Classic Car Rally 101

​We’re just minutes into the rally, and I’m clutching onto some key advice:

•  It doesn’t help if you’re on time, but off course.
• Race your own rally.

I’m also clutching a clipboard, as I call out instructions from the passenger seat in Dave Cohen’s 1964 silver Porsche 356.   His car is effortlessly hugging the pastoral roads of the Oregon countryside, Number 43 in the annual Northwest Classic Car Rally.   Based in Portland, it’s the oldest classic car rally in the USA, drawing drivers from as far afield as Colorado and BC.   It took us eight hours to drive from Vancouver to the starting line, and I had learned my first lesson when it comes to rallies:  these people love their cars, and they love to drive them. 
 
Dave, my rally Obi-Wan, is a case in point.  A successful businessman living in West Vancouver, he’s the owner of over a dozen classic cars, including a pre-war Bentley and Rolls Royce.  That’s pre-World War 1.    A 20-year rally veteran, Dave’s run the Peking to Paris (twice), along with rallies in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.   For this year’s Northwest Classic, open to pre-1981 collector cars, Dave’s selected his reliable 356 Porsche.  He explains it will allow him to focus on the race, as opposed to keeping the car going.   Race is not exactly the right word.   It’s more like a Sunday drive, with two hundred good friends, and a purpose. 
 
Crawling along the I5 to Portland, Dave gives me the basics of time-speed-distance rallying.   Drivers and navigators are given instructions that must be followed to the letter, and to the second.  Each car is spaced one minute apart, driving at suggested speeds to enable us to reach, say, a particular stop sign in exactly 2:43 seconds, or a right turn at 7:29.   Teams calibrate their odometers, and must factor traffic and rally rules.  We never exceed the speed limit, unless we’re running late, in which case, well, these are classic sport cars.
 

The Rally Master adds traps designed to bamboozle even the most alert navigator, steering us off course, resulting in time penalties or lost minutes.   Each day might feature up to 10 stages, comprised of a start, finish, and time check by a team of volunteer marshals hidden somewhere along the route.   Dave warns me that it doesn’t help to follow the car in front of us.  They could just as easily lead us off a cliff as to the next checkpoint.
 
As a virgin navigator, I am determined not to let my driver down.  Dave’s wife, who normally takes the navigator role, has already warned me: “whatever is said in the car doesn’t count.”   Things can get heated when the pressure is on, and a slight navigator omission can send our car rallying down the rankings.   There’s even a tongue-in-cheek award, the Flying Clipboard, for the team most notably cracking at the seams. 
 
Still, don’t hold your breath waiting for road rage.  Vintage rallies are first and foremost about the cars, the driving, and the community it brings together.   Owners come from all walks of life, taking pride in their aging Alpha Romeos, MG’s, Fords, Mercs, Saabs, Porches and other models.  The average car at the race might cost around $30K - $50K, but there are some standouts, like a 1963 AC Cobra, worth a cool half a million dollars.    Laurie and Verna Fraser from Langley own a dozen collector cars.  “I got my first MG at 21 years old, and it was all downhill from there,” explains Laurie.  Vintage cars sound like an addiction.    Another racer from Coquitlam tells me there are two events he would never miss:  The Northwest Classic, and BC’s Spring Thaw.  He speaks of them with the reverence of a family Christmas.

I’ve nicknamed Dave’s Porsche ‘The Silver Bullet’ because its classic, capsule-shaped, and could probably kill a werewolf.  With a 1600cc engine with 90 horsepower, it’s no speed demon, but that’s why Dave likes it.  It’s not about getting from A to B on an air-conditioned cloud.  The Porsche has no computers, plush leather, or cruise control.  We sit low to the ground, on worn leather, feeling the growl of the engine.  50 mph never felt so cool.  
 
As we scoot around Oregon’s coastal farm roads, I tick off checkpoints, calculate our times, watching out for traps.   I’ve had to familiarize myself with rally terminology:  CAST:  Change Average Speed To.  SAP:  Straight as Possible.  ITIS:  If There Is Such.   At the close of the first day, we’ve lost just 2 minutes off the pace, placing 16th out of a field of 113.  I’m a rally virgin kicking butt, but nobody is too impressed.  “Last year, we got totally lost,” laughs one competitor.  “It was great!  You just can’t take it too seriously.”
 
During stage 6 on the final day, Dave repeats these words when I confuse an ONTO/TOWARD instruction and lead us straight into a trap.  He remains supernaturally zen about my screw-up, even as we slip down the rankings to finish 31st overall.   At least we didn’t receive The Hook, awarded to the car that needs a tow truck.   That honour belongs to another Porsche 356, not quite as reliable as our Silver Bullet.

The Northwest Classic is just one of dozens of rallies that take place around the continent, drawing collectors, enthusiasts, and members of various motor clubs.  Some are competitive, others more social.    When we line up our cars – on a downtown street or stage meeting lot – crowds gather to ogle at rows of spit-polished cars on display.   Owners get an obvious buzz showing off their pride and joy, and might even barter for new acquisitions.   War stories are traded, from those that have braved the gruelling frozen roads of the legendary ALCAN 5000, to the pot-holed corruption of South American rallies.  Road trips have always been one the best ways to see a country, especially in your favourite car.  You’ll definitely find yourself on roads less travelled.   
 
I notice that many teams are husband/wife couples, or retirees enjoying the good-life adventure.   “We’re all growing old,” says Dave, “together with our cars”.  Younger drivers are definitely welcome, so long as they have a qualifying car and a driver’s license. Rally entrance fees range from the low hundreds to the thousands,  so you don’t have to be a millionaire to participate, or even a competitor.   Many rallies now have touring groups with no rules or time trials.
 
Dave lets me take the wheel on our long drive back to Vancouver.   This time, we’re taking the longer, scenic route to avoid the traffic on the highway.   The Porsche hums along the coast, reflecting tree tunnels, turning heads.  There’s no power steering, no air con, and no CD Player to distract me from the act of driving itself.  Classic cars are all about the experience, much like the rally events that bring them together.