Bill Beers
Explorer
The Alcan Rally has been over for three months, and I’ve settled back into my groove at work and at home. The sponsor decals have been removed, radios returned, and studded tires sequestered to a corner of my father-in-law’s pole barn. It is about time for me to post up to the Completed Adventures forum!
You can read about our preparation in this thread: http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11097
You can read our “on the event experience” on this thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12003
In April, my friend Doug and I gave a presentation of our trip to the Oregon SAE at their monthly meeting. We got a small write up in the Portland State Alumni Magazine, and picture of the truck crashing through a snowbank in the most(?) recent issue of Subiesport magazine.
First, to answer some questions that I failed to answer earlier. From 1leglance: “I noticed on the website that they mention a summer or fall rally. Please let us know if that is true as I would like to get into more of this stuff.” And then later, “Also on the website it references a summer event, any word on that?”
Like the Olympics, the event is held every two years, alternating summer and winter. Then next Alcan Rally will be a summer event in August, 2010, followed by a winter event in February of 2012.
Silverbullet posted the following: “BTW - I noticed you had zip ties on your antenna, was this on purpose? We used to do this in the snow Rally to keep ice from forming, the moving ties don't allow water to settle... just curious.”
Much as I’d like to claim otherwise, the zip ties and drink straws on our antenna, (and elsewhere!) were from our fellow competitors decorating our truck for Doug’s birthday. The following morning we removed everything that would have blown off on the road, but the zip ties stayed, all the way back to Oregon in fact!
Here are the numbers:
• 10 days of driving
• 2 countries, 2 states, 1 province, 2 territories.
• 4 bottles of diesel anti-gel.
• 2 bottle of washer fluid.
• 1 broken PIAA foglight
• 5674 Miles
– 4710 Competitive miles
– 964 “Get there and back home” miles
• $7500
– $2800 entry/lodging
– $1800 diesel
– $2900 beer, tow hooks, spare bulbs, service manual, filters, spare belts, hardware/fasteners, washer fluid, ice scrapers, food, etc.
Budget:
We budgeted $4000 each to do the Alcan Rally. Initially, we though of adding a third, but the one guy we thought we both could ride with had already booked all his time to go to Jamaica! With three people, we’d have been into it less than $3k a piece.
Our budget only covered prep and an emergency/disaster free event. In the event of one of the latter, it would have been Mastercards at twenty paces. Additionally, gifts and whatnot were out of our own pocket, not the collective kitty.
We conservatively budgeted $2000 for diesel: 6000 miles / 12 mpg x $4.00/gal = $2000. As it turns out, I underestimated both the mileage we would get, (12 was the worst, 17 the best,) and what we would have to pay per gallon. From the WA/Canada border north, diesel averaged $4.60/gallon, with a high in Eagle Plains of $6/gallon, ($6.72/gallon as of 6/2/08.) We were mid-pack for the mpg we were getting. Even though we had more horsepower, torque, displacement, and GVR than any other vehicle, we had three things working in our favor: Nothing on the roof to increase resistance, the efficiency of a diesel, and we kept our cruising speed at a sane 60-65 mph.. With few exceptions, the other teams all had equipment piled on the roof. The Mitsubishi team in particular, being three persons per Outlander, had two full sized spares and 5 gallons of gas on each vehicle’s roof. They averaged 10-12 mpg over the course of the event.
Food is muy expensive at restaurants and marginally less so in supermarkets. We stopped at the A & W in Hope, BC to get burgers. My ‘value’ meal was $8 something. My thought was, “where do these guys think we are, the airport?” My friend Steven, a BC native, said that this was par for the course. My later experience of a $12 six-pack of Labatts prompted me to buy 2 cases of beer for any team to come to the Oregon Trail Rally this year.
Leave some room in your budget for Tim Hortons.
Sponsors approached:
And those that helped us: (THANK YOU!!!)
Radios:
Everyone was required to carry a VHF business band radio and monitor the rally freq at all times. Ours was generously lent to us by the folks at event rental communications. On a side note, Jay at event rental got to talking Landcruisers, and as it turns out they have 2 locked FZJ-80s that they use to reach remote antenna sites and other ‘challenging’ destinations.
We also had a Yaesu HAM radio that let us reach out and talk to our other Sirius Rally Team members. We also had a pair of FRS radios that worked well car to car for up to a couple of miles.
Tires:
With regard to the studded vs. non-studded debate, all I can say is to get a dedicated winter tire and you will be miles ahead of an all-season type. We ran Dean Wintercat SST studded tires, mainly because they were all we could afford. Load range E really drives up the pricetag, as some of you know. If I took a sedan, or something that used smaller tires, Nokian, Hankook and Cooper all make great tires that performed well on the Alcan Rally.
Fuel:
Question the wisdom of passing an open gas station without topping off. We experienced great weather, but previous events have had vehicles traveling at ~25 mph for 10 hours or so.
We ran Power Service fuel treatment for our diesel, and never had a problem. Number 1 diesel didn’t give us as good mpg as did #2. We brought a couple extra fuel filters and emergency anti-gel, but never needed them.
Heaters:
We installed the cord for our factory block heater, and added electric battery blankets. We made our own cold front. We ended up not needing any of these as the weather was unseasonably warm, -15 F to about 20 F. The week before we got there, Whitehorse was -56F, so we really dodged a bullet.
GPS:
We ran a Garmin Nuvi and a TomTom. Both worked well up to Dawson City, then the TomTom lost its mind and showed us driving through the brush most of the way up the Dempster. The Nuvi did well all the way to Tuktoyaktuk, though it has no idea of the weather, and advised us of two ferry crossings that were at the time frozen river crossings.
The competition:
The Champagne Spray Finish!!
