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Apr 17, 2017 22:53:41 GMT
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Firstly, here's a little background. I'm a member of the Ulster Vintage Car Club (UVCC). It's a competitive club for people to muck about with pre-war sports cars. I used to compete at most of the events but a lack of working car and increase in the demands of work have kept me from "playing" much over the last couple of years. About three and a half years ago the Competition Secretary of the club (yeah they have names like that) asked my dad and I, in a pinch, if we wouldn't mind putting together the Autumn Rally (October 2013 then, I think), and, oh, could it be done in three weeks? Actually, what happened is we heard it was going to be cancelled as nobody had come forward to organise it. At that time my Austin was broken (as per usual) and we said, how hard could it be? Well, pretty hard, but once Peter the C.S. had heard those words we were handed all the paraphernalia and told to get on with it... Which we did. And set a fairly involved navigation rally complete with running in sections, regularity section, an opt-out package for the less competitive drivers to escape the harrowing afternoon section, and even organised venues and menus for breakfast, lunch and an evening bite to boot (something that wasn't actually required but we decided to aim high). So recently, whoever it was that had said they were going to plot the Spring 2017 rally pulled out... with 5 weeks on the board. So Peter phoned me and put it to me... and I said I would talk to my dad and we would think it over and let him know that weekend. He saw my dad that weekend and buttered him up ("came to the rescue before... ...ran with military precision...") and I was up for the challenge anyway so we talked ourselves into it. It's taking place on May 6th and rallies go to this format: they are on a Saturday, usually from around 10am-4pm give or take an hour either end. There's from 15 to 25 entries, split into classes. The classes are A - pre 1931 non-sporting cars, B - pre 1931 sporting cars, C - 1931-1939 sporting cars or modified class A/B, D/E - anything built before 1951 to the same design as a pre-war, i.e. MG stuff, or Dellows which are a strange Ford Y based thing, or any other oddity. One guy used to bring out a Fiat Topolino in class E. They are always navigation rallies, run on open public roads adhering to all normal laws, and before anyone asks, totally insured, and logged with the MSA. That all said (written), here is where we are up to:   We are running around the same areas as before but keeping it much tighter, and it crosses over and over itself. Partly the plan is to have them all criss-crossing and on top of each other, and partly to make it easier on us to set and manage. The first thing to do is to roughly decide where to start, finish and stop for lunch. Those are half planned but the finish point we used last time, a local roadside inn/hotel, has new management and the previous owner that I knew has moved on. So the new ones wanted to charge room hire on top of looking guarantees of numbers for an evening meal (also paid for) on top of having the bar open... they were sticking the hand in basically, so I told them as much (politely). So new venue required to finish off. In the meantime we plotted the checkpoints along the road at safe places so that wherever the gathering hole is for lunch or the end, the distances and plotting points wont move so we can get on with setting that. |
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Apr 17, 2017 23:20:39 GMT
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We split the rally up into four sections, which all have different methods of setting the route. It is up to the navigator to do the work of finding the correct route, and up to us how difficult we make that. Last time we were pretty lenient in the morning and broke them in with "tulips" followed by a "regularity" given in the form of a "tracing". Tulips are little arrows showing the route, with intermediate and cumulative distances beside. A trip meter is required as any junctions where you don't turn are not marked. For this you are supposed to follow the tulips as provided, not the map, but keep the map handy for reference. We use OS maps but they sometimes are not 100% up to date and can show unbuilt or long since gone roads. A Regularity is a section where you have to maintain an average speed, to arrive at a set time. All sections are timed, but the regularity requires sticking to the average because somewhere along it someone will be waiting to time you to make sure you are on target with the average. If you go hard until just shy of the finish point then sit around the corner and wait until your due time before appearing at the Time Control, it's cheating. People