Days 2 and 3 - Arctic Winter Trial

Malcolm Mckay

This was followed by a stunning 45 km Regularity section giving the participants their first taster of driving on packed snow through winding roads, which skirted a sparkling, iced lake. The perfect weather - bright sunshine and white virgin snow - simply added to the experience. A blast down elk-inhabited main roads finally led the Rally to the charming town of Røros, a former mining community now notable for its old streets lined with brightly coloured timber houses.

On a more serious note, the incident of the day involved Sir Terence English and Paul Marsh who rolled their Toyota Land Cruiser after skidding on icy roads, 50 km before Røros. Fortunately, both Sir Terence and Paul were unhurt, although the Land Cruiser looked a little worse for wear. But Paul soon had everything fixed, and the two checked out on time on Day 3.

Day 3 saw a more reasonable start of 9 am when the first car set off on route for a day's driving on Norwegian and then a return to Swedish roads.

The only Medal Section of the day, which started at Funäsdalen, is much revered by Swedish rally drivers. This Section demanded unfaltering concentration, being over a fast flowing, but bumpy, road, which was particularly icy in places. The Section's highest point of 975 m was described as feeling like "the top of the world". Snow from the empty snowfields surrounding the pass whipped across the road, meaning visibility was extremely poor in places. Nevertheless, all the cars passed through safely.

The day's highlight was the ice-road that crosses frozen Lake Storsjön, just before finishing in the large Swedish town of Östersund. The participants had fun practising their skating skills, in particular cars 3 and 4, aka Torvill and Dean (respectively, Nigel and David Redwood in the Mercedes 22OS Fintail and Malcolm McKay and Tony Caldwell in the Triumph Vitesse MkII). (Apparently, their Bolero is not to be missed - we await an encore with anticipation.) Unfortunately, David MacKay and Desmond Smail were not so adept. Desmond, having insisted on trying his luck as first driver, immediately managed to bank the Aston Martin DB6 in the snow-filled central reservation!

The day saw a number of other cars getting stuck in snow, including both the opening and closing course cars. Fortunately, neither was stuck for long (although the Secretary of the Meeting expressed disappointment to have missed witnessing firsthand the beached Clerk of the Course, John Brown).

© Jerey and Antler 5.3.03