Rally Norway!

Last weekend was a big weekend for race fans here in Norway. The World Rally Championship was held in and around Hamar, which is in the eastern part of Norway north of Oslo and right by Lillehammer, which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. This isn't NASCAR, though, where, as a comedian once put it, you get to watch thirty rednecks turn left for four hours. This is an off-road, cross country racing experience. They race under all sorts of different conditions. In Hamar in February that means driving on several inches of ice over courses you've never seen with all sorts of twists and turns as fast as you can.
Norway is home to a number of race fans, including our friend Eirik, who organized this trip. Norwegian fans were really excited because it was a sort of audition for a permanent slot on the rally circuit. The RallyPass I received in the mail began with the proclamation (bold, all caps) that "I WAS HISTORIC!" because I was going to be a part of this. I had fun, sure, but I don't feel any different now that it's over. Inki had no interest in being historic or standing out in a foot of snow for hours looking at cars speed by, but she went along for the road trip and the chance to be a tourist in Hamar and Lillehammer over the weekend.
Here is a picture from one of the forest stages. As you can see, we're right next to the action in the snow. They actually had helicopters flying the courses to make sure no one was on the trail before the drivers started, and a couple of times we spectators had to help push cars out of snowbanks they had run into taking a turn too fast.

The drivers had to drive from stage to stage just like we did, so here we are getting passed on the way to the next stage.

Here's the next stage:

As you can see, Norwegian flag-wavers were out in force for their countrymen, brothers Petter and Henning Solberg, who finished fourth and third respectively. Two Ford drivers, Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) and Marcus Grönberg (Germany) finished first and second. The whole affair was a big success for the organizers and fans, and I expect the world rally circuit will be making regular stops here in the near future.
The drive back over the mountains was an experience in itself for me since I have very little experience with lots of snow and none with driving on half a foot of ice. Bergen weather is like Seattle's, if a bit colder, but nothing like you get inland and at high elevation. The most important thing is to have good winter tires (with prongs to dig into the ice). The second most important thing is not to put yourself in a position where you have to rely on your brakes. There's actually much less snow there now than is usual for this time of year -- I hear that usually it's like driving through the maze in "The Shining" with six-foot walls of snow on either side of you. That was OK by me -- this way we could get out places and take some nice pictures:



It's really eerie and mystical to drive in all this snow after dusk. The snow holds the light long after sundown and the whole world glows in this ethereal blue color. Driving (at night) through the snowy woods on the way to Hamar, Eirik's brother remarked that there was a point where he was unnerved by the thought that the wood was somehow enchanted and full of foreboding. It's easy to see where he would get that from.