So what's with the number "24" on the STI? Other numbers come and go. This one is always there.
Jokingly, we say it's a number we put on the car for an event that's too hard to peel off.
It's true. Well, partially. On the back door glass there's an area dedicated to stickers from all the events this car has completed successfully. The "24" came from the one sticker that's missing: The Alcan 5000 Winter Rally. Alcan 5000 is a road rally of 5000km starting from Seattle, via the big foot camp within the arctic circle, to Anchorage, AK (map) over 10 days.
In 2016, dad and I participated in this event after about 3 months of preparation for the bitter winter of Alaska, and possibility of being stuck in snow storms without help. We kept "dog food" in the car as possible last resort. Car was equipped with giant yello fog lights, engine block heater, ham radio, external gas tank, etc. We got all the clothes and tools. And we even tested tire changing in cold weather at the paradise parking lot in Mountain Rainier. To get used to driving on snow and ice, I went to Canada for one of the Cars & Ices racing event on a frozen lake.
Aaaaand at last, we made it to the start day with other 26 teams including our friend Liang Xie (car #25) on 02/25/2016. We were car #24, and that's when the car carried this number for the very first time. I still remember the bright sunshine that morning on the way to the Totem Lake hotel.
As expected, the trip was long and challenging. As we travelled further and further north, temperature dropped quickly and road condition started to deteriorate. We lost this rally Audi team from an accident along the trip. It drifted into the ditch and sustained frame damage. Driver and co-driver were okay but car was unable to make it any further. We certainly hoped this would not happen to us.
The following trip was long but luckily eventless. Temperature dropped into minus, and fatigue overflow started to set in. Getting car started in the morning gradually became a thing to pray for. During the day we kept in touch with each other in the radio. It was fun chatting with everyone. The northern theme of black-and-white wilderness scenery was spectacular.
After a few days of long drive with interesting small TSD sections, we reached a small town in Northwest Territories, Canada called Yellowknife. We arrived at night. It was a small town very famous for watching the northern light. The hotel/restaurant/dry cleaning/aurora touring we stayed in was operated by a China family. Nice friendly people. I always wondered what brought them to this remote town. Before going to bed, I went out to grab my laptop from the car. After sitting in the car for a few dark hours, the macbook air laptop felt like a cold ice knife cutting through in my arms. Being -40F outside, inside the room it was a warm and quiet night. Unfortunately it was the last such night during this race for us.
The next day, 02/28, the rally teams stayed in Yellowknife for an ice race and ice road visiting.
The ice racing was fun in the morning. We had two laps of competition runs, and lots of fun runs. On the way back to the hotel for lunch, I noticed there's a knocking sound from the engine bay. We were guessing it could be some parts knocked loose during the race. Probably nothing serious to worry about. At hotel, dad took a long nap. Liang, his co-driver and I took the time to visit the ice road and a sculpture garden. There was also a coffee house that I wanted to visit. But close as we got there.
On the way back to hotel, I could still hear the "knocking" sound from the engine, as the concern piled up, I opened up radio channel and asked if anyone could help me figure it out. At the hotel parking lot, we ran into Mel Wade from car #26. He helped take a look about it, and identified that "it's from the motor". This turned out to be a rod knock in the engine. It's not an uncommon issue for Subaru engines, but happening right now meant we would not be able to continue the rally, and the car was stranded in this town, only about 1,500 miles from home. A few months later during the engine rebuild at Infront Automative, John told us the rod bearing was already in a bad shape coming into the rally from all the beat-up previously. That ice racing just pulled the final trigger. It was a blow to the morale. Months of preparation just went like that. Rally was over. And we were only 4 days in with 6 more days to go. However upset we were, what we really needed was a plan to move forward.
With the help of Mel, we found a warmhearted temporary home for the injured car. It would be picked up by a shipment truck 3 months later. Saying goodbye reluctantly, we jumped into Liang's jeep and continued on. We started to have some transmission issue with the jeep a day after leaving Yellowknife, and car #25 eventually also had to abort the rally right before the fleet entered Alaska. I always believe it's us the extra load from #24 that caused the #25 jeep's transmission to fail. That deep sorry still lingers till this day.
A few months later, while the STI was still sitting alone in the cold Yellowknife, the promise to take dad to the arctic circle was finally kept. Even though we didn't complete it with the car we planned, we took mom along this time instead, and we had a nice trip together.
A few month later, a shipment semi-trailer finally picked up the STI from Yellowknife. It was dropped off at Vancouver, BC, and was driven back into US till the first town past the border before being picked up by a towing truck. The #24 STI was finally going home.
The engine was eventually rebuilt by Infront Automative, and I got to see at last the failed rod bearing that swallowed the dream trip. Because officially we DNF (did not finish) the rally, almost all the stickers from this event were removed from the car. All but the two stickers of number 24. With the new engine, the car would continue to more racing events down the road with a stronger heart. The number "24" stays! The happy moments and the cold and sad reality from the Alcan trip would always persist as a great memory, and I'll forever cherish the great time and adventure spent with parents to the frozen land of arctic circle. Also I want to thank everyone during the trip for the support and help.
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And that is the story of the number "24". A part of me still believes this car will make it to the big foot camp some day.
Lastly, here's an awesome video made by the Nitto team (also the official tire sponsor for the 2016 event)
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