Tarmac Trial Report

It had been a long, hot summer in Nova Scotia. Wild fires had closed down access to the woods and to hiking and cycling trails, smoke filled the air and there seemed no respite from the heat. Rain? One of my friends reported he had forgotten where the wiper switch was in his car.

So when we saw a forecast of rain for the day of the Tarmac Trial, we were wondering why the much-needed precipitation couldn’t have held off just another 18 hours to give us a dry event. I’m a firm believer that challenging weather conditions play a big part in rallying, but with half of the entry list made up of newcomers to the sport, we were wondering if the weather gods were against us. Experiencing a shower or two on our way to the start control seemed to confirm that.

Nevertheless, 10 enthusiastic teams appeared at the Hants Border Community Hall for a 1345 car 0 start for this 160-odd km tour through the eastern Annapolis Valley. A hall booking mix-up had us scrambling for a few moments, but we were able to get everyone set up and tested on the Richta Competitor app, conduct a crew briefing and a short Novice school before everyone headed to their cars for the start.

And the rain continued to hold off…

Everyone started on time and after packing up the start control, we ran into a couple of crews at the odo check and everything seemed to be going as planned. The Richta Scoreboard app gave us the ability to see the cars proceed along the route so it was quite easy to see where there might be problems with route following. But so far, so good. Everyone seemed to be quickly in the groove.

Matt and Chris in the GR Corolla have won the Novice class at every event this year, but we watched the classic Porsche 924 of Jay and Olivia lead the way in the class for much of the Tarmac Trial. Could it be that a crew on their very first rally could take on and beat a much more experienced, albeit Novice, team? Like all things in rally, time would tell. Tara and Shelby were hanging in there towards the top of the standings, while the other new crews were putting in amazing performances on their first road rally.

Meanwhile, Clarke and Rylee in the Subaru were putting a stamp on the Experienced class with some stellar work by a Novice navigator sitting right seat for an Experienced driver. This team has figured in every event during the 2025 road rally season and the Tarmac Trial was no different. The Two Chris’s (with a similar Experienced driver/Novice navigator crew) in the Volvo were there or thereabouts until a couple of missed CPs put paid to their victory chances.

As we got closer to the finish, the 924 (having developed an overheating issue which Jay was managing) was still leading the Novice class until an unfortunate off-course detour resulted in a drop down the order. We were gutted for them of course, but that’s rally. This let Matt and Chris sneak through for the win, while Tara and Shelby bounced back from a disappointing Midwinter Moon (their only other event this year) for a fine second place. The new team of Elie and Jacob in that beautiful BMW M3 gathered the final podium place. All the Novice teams were very closely matched and this type of competition bodes well for the future of the sport.

Clarke and Rylee held on for the win in Experienced with “Chris Squared” in second. Clarke and Rylee also take over the top spot in the 2025 Experienced class Championship!

Just as the last team arrived at the King’s Arms Pub in Kentville for the finish control, the heavens opened. All of us were as happy for the rain as we were for a successful rally. Thanks to Richta, the scores were already computed and we were able to toast the crews and enjoy some excellent refreshment and food. We were all engaged in rally-focused chatter around the pub. For me, this is always the highlight of a road rally – great stories and camaraderie, regardless of the result, at the finish. Many crews expressed their excitement for the next rallies to come. All things considered, it was a hell of a rally.

You can check our Results/Standings page for the overall results and the updated 2025 championship standings. Up next is the Richta-scored Lost in Lunenburg Rally starting in Indian Point on October 18. That’s the last event of the 2025 season and we hope to see all of the teams from previous events there to keep their championship hopes alive.

Finally: have you ever thought about organizing a road rally for your motorsports club, car club or organization? Let’s chat about that in our next blog post and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction!