1 of 6
Courtesy of Andrew Comrie-Picard
2 of 6
Picasa
3 of 6
Picasa
4 of 6
Picasa
5 of 6
Picasa
6 of 6
Courtesy of Andrew Comrie-Picard
Interview by Perry Mack, photos courtesy of Andrew Comrie-Picard
Arctic Blast - North of the Arctic Circle in a Jeep Wrangler
Born in Edmonton, AB, Andrew Comrie-Picard has gone on to be one of Canada’s great competitive exports, racing and winning, cars and trucks across Canada and the US. We spoke to him after recently finishing the Alcan 5000, a 7500 km rally across the Great White North, a route that encompasses Grimshaw, Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Fairbanks with a finish in Anchorage, AK - with a side expedition to Tuktoyaktuk, the northernmost community in Canada at roughly 560 km north of the Arctic circle. Most importantly, he and his team completed it a stock Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
4WD: You’ve rallied in Canada, and around the world, what was unique about this race?
ACP: For one thing you’re in such a vast beautiful faraway area, and compared to everywhere else I’ve raced, you’re away from support. It’s a more vehicle dependent expedition. You really are forced to depend more on your vehicle, its parts and on yourself, more than anywhere else. Even in the Baja 1000, where we won our class, you have support rigs running around. This is quite a contrast to being in the Arctic where there is no support. At the end of the race, we did a four-day side trip to Tuktoyaktuk and there was no support what so ever. Quite a big difference.
4WD: Is this the first time you’ve rallied in a Jeep?
ACP: Yes, this is the first time I’ve done anything competitively in a Jeep although I’ve done lots of wheeling in the past. I love the Jeep Wrangler in particular.
4WD: Why the Jeep?
ACP: It’s different when you’re in a proper 4-wheel drive. For the type of terrain we went through, the deep snow and through the wilderness it’s by far the best vehicle.
4WD: If you did it again, what would you change? Any modifications to the Jeep?
ACP: Interestingly we only made a few modifications to the Jeep. We added auxiliary fuel tanks and we put on BFGoodrich’s All-Terrain T/A® KO2s. They are great in the winter on the ice and snow. We did also add some Rigid auxiliary lights in the front. The Wrangler is so well engineered out of the box, especially the Rubicon, with the locking front and rear diffs and the disconnecting sway bar, we didn’t need to add anything else.
4WD: For this style of race, did you have to push the Jeep very hard, four-wheel drifts through the corners, that style of racing?
ACP: We did get a bit of sideways up near Yellowknife, and the Jeep Wrangler handles remarkably well. It’s not designed to be like a Mitsubishi Evo or Subaru STI but it’s not too far off, and we didn’t even touch its off-road capabilities. We just used it to make sure we always had traction on the ice roads and climbing around the snow near Tuktoyaktuk.
4WD: Tell me about your most memorable moments during the race?
ACP: We finished 5th overall in the solo ice trials which was pretty remarkable as we were up against low slung BMW’s, Evo’s and Subaru’s – all on full winter tires or studded tires. We were in a Jeep Wrangler on All Terrains – that was a highlight.
Then in the post-race trip as we traveled the Dempster Highway, there was a double tanker semi-trailer that had just been blown over by a 123 km/h side wind.
And finally, when we drove on the Beaufort Sea, which for me as a Canadian was kind of a Northwest ‘right of’ Passage, as we actually drove on the ocean to get to Tuktoyaktuk.
My team mates (Brad Lovell, Chris Komar) and I were all blown away by going beyond the end of the road, looking off to the horizon, and realizing the next thing is Russia.
4WD: What kind of pre-race prep did you do for yourself?
ACP: We took survival gear, so we had to organize that. We took a can of dog food for emergency rations. As they say, if you take granola bars you might eat them anytime, but if you take dog food you only eat it when you really need it.
4WD: What kind of pre-race prep for the Jeep?
ACP: Virtually nothing. We got the Jeep the day before, put on the tanks, the lights and changed the tires.
4WD: Any maintenance issues with Jeep?
ACP: None, no problems at all.
4WD: Any driving tips to share?
ACP: I’ve won every major national snow rally in North America, and can tell you from experience that this is the most extreme driving on ice you can possibly do. We drove on the Mackenzie River, the Beaufort Sea, the Dempster Hwy, the Alaska Hwy, the Dalton Hwy– all the gnarly places.
The key to driving icy roads is to be absolutely gentle, no hard braking, no sharp steering input, just smooth, smooth, smooth.
The next most important skill is always look where you want to go. The whole body has a tendency to steer where you’re looking. People on motorcycles and bicycles do it intuitively. Drivers have a tendency to look at the things they don’t want to hit. Don’t hit that rock, don’t hit that car, don’t hit that tree – it’s a terrible mistake. Always look at where you want to go and your whole body, your whole soul will move the vehicle there.
And the third tip I’ll share is that the road right in front of you is already done. You can’t react quickly enough you to do anything about that bit of road. Look as far as you can ahead. We say ‘eyes up’, meaning that you should look way down the road, and the road in front of you will take care of itself.
4WD: Last Thoughts?
ACP: If you love adventure, and you love a challenge, and you have a natural desire to get to the end of the road, or in this case beyond it, I recommend everybody fulfill that desire and go to the end of the road, and beyond.