The car still runs!

And we still know how to work a rally computer (sort of). We've just spent the day registering and having the car inspected per the technical regulations. Once that was done we put on all the event sponsor decals and headed out for our ODO check leg.

The ODO check is a sample route the organizers give with distances in kilometers and various route points, that allows the teams to go out and run the route to ensure their equipment and rally computers are working properly. We found that everything is working properly and we only need to make some small adjustments to our factoring in the computer to correct the distances as we travel. Nick the Mathemagician is on the case with the factors, so we should be all set as far as that goes.

We did see a lot of old friends that were (new to us last year) back again for the event. We spent some time catching up and gathering up all the BMW teams. By luck we managed to all be able to park together in the arena this morning, so we got some nice BMW shots together. We also entered the team marque trophy competition, so hopefully we can help carry the BMW flag and win over some of the other well represented marques.

At this point we're in good shape, we just need to start marking up our route books for the week, and then go collect our second crew member, Greg Snyder, at the airport tonight. We're hoping he makes it, because Hurrican Ike is apparently making a mess back home. He should be getting in at 10:30 or so, so we're going to try to stay awake that long.

Tomorrow we're back to the ReMax Centre for the group photo and then it's off to the ceremonial start before the Prologue stages. These are short practice stages that allow the teams to warm up and get the feel of things before diving straight into competition. That's for Monday, and a cold, windy place called Argentia.

Our friend Marc LaChappelle is covering the event for Autonet.ca, and since he's a professional journalist his blog will be updated more regularly and kept nicer than this one, so check him out here:
http://blog.autonet.ca/targa

He's a really nice guy and he happens to have a cool hybrid Lexus as his race ride, so he makes a lot of waves wherever he goes.

So, we're going to tackle our route books and head off for dinner. Here's to a smooth start to all of our competitors tomorrow.

Cheers,