If you’re up late this weekend you might notice some extra traffic on the backroads.
The Polar Bear Rally is happening this Saturday night.
The event, put on by the Maple Leaf Rally Club, is a navigational driving competition where rally cars drive through the night on area backroads. The exact route is not given to drivers until just before they set out.
Organizer Bruce Leonard spoke about how it differs from Rally of The Tall Pines
“Its not about speed, its about precision driving” said Leonard, “along the route, we have checkpoints, and the competitors don’t know where they are. It’s by those checkpoints that we judge how they’re doing because if they are early to that they can get a penalty as much as if they are late”
Leonard says each car has a navigator in the car and another test of the Rally is how well drivers work with their navigator.
Home base for the event is the Fish and Game club. Cars will set out every minute starting at 10PM.
The Rally lets the Police know ahead of time about the event and the speed limit set for the rally is always less then the regular set limit.
The Polar Bear Rally is the second event in the 2024 road rally championship. The length of the rally is 380 KM in three legs.
All cars must have snow tires to enter. Registration is through the Maple Leaf Rally Club website.
Entry fee is $100 and includes breakfast.
Leonard said last year about thirty cars took part.
