Luckily, I sampled both experiences and it brought back warm memories of the last rally yours truly attended, which was the famous RAC Lombard Rally in Great Britain back in the mid 1980s.

Mind you, back then it was anything but warm, as it was run on a very cold winter's evening in the Forest of Dean on the Welsh border. The Pacific event has its own lengthy history, more than 40 years of motor sport on challenging logging roads, weathering the elements in our magnificent forests.

On arrival, I soon spotted rallying legend John Buffum, who owns Libra Racing, with his 2003 Hyundai Tiburon all-wheel drive car.

Buffum of Colchester, Vt., is the most successful American rally driver of all time with 11 national pro-rally championship titles and 117 pro-rally victories. Another legend, Taisto Heinonen, the Team Toyota works car driver who became a five-time Canadian champion and three-time North American champion, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, was also there.

Heinonen's car was prepared at Abingdon Motors in Vancouver,

Before the serious stuff started, I went out in a 2004 Subaru WRX with none other than the 2005 North American Rally Championship winner.

My pilot, Matthew Iorio from the U.S., won first place overall for the weekend's events. But let's not get carried away -- I wasn't in the passenger seat at the time. The success was more to do with the skills of Iorio and navigator Ole Holter.

It was fun riding with Iorio, but I'm afraid it was a one-off thrill. Rallying consumes vast sums of money, which I don't have. Demolition derby is probably the only motor sport I could afford.

The Princeton night stage took place on Friday evening. By the time the first cars came through the spectator area, it was dark.

The location offered some interesting situations as the cars came off a gravel logging road on to blacktop, negotiating a 90-degree right-hand corner.

Flames from the tailpipes of the turbocharged cars lit up the sky. One of the VW Golfs lost a wheel. After that stage was over, the driver asked if anyone had a flashlight so that he could look for his wheel!

The cars then moved back into town to a parking lot of the Railyard Shopping Mall. One of the faster Subarus exited the parking lot taking a sharp 90-degree right-hand corner onto the street. Travelling at such a speed, the driver had such a hard time negotiating the corner that the front of the car mounted the curb and the front of the car was pointing skyward as it drove up the guide wire of a telephone pole -- a photo op missed by all!

Three more stages took place on Saturday, the first two in the forest. The third, which I enjoyed, was the Active Mountain super special on the Merritt Mountain Music festival site.

The spectators' viewpoint looked down into the valley where the cars looked like bugs buzzing around. The action was on the hill-climb leg where the cars climb a steep grade with some exciting corners as they worked their way out of the valley.

Due to the very dry conditions, the dust was quite extensive.

You have to be careful as these cars are travelling at such high speeds that the almost cantaloupe-size rocks and boulders are flying in all directions.

All 31 entrants had a great time, although some did not finish and went home with broken cars.

I think the two that had the most fun were novice class entrants, driver Houston Peschl and navigator Brad Nurse from Calgary. They had entered my kind of car -- the good old reliable Swedish brick,a 1983 Volvo 240 Turbo. The previous rally was their first and they rolled the Volvo. Not a problem--they simply rolled it back onto its wheels and off they went with hardly a mark on the bodywork.

Merritt has to be applauded for supporting the rally since 2001. An event like this certainly could not take place without the support of the community, local ranchers and merchants. Canadian Tire was one of the major supporters and provided their parking lot, which became rally central and the pit area. Working on a nice blacktop surface was quite a treat compared to some of the gravel surfaces that have been the pit area in years past.

There are two events, operated under the auspices of the B.C. section of the Canadian Association of Rally Sport held each year in Merritt.

Check www.pacificforestrally.com, for information or if you would like to be part of the action by becoming a volunteer or steward.

Nigel Matthews is the manager of specialty vehicles (vintage and collector cars) for the Insurance Corp. of B.C.