used to do that so last time we stuck someone in the middle of it to check their times (an Intermediary Time Control - ITC) - and we'll do the same again, that way if they try that cheat they will get penalised. A Tracing is a line route drawn out on a piece of tracing paper. It starts from where it says it does, but it could be reversed, upside down etc - you have to find the route on the map and follow it, and the finish would typically be at the end of the line. They can be a bit easy IMO but some people find them hard. They're time consuming to do so we're not doing them this time. Instead, I'm setting a "Herringbone". This is an absolute stinker of a plot method and hasn't been used for some time, but we decided very early on that we are going to make this rally a real challenge, a real brutal one they will struggle with. I'll come back to the Herringbone later. So, sections... There are four for this. Morning section 1, timed Tulips. This will be followed (permission pending) by a "Driving test" which is just their name for an Autotest. It's a chance for the driver to blow off some steam, and custom has it that there are at least a couple during the rallies to break them up. Morning section 2 will be the timed Herringbone(s) to take everyone to lunch. After lunch, Afternoon section 1 will be a timed map route, which is basically orienteering for car people. Pass this spot height, through this grid-line, under the bridge, through this grid reference (6, 8 or 10 digit reference) and/or any other map symbols you can find to make them go the way you want. There are plenty of ENE 895914 WSW type things (entry direction, grid ref, exit direction) and other things to push them. For this you have to follow the mapping course and not the road. Afternoon section 2 will be a further map route but under a regularity, so while it's still a wiggly way to go round all the backroads and never be more than five miles away from my house, you have to maintain a certain speed as best you can and with a checkpoint along it somewhere that you don't know the reference for, it's a difficult bit. At the start and end of all these sections, there are checkpoints. Rules say that they have to "open" 30 minutes before the first car due, and "close" 30 minutes after the last car is due. If not all cars pass by, you have to wait the full time, if all the cars go through, then you can "close". So obviously TC1, which is the start, everyone should leave (at one minute intervals) so you can close that immediately and get on with making your way to somewhere else. Each section has a time, 49 minutes, 32 minutes etc - Nav rallies have long long stages unlike a closed rally which is more like 10-15 minutes, maybe half an hour, but of course ours are way, way slower too! So we have to drive all the sections, work out appropriate speeds for old cars albeit racing cars, and set all times, thereby working out when each TC has to open and close...  Then you have the issue of getting Marshals to cover each checkpoint, and making sure they have time to move from one to another after closing until before another one opens... I think I can do TC1 out start myself, close that up and have twenty five minutes to be at TC4 which is 4 miles away directly before it's due open, meanwhile the cars will have traveled 45 miles around the country for two hours passing two other TCs with other Marshalls, and possibly an untimed route check (RC) just to make sure they are going the right way and not cutting corners... Marshal numbers and pressure levels both took a hit this evening as my dad handed me all the papers and said he's not going to participate any further. I considered ringing the CS and pulling the plug, but I'm not wired that way, although I know it's just got ten times harder. Sigh. |
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This takes me back to the '80s when I was a member of a VCC here in New Zealand and did many rallies as navigator in a friend's '36 Morris 8. We had a whole bunch of fun and the odd hairy moment like when she shot a three span single lane bridge at 60 mph and a Rover P6B had to back off in a hurry. I thoroughly recommend this sort of rally to all who might have the opportunity to have a go.
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alecf
Part of things
Posts: 424 
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Apr 19, 2017 20:03:41 GMT
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Got a few friends who organise a few. Done a hit of Marshalling and assisting over the year. Mainly on the tour brittania.
Done the odd road rally (as a driver)
Without volunteers there would be point blank no motorsport yet when you mention to people about helping out they all find better things to do.
When I was not racing the other year as I was building a new car I Marshalled when ever I could.
