WHAT A PERFECT sunny day for a fall rally. Each time I went out to prepare the route the fall colours grew in splendour. I was concerned the colours would not last until rally day but it turned out that they were at their prime and nothing short of spectacular. Rally participants were able to enjoy autumn’s show in both the urban forest and the countryside. Trees were dressed in all colours: yellow, orange, red, purple and green. To complement the visual views was the dynamic route with awesome up and down portions with a few hairpin bends thrown in. The roads wound through dense colourful forests with pockets of green pine trees and some golden fields along straight stretches. With Halloween coming up drivers could also get glimpses of scarecrows, ghouls and ghosts.Â
We accepted almost 30 entries but 26 showed up on rally day at Aunty’s Kitchen, in Mississauga. Participants were as revved to explore the rally route as their colourful Porsches. After the registration, drivers briefing, coffee, and socializing, our drivers lined up at the start line where each would get their route instructions before they took off. The first car, with Mark Solomon and Donna, headed out at 9:35 am. There were lots of first timers, and for the most part, all did really well.
Competition was tough with a 16-point spread over the first eleven cars. The father and son team of Matt and Max Nowak came first, followed by previous winner Munir Dharamshi and navigator Karim Ladha. One point behind, in third place was Jay Singh and Laura Zwier. Then there were four cars in fourth place, all losing 26 points. It was a tight competition. Most of the cars did really well until the 7th leg of the rally. Somehow most points were lost in this last leg.
Mark and Emily Zemel, in car #21, did really well through all the controls leading until control six. Had they not lost some points at the last control they were in contention to win the rally. Good drive for Mark and Emily. Similarly, car #31 of Kevin and Nikki Carvalho lost most of their points on the last control doing really well in the rest of the rally. First timers in car #16, Naveen and Neem Sidhu did well, losing 16 points in the last control but only losing 10 points for the first six controls. Car #3 of Colin and Nadia Holt also did well, losing only 26 points. Car #8 of Stephen Fowler and Michael Allore also their first time, lost 26 points.
Prizes were awarded to the first five finishers and t-shirts to other finishers. A delicious lunch was provided by Aunty’s Kitchen in Erin Mills. Thanks to the staff for the arrangements. Finally, thanks to the volunteers who made sure things went smoothly, namely, Andy, Ashok, Karen, Imrana, Sadia, Hamsha, Sajid, and my wife, Gulzar. Without them this would not be possible. </>
By Sajjad Butt, UCR Rally Master | Photos by Sadia Butt, UCR Member