If you have questions, please post them up! It may jog my memory of some other stuff.
And again, thank you fellow ExPo'ers for your kind words and encouragement while we were on the Rally.
-Bill
You can read about our preparation in this thread: http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11097
You can read our “on the event experience” on this thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12003
In April, my friend Doug and I gave a presentation of our trip to the Oregon SAE at their monthly meeting. We got a small write up in the Portland State Alumni Magazine, and picture of the truck crashing through a snowbank in the most(?) recent issue of Subiesport magazine.
First, to answer some questions that I failed to answer earlier. From 1leglance: “I noticed on the website that they mention a summer or fall rally. Please let us know if that is true as I would like to get into more of this stuff.” And then later, “Also on the website it references a summer event, any word on that?”
Like the Olympics, the event is held every two years, alternating summer and winter. Then next Alcan Rally will be a summer event in August, 2010, followed by a winter event in February of 2012.
Silverbullet posted the following: “BTW - I noticed you had zip ties on your antenna, was this on purpose? We used to do this in the snow Rally to keep ice from forming, the moving ties don't allow water to settle... just curious.”
Much as I’d like to claim otherwise, the zip ties and drink straws on our antenna, (and elsewhere!) were from our fellow competitors decorating our truck for Doug’s birthday. The following morning we removed everything that would have blown off on the road, but the zip ties stayed, all the way back to Oregon in fact!
Here are the numbers:
• 10 days of driving
• 2 countries, 2 states, 1 province, 2 territories.
• 4 bottles of diesel anti-gel.
• 2 bottle of washer fluid.
• 1 broken PIAA foglight
• 5674 Miles
– 4710 Competitive miles
– 964 “Get there and back home” miles
• $7500
– $2800 entry/lodging
– $1800 diesel
– $2900 beer, tow hooks, spare bulbs, service manual, filters, spare belts, hardware/fasteners, washer fluid, ice scrapers, food, etc.
Budget:
We budgeted $4000 each to do the Alcan Rally. Initially, we though of adding a third, but the one guy we thought we both could ride with had already booked all his time to go to Jamaica! With three people, we’d have been into it less than $3k a piece.
Our budget only covered prep and an emergency/disaster free event. In the event of one of the latter, it would have been Mastercards at twenty paces. Additionally, gifts and whatnot were out of our own pocket, not the collective kitty.
We conservatively budgeted $2000 for diesel: 6000 miles / 12 mpg x $4.00/gal = $2000. As it turns out, I underestimated both the mileage we would get, (12 was the worst, 17 the best,) and what we would have to pay per gallon. From the WA/Canada border north, diesel averaged $4.60/gallon, with a high in Eagle Plains of $6/gallon, ($6.72/gallon as of 6/2/08.) We were mid-pack for the mpg we were getting. Even though we had more horsepower, torque, displacement, and GVR than any other vehicle, we had three things working in our favor: Nothing on the roof to increase resistance, the efficiency of a diesel, and we kept our cruising speed at a sane 60-65 mph.. With few exceptions, the other teams all had equipment piled on the roof. The Mitsubishi team in particular, being three persons per Outlander, had two full sized spares and 5 gallons of gas on each vehicle’s roof. They averaged 10-12 mpg over the course of the event.
Food is muy expensive at restaurants and marginally less so in supermarkets. We stopped at the A & W in Hope, BC to get burgers. My ‘value’ meal was $8 something. My thought was, “where do these guys think we are, the airport?” My friend Steven, a BC native, said that this was par for the course. My later experience of a $12 six-pack of Labatts prompted me to buy 2 cases of beer for any team to come to the Oregon Trail Rally this year.
Leave some room in your budget for Tim Hortons.
Sponsors approached:
And those that helped us: (THANK YOU!!!)
Radios:
Everyone was required to carry a VHF business band radio and monitor the rally freq at all times. Ours was generously lent to us by the folks at event rental communications. On a side note, Jay at event rental got to talking Landcruisers, and as it turns out they have 2 locked FZJ-80s that they use to reach remote antenna sites and other ‘challenging’ destinations.
We also had a Yaesu HAM radio that let us reach out and talk to our other Sirius Rally Team members. We also had a pair of FRS radios that worked well car to car for up to a couple of miles.
Tires:
With regard to the studded vs. non-studded debate, all I can say is to get a dedicated winter tire and you will be miles ahead of an all-season type. We ran Dean Wintercat SST studded tires, mainly because they were all we could afford. Load range E really drives up the pricetag, as some of you know. If I took a sedan, or something that used smaller tires, Nokian, Hankook and Cooper all make great tires that performed well on the Alcan Rally.
Fuel:
Question the wisdom of passing an open gas station without topping off. We experienced great weather, but previous events have had vehicles traveling at ~25 mph for 10 hours or so.
We ran Power Service fuel treatment for our diesel, and never had a problem. Number 1 diesel didn’t give us as good mpg as did #2. We brought a couple extra fuel filters and emergency anti-gel, but never needed them.
Heaters:
We installed the cord for our factory block heater, and added electric battery blankets. We made our own cold front. We ended up not needing any of these as the weather was unseasonably warm, -15 F to about 20 F. The week before we got there, Whitehorse was -56F, so we really dodged a bullet.
GPS:
We ran a Garmin Nuvi and a TomTom. Both worked well up to Dawson City, then the TomTom lost its mind and showed us driving through the brush most of the way up the Dempster. The Nuvi did well all the way to Tuktoyaktuk, though it has no idea of the weather, and advised us of two ferry crossings that were at the time frozen river crossings.
The competition:
The Champagne Spray Finish!!
If you have questions, please post them up! It may jog my memory of some other stuff.
And again, thank you fellow ExPo'ers for your kind words and encouragement while we were on the Rally.
-Bill
