A [Slightly] Crushing Weekend

There are race weekends where everything goes exactly as planned. The car works, the stages go well, and you get to spend the whole day doing what you came to do.

And then there are weekends like Rallye-X des Draveurs 2026. 

After a five-hour drive from home the day before, we rolled into Blue Sea, QC, ready for a full day of rallying. The local organizing committee had everything prepared, the volunteers had the service area and the stages marked, the car was ready, the team was ready, and we were looking forward to getting out there to put another race weekend under our belts.

Unfortunately, the weekend had other plans and we put a different experience under our belts.

We made it through the first stage and headed into the second stage hoping to settle into the rhythm of the day. The countdown started, the car started to growl and we took off! Around a curve, down a hill, around a hairpin, up a hill and then... "That hurt!"... "Ooooh, this is going to hurt!"

We had cut a corner a little too much, hit a bump that sent the passenger side airborne, and prevented gripping to make the next corner. We went directly into the dirt pile on the far side of the curve, which caused us to roll. The good news is the most important part: everyone was okay. No injuries, no trip to the hospital, just some shaken nerves and a car that was definitely not having a good day.

The bad news? Our race day was over before it really had a chance to begin.

It's hard not to be disappointed. You don't drive five hours from home, unload the car, get suited up, and head to the start line hoping to spend only a couple of stages on the road. We came to race. We came to have fun. We came to finish the day.

Instead, we were packing things up far earlier than planned.

That's racing.

As frustrating as it is, we're trying to keep the right perspective. Cars can be fixed. Race weekends can be missed. What matters most is that everyone walked away from this one.

There will definitely be some lessons to take from this one, and plenty of work waiting for us back in the garage. That's part of why we do this. Every weekend teaches us something, even when the lesson isn't the one we were hoping for.

Rallye-X des Draveurs 2026 wasn't the weekend we wanted, but everyone went home safe, and we'll be back.