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Apr 25, 2017 10:07:09 GMT
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Next step. Herringbone. When my little sister was staying with me over Easter I threw her in the back of the car and drove round the countryside saying Miss Left, Miss Right (where is she?) at every junction or turn, leaving a notebook to work from with a few extra notations for accuracy.  Then that had to be turned into a "herringbone". This is tricky kind of navigation as your route is the straight line and you "miss" a road on the side there is a stub on. So a T junction where you turn left is shown as miss a road to the right. Halfway up you can see > which is miss two roads on the left which is actually in reality a right turn at a crossroads.  This has been timed as well so they will be presented with this diagram (once refined) and given a due time. There is a manned route check at an intersection halfway along it. Because these are tricky they will be given the map reference for that route check so they can at least know if they are on track, however its a lovely three way junction so if they don't follow the route they may well approach from the wrong direction and get some penalty points. Missing it altogether is a lot more points though. Considering giving the classes different times for this section as well. Will keep them tighter by making the faster, later cars arrive sooner, rather than them all ending up strung out. This is the later morning section so lunch stop follows this, so better to get them all finishing closer together. Will make for a busy Checkpoint 4, but it's me doing that one so that'll be ok. Section 3, afternoon, is done with map reference, using grid-lines, spot heights, and any other navigation symbols you care to include. The trick is to make it tricky...  It's all logic though. A rule is you aren't allowed to cross a spot height that isn't detailed. So if I give a SH:18 and it's two miles away, and the main road has a .39 on it, you can't cross that, so you have to locate another route around it. Some map references have a direction for entry or exit so you have to find a way to come in from that side, like NNE348246WSW. You can also use gridlines - cross 84E, 60N, 85E. If you put those on separate lines then you can cross other gridlines in between. If you write them "84E 60N 85E", on the same line, then you must cross only those gridlines, in that order. Again it's all timed. There's enough information to make only one route correct, but still look like there are several choices, and then of course you have to actually find those roads in real life once you've plotted them before setting off. Having been a navigator before I know some of what I'm doing and enjoy making it as obtuse as possible. Re-used some of the notes from the last time as they're using part of the same route, but made it more awkward where possible. Late Afternoon section is even better. Location for driving test (autotest interlude) #1 confirmed yesterday. |
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Apr 25, 2017 14:06:42 GMT
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Having done only one rally set by a sadist, I hate you. On the other hand, I love maps and had a whale of a time getting lost. So ignore my first line!  As I said earlier, it's really interesting to see how the "sadist" works. |
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Apr 25, 2017 15:35:40 GMT
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Hi, This takes me back to the mid 70s and 12 car rallies with a 10pm start, with a mate and I in a Mk1 Cortina GT and I was only the driver. Thinking we are doing well and a competitor comes up fast behind with 4 Cibies on main beam and passing us in his BDA engined 100E like we weren't there, considering it was only a car and a half wide 'B' road we nearly weren't. A lot of work so well done.
Colin
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Apr 28, 2017 10:05:20 GMT
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This is the location of one of the manned (marshals pending) route checks -   If they get lost, there is three roads converging here. They start 6 miles north of here, and these roads come in from North-East, North West, and South East. It's the SE one they are supposed to come in by, so if they get lost and come down to this point they will likely come in the wrong road. Also along the herringbone they have to of course pass all the junctions they don't use - this one is hard to spot as it barely looks like a road. We had to drive back and find it as it's on the map but we missed it... it looks like a lane IRL.  And there's loads of places like this, turn right here, then do a loop so they come up the road in front of us and turn right at the junction you can just see there. They'll be seeing their competitors all over the place, lots of crossing over and close-bys. They could then decide to just skip that bit and drive forward and take left, but then they'll miss the route check board that will up the road on the right, and so we'll know that they took the wrong route...  It's getting near crunch time and still waiting on somewhere to confirm if they can supply venue for lunch or the finish, pressure mounting! |
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Apr 29, 2017 12:46:53 GMT
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Trust you'll be giving us a rally report as well?
