow.