As the marketing guys for one of the Canadian sports channels used to say in their spots: Real Cars, Real Roads, Real Fast. Or something to that effect!

The Rally of the Tall Pines, or Tall Pines as it is known has historically been the final round of the Canadian Rally Championship. It is one of the longest (if not THE longest) running performance rallies in North America. Some of the greatest names in rallysport have come to Ontario cottage country to compete in one of the toughest events in the sport.

The 2007 running of Tall Pines takes place this weekend, beginning in Bancroft, Ontario. If you have never seen top flight rally cars in action, then it is well worth the 2 hour drive north of Toronto on Saturday. If you look hard, you might even find guys like Andrew Harvey and Warwick Patterson st the side of the road with you working their magic with the camera!

Last year, our man Jaimie made the trip and you can see his photos here.

I’m on a road test today in a mildly modified 350Z, with the customer in the passenger seat when he says “so….what kind of racing do you do?” I was a bit taken aback and said I hadn’t raced in years, but had driven a performance rally car and solo 1. Why do you ask? How do you know I raced? His reply: “because I’ve never driven with anyone who shifts so smoothly when driving fast”.

I think I’ll take that as a compliment.