La Grande Ballade du VEA

23& 24 of August 2003

by Bob Forest your roving reporter

Saturday morning August 23rd, 7:30 am we were parked in front of the Boudrias home. By 7:45 am we were on our way to the Oka Ferry. On arrival at the parking, other VEA cars were waiting for the ferry to depart for Oka.

A 15 minute wait and we were all on our way for Oka. I must say, also a beautiful morning, a few sail boats were out on the water, as the wind was coming up.

On arrival we headed for our meeting and the starting line of the Rally of the Grande Ballade. Coffee, Croissants, were waiting for us, all compliments of the Restaurant Le Plein Air d'Oka, and the owner Mrs. France Lemay. What a nice way to start a day.

Jean Jacques had everything ready and the classic cars started at 9 am sharp with 2 minute intervals between cars. There is not enough room to show you the 18 page booklet that was handed out to each driver. The cover had a picture of Ken Carlton and his wife Paulette in their XK 120 Jag. The hill climb on Sunday is in his honor with a trophy named the Ken Carlton Trophy. As we all know, Ken loved to drive his Jag, and loved the VEA events.

This booklet is the work of Isabelle and Jean Jacques Treyvaud; I cannot imagine the amount of work that had to go in the preparation of this event. It was and is, very appreciated by the attending members.

In my case, Helen did the driving and I was the navigator. I must admit that after the rally which consisted of a distance of 255.5 kilometers. It was in two parts, with a lunch break in St. Donat at the Hayes Restaurant with tables reserved for our group of drivers and navigators. A wonderful light lunch was enjoyed by all the members, and then at 2:30 pm, we were off again. Jean Jacques was again at the start with cars leaving at the 2 minute intervals.

I was glad that Helen was doing the driving, as the roads were very twisty, with hills and valleys and beautiful views. Many lakes in these areas. The benefit of being a navigator was I could look at all these beautiful views of areas I had never been in. I kept telling Helen not to look, as it was very important for her to see where she was going and that I would tell her when the rally is over, the sights I saw. She did a wonderful job and I am sure she enjoyed it.

All of the cars arrived at l'Auberge de la Montagne Coupee, safe and sound. It was on arrival that we saw the other important person running this event, Isabelle was there taking the booklet with all the questions answered and the time of arrival.

Then we were directed to the parking reserved for us. I kept saying to myself, how much time did these two take to organize this, and we were only on our first day. The evening and Sunday was still to come. What other surprises would they have for us?

We all checked in to our rooms, and then headed back out to the parking and talked cars. Everything was there. Citroen DS, Traction, Deux Chevaux, Peugeots, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, MG's, B's,GT's and A's, Fiat Spiders, Morris Minor Woody, and there was one European car, that looked like a classic, it was red with dual mufflers, a name that none of us had seen before, a Moritacco, which is supposed to be better than a Ferrari, yet looking closer, it said, made in the USA. I saw our president was driving this red sleek car, which turned out to be a beautiful Pontiac Fiero GT.

That evening, we all met at a bar set up for us, and we were served an aperitif Pineau des Charentes, which was sponsored by Mme Julie Bertrand de la Maison LCC Vins et Grand Marnier Lapostolle.

At 8pm we all headed for the beautiful dining room, and again all the tables reserved for our group. On the fireplace mantle was our Club Laminated Poster.

Everyone complimented the meal, it was delicious, and during the time the deserts and coffee were served, Richard Boudrias and Jean Jacques Treyvaud gave out the prizes. A beautiful gesture, was giving a nice gift to my wife Helen for being the only female driver. Again the VEA does it right.

It was then that the winner of the Rally was announced and it was Bara's driving his Peugeot and in second place were the Bernards.Congratulations to all of you.

Then some of us after the supper, headed outside to see the cars, and later headed for bed.

The next morning, Sunday, we had breakfast, and then after started practicing the run for the hill climb. Many of us tried it 3 or 4 times, which was a lot of fun.

Isabelle was at the bottom of this 900 meter long hill with a vertical of 80 meters. So it was very steep and many curves. Jean Jacques was at the finish line and took the times (Helen also helped him with this, thinking it would help my times). As many cars were of different horse power, everyone had an equal chance with the way it was done.

We had to pick our average speed, before we attempted the run. So if you said 20 miles an hour, you had two chances to do your average pick. The winner of this was Jean Baptiste Rosay and his DS 19 and in second place was Germain Cornet with his Alfa GTV. Third place went to Couchoud in his CX. Congratulations.

We left about 11:30 am and headed back to Kirkland. Arrived home safe and sound and my thoughts went back to this wonderful weekend.

I want to thank Dominic Fortier who was our Guardian Angel, if any of us were in trouble, he had the big Range Rover, to meet and help us. This was sponsored by Tom Exploration Inc.

Again Jean Jacques and Isabelle, you did a weekend that will remain in our memories.

By the way, we had 18 cars in the Ballade and 14 in the Hill Climb, plus many more that came to the Auberge. That is an excellent turn out and says something about events that are organized by Jean Jacques and Isabelle.

Thank you and till next year's Grande Ballade.

©VEA