I just spoke with a trustworthy friend who lives just down the road.. He said "Maybe 4 cars look like they are even trying, the rest ...meh but If he wants put him in touch and I'll show him around and where to get decent beer." He works as a tree planter which is a very hard job and gets people from all over the world, all a bit crazy..But I have introduced him to Swedish and Finnish club rallying and shown him bits of Otago a couple of years ago when Paddon won overall in the Escort..So he has some idea of what GOOD rally is about...and what Canadian and US rally is as well----but it hasn't deterred him from building his own car...RWD as god intended.

His English is fine, (if only a bit twisted), his wit is excellent with huge doses of sarcasm and irony...September might be right on the edge of Autumn, and around there the colors are quite spectacular....So looks like you can't lose...Maybe be extra interesting to have somebody actually see a North American event in light of the little group of seriously self-deluded people in Calgary, Alberta (both his and my least favorite place in the entire country--4-5 guys who have just a handfull of rallies between them who have announced with some (BS) fanfare that they have established a "Study Group" to bring WRC to Canada") who are dreaming some fantasy of bringing a WRC event to Canada...based on their "experience" of regional event organising with usually 17-19 cars showing up--which they rave about as towering achievements.

(Alberta is "Like Texas, without the interesting characters.." Oil out in the boonies, sheer luck that nobody had anything to do with but which has affected most peoples minds making them think they're smart..Not just lucky" and is the weirdly heavily US style fundamentalist religious/conservative province... )

Stay in touch as the time gets nearer..