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Of course! Two days to go. Confirmed on Monday the lunch stop location. Confirmed today location for a finish location comprising an autotest to go out on a high. The rally is run so tight and strict and targeted that it seemed right to have a quick little autotest at the end to release some pent up frustration, speed and adrenaline. Yesterday I got a list of the volunteers for marshaling. Not late notice or anything but quite pleased, a couple of well experienced people came forward so pressure definitely eased. Rang them all and two of them were bringing their other halves so effectively double teams, those are even better as they can be more useful. The one guy coming on his own had wanted to enter but his son/navigator was away with work so he was to double check and get back to me today. So last night I spent a long while planning out open/close times on each checkpoint and route check and seeing who could manage each. Of course I couldn't finalise until that one guy let me know if he was actually available or not.  My biggest worry is that I have to stand up and do the drivers briefing. Haven't done that before... Today I found out that that marshal would be free for sure. The Comp. Sec. rang me and said one team had pulled out as well, but the navigator was free to marshal as well. Being as enterprising as possible, I suggested he link those two and see if they wanted to form up a team and take that vacant slot. They decided not to, so we now have four marshal teams, plus my dad, me, and a couple of my friends so 7 in total - and having been wary of a lack of volunteers, we had meticulously planned the times out that actually we could manage with four. So we're going to take it easy, my dad can do photos all day and maybe just one of the checkpoints, and I can just set them off and run around making sure everyone else is ok, making sure they get the right spots. I've already been round mapping out checkpoint locations, driving up roads like this:  to reach locations like this:  and route checks which are just to ensure they are going the right way...  At the minute my dad is compiling and printing off the entrant packs, which contain the mapping instructions for all four sections, a route card to get times and signatures from the marshals, an instruction/introduction page (sneakily containing some key information) and their number. Also he is making up the checkpoint packs, which are pictures of the location, photocopies of the map with location/ grid reference very clear, times to be open from and to, and a time card to fill in the time each car comes past. There will be one of these made up for each route control and checkpoint, and as we have an extra marshal, we are making a couple of extra Route Controls in case we have the chance to use them. This is how we plan a rally, we already have times and locations marked down along the routes when we spotted any good locations for a checkpoint along the way when driving it out. So we have all the information needed to make a couple of extra spots. |
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Also yesterday my dad came up and we plotted out where the best locations for the route checker letters would be.
We have ten in total, three of which are negative (i.e. wrong letters, placed on the wrong routes in places that the entrants might choose to skip a section).
My dad printed out the letters on A4, and then stapled them to the posts we got from the club along with the 40-odd cones and a couple of fire extinguishers.
Those letter boards I have to place around the route and as I'm not free tomorrow evening, I'll either have to do them during work tomorrow or in the middle of the night! Not shady at all. That is a consideration I need to ponder.
When he was up we also went round and plotted out the first Autotest, between Section 1 and 2 in the morning. It's an expansive one with a technical bit then a long blast to finish round a slalom. It will give them a chance to blow off some cobwebs as well.
I'm grateful to the two gents that have allowed us to do the auto-tests in their yards, the same people that let us at it last time as well and definitely meriting a box of chocolates afterwards to say thanks.
Now the latest is that one marshal might only be available until lunch time and it's the after-lunch sections that are marshal-intensive so have to go re-re-re-calculate who can cover which checkpoints...
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Last minute preparations were few but I arranged somewhere for those trailering to stow their cars&transporters for the day. One team dropped out due to driver illness so we gained another marshal from the navigator and as he is very experienced indeed we suddenly had an extra person that could handle any difficult bits. Pressure:evaporated. So to start gathering up in the morning:   And once I'd seen which marshals had arrived I was able to plan which ones could manage which checkpoints. I wrote their open/close times on the packs my dad had drawn up for each check, with a map showing the position, a picture of where exactly to park, and a time card; and explained to them all their duties and gave them their equipment. There were two single-man teams and two double (couple) teams. One of the double teams I sent to the TC2/TC3 spot as it was the same place and that released another person. Having experienced marshals made such a difference as i didn't have to worry about them being at the right place or explain to them how to do it. The other double team though was inexperienced and at both their route check points morning and afternoon I had to drive there and make sure they were set up and explain all their requirements carefully to them. Not everyone went found their spot in the morning and they sat there for at least half an hour longer than they should have waiting - although I'd told them to close at the allotted time they had forgotten or I suppose just thought that everyone had to get through first. In fact only 5 of the entrants found them, and every single one missed the next control. There were 18 entries listed, of which one had pulled out (Class E) with only a couple of days to go. But, two days to go there was a late entry in Class A. I was told that on the day before so I knew we had an extra set of paperwork for them. Unfortunately it was all wrong as the Class E cars are the later MGs and they had been given faster times to make them hurry up, and because they are a faster car anyway. On the morning I was about to start changing the times on the papers when another team showed up and said they were a late entry in Class E! I did one of those slow motion pivots to look at the Competition Secretary standing behind me, who is the guy that takes all the entries in, and he just looks up really sheepishly and says "that's my fault. I forgot to tell you about that..." Oh dear. So they got the papers for class E and there were no spare for the other Class A team that hadn't arrived yet. They would be a Class B entry now anyway as they were the only A car entered and without a minimum of three entrants, the class would be amalgamated with B. The youngsters turned up in their 1924 Vauxhall and as the joint age of that team would probably be scarcely 40, the C.S. suggested they take pictures of all the papers with their phones and work from that. I let them take the #1 papers to peruse as long as they returned them when car #1 arrived. So then team #1 and #2 turn up. Class B. One of them is in a Class C MG PA and not the Austin 7 on the entry list. The other is in a Rav4. Umm, ok. So they had both had trouble with their cars and one guy had turned up in his modern just to follow the rally around and the other guy was driving his navigator/girlfriends MG. And so the #1 rally pack was freed up, and the Class A (B) late entry was moved to being car #1, which they weren't too keen on, running first, also having shown up a bit later, less time to get ready and plot, but at least they had their own papers now. And then I had to run around all the marshals and amend their score cards to the right people on the right numbers, give the drivers briefing, run off in the van to put out one of the route check marker posts, get back to set up TC1-out in the right place (that ended up in the wrong place due to me and my dad not having the same interpretation of "layby", but it was fairly inconsequential), and set them all off. |
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Hi, I can't think why more people don't want to organise these simple, fun events.  Well done !! Colin |
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In fact only 5 of the entrants found them, and every single one missed the next control. There is a school of thought that postulates that given how few of the entrants actually went the right way, who needs Marshals in the first place? Just set 'em all off at the start then retire to the finishing pub and see who turns up. As colnerov says. "Well done!" Same again next week chaps? |
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Last Edit: May 10, 2017 0:01:58 GMT by georgeb
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May 10, 2017 10:33:04 GMT
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So, off they go. TC1 to TC2 was Tulips. They had 44 minutes and most everybody arrived around that, or a minute or so off. They all made it to TC2 although I was sweeping behind just in case. They were annoyed at not being told exactly where the TC2 and ensuing driving test was at, even though even my 18 and 20 year old first time marshals could figure out that if they knew where it was, and what time they had, there was no requirement to follow the instructions, just drive straight there and wait 200 yards down the road until the right time. So yeah, even people that don't know rallying know that's dumb. Still, a lot of people wanted that info, and were annoyed when they didn't get it. But Test 1 was fun! Pictures courtesy of my dad who was driving around taking pictures while I was racing around doing ev-ery-thing        They had 15 minutes to do that then TC3 was on the way out of the yard, which began the herringbones. Nobody complained that there was herringbones, so that was reassuring, but as it turns out, nobody could figure them out. They weren't sure if they started at TC3 in the yard, or at the bottom of the lane. The main problem was that they all tried to plot the sequence instead of driving the roads. Tulips and herringbones are supposed to be done on the fly, not plotted. If they had driven it, it would have been fine. They tried to find the way and couldn't on the map, as there was a crossroads that looked straight on the map but is staggered IRL so didn't plot well, and another further up where one road was a dead end so they didn't think it counted but IRL it has tarmac, signs on the way up to it, so it is a real junction, etc. I arrived from sweeping just in time to catch the last couple of cars at the test / TC3.  