Day 1: registration, tech inspection, and recce

We thought we were early when we showed up for recce late registration at 7:30am this morning, maybe even that we'd have time to grab some breakfast. But instead we surprised the volunteers at registration with our intention, and when they had that figured out, they were rushing to get us out in time! Recce is pre-running the stages, at legal speeds and in a non conspicuous car, to get an idea of the course and to clarify the stage notes. This means driving over two days worth or roads, more miles than the trip up in the first place.

So after 6 hours of sleep, no shower food or drink, and what turned into 5.5 hours of driving stages, we finally got a 20min break at Subway. Then we drove for another 2.5 hours until 5pm. Wow, shower and dinner was appreciated, recce is a lot of work. Thankfully, Kyle and Cory took the car to tech, 3rd car through and surrounded by the factory teams. The horn was called "weak and feeble" by the head inspector, but otherwise sailed through.

But the stages look great, it seems there's an interesting technical theme the first day, and a more open and higher speed second day. I'm sure the roads will get swept down, and it won't be as soft as today when the temps go down to the high teens this weekend, but it's no skating rink. And I'm looking forward to driving without cringing at every rut. I thought I might garage the R32 for the winter when I first bought it, certainly nothing like this: