Sept 10/11 - With the cancellation of the Mountain Trials Rally in June, it's been a very quiet rally summer for the Island Storm team. Now it's time to dust off the car, organize the gear and get organized to head out to the Pacific Forest Rally , Sept 30 - Oct 1.

The guys hope to be able to shake off the rust of a lazy summer and equal, or better their 2010 results at his event - 8th overall in the WCRC Regional.

See you in Merritt!

Nov 5/10 - With the Big White Winter Rally less than a month away, repairs are frantically continuing on the Island Storm car. Our unplanned excursion into the ditch at PFR resulted in more extensive damage than first thought, including a bent front sub-frame, rad support, bumper support, a twisted radiator and a cracked oil pan. The frame has been roughly straightened and we're just waiting for a new rad/bumper support so we can do the final alignment and start putting everything back together.

It'll be a busy few weeks, but we should be ready, and we're looking forward to the fun at Big White!

Big White Winter Rally

Oct 5/10 - The Island Storm team returned from Merritt Sunday with a battered race car and some new stories to tell.

Friday's night stages presented a little bit of everything for the guys, with dry dusty conditions setting the tone for the entire weekend. Less than a kilometer into SS1 they had to stop to pull a competitor's car out of the ditch, costing about a minute of precious time. Things went well as the night progressed until the second to last stage when Mike was overcome with a sudden and severe case of motion sickness. Shane had to drive the last stage and a half without the benefit of pace notes, which again added time to their run.

On Saturday morning - loaded up with Gravol and an anti-motion sickness patch - the rally headed to Dillard and Missezula, two new stages east of town. Near the end of Dillard 1 the car got away from Shane and took spin into a ditch where the front end of the car got punched in. Fortunately the damage was not serious enough to force the team out of the rally, and the guys were able to make some quick duct tape repairs and continue to the end, posting an 8th place finish for the day and 7th overall for the two legs of the rally.

All in all the guys are happy with the result, considering the circumstances - all the goals listed below were met, and after some repairs to the car they'll be ready to tear it up at the Big White Winter Rally in December.

Rally results >>>

9/10 - After a quiet summer, busy with things non-rally, the Island Storm crew is prepping for the Pacific Forest Rally, October 1 & 2, 2010, in Merritt BC. PFR is where we made our debut with the new car one year ago, finishing 14th overall in the WCRC regionals. After enjoying a good finish here in June, rallying over some of the same roads during the Mt Trials rally, the guys are looking to improve on their stage times, incur no penalties, and hopefully finish the rally with a top 10 position

Find out more here ...>>>

June 15/10 -The Island Storm team enjoyed a successful weekend in Merritt BC where we competed in the 2010 Mountain Trials Rally. The car and crew both performed well, turning in progressively faster times on each repeat stage as Shane gained confidence in the car and driving to the pace notes. But for a 10 second time penalty on SS1 we would have enjoyed our first ever top-5 overall finish, instead placing 6th overall/4th in class.

The rally seemed to run smoothly, without any problems - a fine testament to the dedication and hard work of the organizing committee and volunteers.

Next up for Island Storm is the Pacific Forest Rally, October 1 & 2, 2010.

Mar 9 /10 - The Island Storm team got home to Victoria on Monday after an exciting outing at the 2010 Doo Wops Rally Series in Aberdeen Wa. This was our first US rally, and it was a bit of an adjustment getting used to the different procedures used in the States, but everyone was helpful & encouraging so we soon got the hang of it.

Saturday saw us competeing on our first ever all-tarmac stages where the car hit speeds of 100 MPH! It was exciting & fun, although Shane said he isn't as comfortable on pavement as he is on gravel. We took a time penalty on the 2nd stage for hitting a chicane barrier, and took another penalty later in the day for a late check-in - these penalties were the difference between our 14th place finish for Doo Wops1, and what should have been a solid top-10.

Saturday's excitment highlight came late in the day when we put the car on its roof on the 13 Corners stage. We got into a corner a little too hot and caught the tires in a small ditch which flipped us over. By the time we got out of the car, a bunch of spectators had come out of the woods and they pushed the car back onto its wheels. Other than a broken rear window and a smashed spoiler, most of the damage was cosmetic so we changed a flat tire and continued on to finish the day.

Doo Wops 2 on Sunday went relatively smoothly, racing on some of the stages that were used in the 1980's for the WRC Olympus Rally. The roads offered a little bit of everything and were very slippery due to recent grading which added to the fun factor! We moved up a bit in the standings the second day and recorded a 12th place overall.

One of the highlights of our weekend was the help we received from our new friends Lou, Randee & Cara. We arrived in Aberdeen without a service crew and these three great people took it upon themselves to drive our truck to the service areas, look after our car, feed us lunch and make sure we had a good time. Their help was totally unexpected, but greatly appreciated!

Doo Wops will definitley be on our adgenda for 2011!

Oct 5/09 - The Island Storm Rally Team jumped back into Pro stage rally with a successful outing at the Pacific Forest Rally in Merrit BC. After picking up the new car in June, we spent quite a bit of time (and money), getting used to the car, and getting ready for PFR.

Fortunatley we were able to take the car to one auto X, and two IRC Rally X's before the rally in order to give it a good shake down and test our driver (Shane) and most of the systems. There were no big surprises so everything looked good for October.

Besides getting the car ready, we also had to get our CARS licenses, get HANS devices, update our first aid, get a medical exam (Mike), arrange time off work, get our entry in, hotel reservations, paint & letter the car, etc, etc. Surprisingly it all came together with no problems.

Aside from arriving to the start of SS1 5 minutes late ( we missed the turn off the highway in the dark), and losing boost half way through the last run through Helmer, our rally went very well. Each pass through the repeat stages was faster than the one before, and we took no other penalties, finishing 14th overall for the WCRC Regional event.

Owned and prepped by Peter Kopic, the '95 Subaru Impreza turbo had only two rallies on it and seemed to be a nice logical step up from our previous Impreza RS. We took the ferry to Vancouver one Sunday, liked what we saw, and took the car home that day. Now the pressure was on to get the car, and ouselves, ready for PFR in October...