It was at this point as we were leaving that my dad jumped out of his car and said he had seen someone fly past the wrong way. So off I went that way to see if I could find them. After a few miles I didn't, so I cut through a back-road to get back on to the right track and that's where I found them - miles and miles away from where they should be:  After a little bit of deliberation I put them on the right place and followed them until they got back on it. While taking them to the nearest spot to put them back on, I found two other teams who we then gathered up into a little convoy - and then all got stuck while a tractor run went past the other way. We were on a road we weren't supposed to be on so it's not that everyone got stuck in it. While sitting there then I jumped out, put those other two teams right, and when the traffic cleared I nipped off to TC4. I'd already checked one route control and it was set up in the right place, and sent my dad off to make sure the other one was OK, which it was. So I rocked up at TC4 and he was happy enough, but said loads of people had come in on the wrong approach and far too early. TC4 was at the entrance to the Argory where we were doing lunch, which I'd pre-arranged with the staff and the estate manager to waive the entry fee and have more food and waitresses available at lunch time. The entrants had got the map reference for the Argory so once they gave up on the herringbone they just went straight there, but came in the wrong direction, so TC4 was full of maximum scores. When I pulled in to the grounds, later than a lot of the cars, I found my youngest marshal who I'd sent down early, and said I'd be a couple of minutes behind him, had not panicked that I was 45 minutes away sorting out the lost sheep, and had walked into the office, told them we were here, and we were parking the old cars in front of the house, where nobody is allowed to park, and the wee girl in the office just said "ok then" and he got on with it. I do love a bit of initiative.    And such a day for it. I was then told there were several people wanting to complain, a couple of my marshals let me know that, so I skilfully avoided contact with anyone outside of my marshal teams during lunch. One competitor came over to try figuring out how to cross some electric lines when there was none on his route, after staring at his map for a couple of minutes, I asked was it the current edition, which they'd be told to get, and it wasn't. So I had to get my map out and show him where some electric lines were that had been built a few years ago, and then he was sweet. The next complaint was one of the most senior people, the Hon. Secretary I think, and he wanted to know where the finish was. It was after a regularity so I wasn't telling anyone, so he blew his top a bit and said he didn't understand the afternoon bits so if I didn't give him that he wouldn't be at the finish. Cannot please anyone. Bah! After pondering a couple of minutes, I sent one of the youngsters over with the grid reference for the end, making a mental note to make sure he got a lot of penalties somewhere. The regularity section we had planned was about 4 miles longer than where the actual checkpoint was, so that they did not know where it was located and would HAVE TO stick to the average speed. There were a couple of other blank and aghast faces.   And that was lunch. Time to head off. Nobody moved. Five minutes. No movement. Hmm, the out times are clearly marked in the papers. I went around giving the marshals their afternoon paperwork, and mentioned in passing to Team #1, Hey, you know you were supposed to leave like ten minutes ago? Oh, ok, thanks. No movement..! Eventually they started to shift and then everyone realised and got going. My dad got himself lined up just down the road and caught some more photos of them:    and my favourite picture I've seen of the whole rally, I think:  |
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May 10, 2017 12:46:22 GMT
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Hi, When we used to do the 12 car rallies, we were given the grid ref of the half way and finish in a sealed envelopes, if we arrived with them opened because we got lost or gave up we got max penalties. It soon became a matter of pride not to open them.
Colin
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And just to round this off, have not had time to put the last few pictures up until now. After lunch they rallied around the countryside using map references and grid lines and various map symbols to keep them on track. Most of them got well lost. The regularity section at the end was at a determined speed which was different for the various classes. Usually this is kept at one speed but we varied it so that they would overtake each other on the road, and so that the checkpoint opening windows would be smaller. No real need to do this other than to add some pressure and confusion in. It's actually bad form to deliberately have cars overtaking each other, and also to use the same stretch of road more than once, whether in opposing directions or the same, but we did all of that. The regularity is usually given with a set distance or set due time included but that just means there is no pressure to actually stick to the set average speed. So we told them the speed, told them it would end within the set route, and set them off, amid a few more half hearted complaints. Included in the section along with some more route check letters were two hidden checkpoints as well as the final TC8 checkpoint which was at an undisclosed location. Five cars made it to the first hidden one (ITC7.1) plus one that went past in the wrong direction, and only two made it to ITC7.2! About 5 or 6 cars found TC8 and eventually all the cars made it to the also undisclosed finish point. A couple of the teams that were