If you happen to go past the Prince George Airport on Sunday, check out the jumbo jet refueling compound near Boeing Road.
You're liable to see an assortment of Corvettes flexing their muscles as they nimbly duck around corners on an autocross course.
Corvettes North is hosting a weekend rally/show and shine, with as many as 75 Corvette owners from as far away as Winnipeg gathering in the city for the Canadian Council of Corvette Clubs (CCCC) event.
The cars will be on display for car enthusiasts to inspect Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Wood Wheaton Chevrolet Cadillac Hummer GMC on Highway 16 West. From there, the car owners will begin a scavenger hunt to various part of the city looking for clues to answer a sheet of 100 questions. Drivers will not be allowed to use global positioning system units on the hunt.
Corvettes North club president Dan Vandenbrink expects a good cross-section of Corvettes, with the exception of the early models built in the 1953-62 era. In Prince George, there are eight drivers who race Corvettes in the club.
"It's a Corvette club, but we have guys in Austin Minis, BMWs and Lotuses," said Vandenbrink. "We welcome anybody with a sports car, really."
The two autocross events are scheduled back-to-back on Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Spectators are invited to watch from Boeing Road as the cars race around the pylons.
"It's in a safe environment and it keeps racing on a racetrack where it belongs," said Vandenbrink. "The really fast guys will finish the course in a minute-and-a-half. There's not a lot of difference between the fast cars and the slower cars.
Prince George hosted a CCCC rally 12 years ago and the autocross was staged at the UNBC parking lot. In previous years, club events were held at the CN Centre parking lot or the pit area of the drag strip at Prince George Motorsports Park. But the hazards of trying to race at speed on rough surfaces or around light standards proved costly to at least one Corvette owner who crashed his car and this spring the club obtained permission to hold autocross events at the airport fuel station, which was just completed last year.
"Autocrossing really develops your driving skills and your sense of vehicle placement," said Vandenbrink. "After you've autocrossed for awhile your really know where your car is on the road and what your car is capable of. In an evasive manoeuvre you know what it can do."
The course includes chicanes, 90- degree corners and sweeping corners, with a longer section in the back straightaway. Vandenbrink says the out-of-towners who haven't raced there yet are in for a treat.
"It's a fantastic facility, the asphalt's clean and flat," he said.