being fairly hopeless in the afternoon managed to get the location out of me as I knew they would be uncompetitive anyway. As it turns out they were at the finish location before I was. I had hoped to stop at it, set it up and then nip over to TC8 as I needed to cover it off until the marshall got to it. He was also doing TC6 and although it was only 5 miles away, there was an 11 minute gap to get there and open up on time. Perfectly doable as it happens but I wanted to be sure. But because these two cars were at the finish point I couldn't very well just leave them there and drive off. The guy actually did something I'll be pulling him on later and left TC6 early to make it to TC8 in good time. I had told him I would be covering it so I'm not pleased with him making executive decisions beyond what was his authority to make. Thankfully it panned out OK but had there been a complaint raised I would have had to possibly declare TC6 a no-points checkpoint which would seriously hamper the efforts made as that was the end of the longest section of the day. Anyway at the finish I set up another driving test.        One guy, the late entry in the Vauxhall, broke down and ran out of petrol on the last part of the last section, and one marshal team was rescuing them and I also went to help find and rescue them. They made it in stages up the road, got some fuel, tinkered a bit, and got it running well enough to park up, have a cup of tea (we put on hot drinks and scones & biscuits for them at the end as well) and wander around. Then car by car they drifted off. After all that about 75% of them said thank-you to my dad or myself before leaving, most even shaking my hand, and saying how much fun they'd had. Not one complaint. My younger marshals and a couple of other people I know were hanging around and we remarked on that. Seeing there were no complaints "officially lodged" with me we decided everyone must have liked it and so there you are. There were several hundred pages in my car now, all the checkpoint cards and each teams time sheets as well as all my copies of everything in duplicate or triplicate and all the signing on papers and the dozens of other things you need with you at all times when running one of these things.  The finish point was due to open at 4pm but as explained above was actually active from 3.20pm. Around 5.30 or so the last people had all cleared off and my dad and I were still 'debriefing' so I cleared all of that above into the back seat, went and got some fuel and off for another drive around the country picking up all the route check sign posts. I'd been smart enough to mark down where they all were, and then also noted down on collection which letters were placed where, just for interest's sake to see which ones had been found and which were elusive. There was this one road which literally only a car could fit up, multiple right angle bends, switchbacks, high verges, only the width of a car, going down and up through a steep valley and all in the space of just over a mile long. Awesome rally road, horrible for anything else imaginable. Going by the letter post I'd put along that road, most of the people had managed to find this road and gone along it! Some of the bigger cars would have been really tight on making it but all the bigger cars in particular had gone through it. This was worth an amused giggle but really pleased that it had not elicited a tirade of abuse from any of them. Picked up all the boards, cones, extinguishers et al and sent my dad home, with Tuesday following set as the evening to do the scores up. Home at quarter to 8 after stopping at the shop to buy a big steak pie for dinner. |
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And finally on Tuesday, My dad taped up a couple of cereal boxes on my table, and drew out a massive chart which had to be extended twice  And while he sat at one side of the table and fed me info from the marshals checkpoint cards, I filled the info into the columns.  Columns down for each checkpoint with due times, actual times and points accrued. Rows across for each entrant. Scribbles across for cars that dropped out. We had a high attrition rate of around a third of the entries! We double checked against the entries on the competitors cards and a mere four hours later we had something looking like a result. The blue Riley 12, #14, had won. As expected. The red Austin 7, #5, was not far off and the green Riley came third. It was not so much who had "won", but who had lost the least badly! The lowest score of the day was actually one of the MGs, #19, who had ran away with it altogether but being class E is ineligible for overall honours. He and his daughter scored a formidable 241pts compared to #14 with some 50 odd more and #5 just under the 300 mark. Most scored well into the 400s and the two that had been early to the finish and not properly attempted with the last sections were something like 496 and 508 pts which suitably denoted the level they engaged at. During the following few weeks I've had about half a dozen of the drivers search out my phone number and ring me to say thanks, which is a really nice touch, and not the usual as far as I know but maybe the culture in the club / car clubs in general is changing and they are becoming more grateful, or maybe its just the ones that know how much work goes into it as they've done it themselves previously. Either way it's reassuring and very welcome. And there you have it. How to set a rally, and run it through to it's conclusion. Give it a go, you'll find it massively stressful fulfilling. |
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