Northern Road Rally Championship

BULLETIN NO. 7, OCTOBER 2004

Not quite sure where October went, this weekend’s Visual Packaging Cossack Rally is already upon us, it looks like being close to a record turn out of contenders even before we count the marshals. Unfortunately I won’t be there to join you as I am at a wedding so by the time you are gathering at Bingham for the start I will probably be very, very drunk! I am sure you will have a good time on what is usually a cracking event for all, whether competing or marshalling. This bulletin includes reports on both the events in September, the Danum and the Westmorland, along with the current club championship standings. The drivers and navigators tables now clearly show the novices and their awards look like they will go right down to the wire on the last round.

Before I sign off for now I would just like to pass on best wishes to one of our drivers, Craig Whitehead, who had a very nasty karting accident earlier in the year and has been seriously ill. His regular navigator, Lee Hudson tells me he is now out of danger and starting on the long road to recovery - I am sure I can speak for everyone in wishing Craig well and hope that we will see him out on events again soon.

Bye for now,

                                Iain

PAST EVENTS

11^TH / 12^TH SEPTEMBER – ROUND 8, DANUM RALLY, LINDHOLME MSC

Only 27 crews assembled at the start, somewhat disappointing when the Three Swans had over 40 and both events were ANEMMC rounds as well. The fact that there were only two novice crews entered shows that this is rightly regarded as the toughest navigational event in the championship, it was good to see that those who had not entered were still out supporting the event by marshalling.

The firsts section took us South of Scunthorpe, with only four crews dropping time up to NTC5. That would change quickly though, as only 6 crews made it through the regularity section that followed without penalty. The two intermediate controls were only timed to the minute but the inclusion of a footpath in the page of prose which defined the route was enough to confuse most of us, most notably championship leaders Steve & Roger who managed a 7 minute detour even before they found the footpath! The section was rather curiously rounded off by a trip up and down the A18 dual carriageway South East of Scunthorpe, featuring four route checks as well as lots of cones through some road works. This section was not popular among competitors! A very fast standard section then took us North up the B1207 to round off the first card with a tough series of short sections, defined by compass bearings, tracings and a circular herringbone. Needless to say nobody was ‘clean’ when we got to petrol…

After the first card Andy Beaumont & Mike Petch had dropped just one minute and held a four minute lead over the Holdsworths, the next six crews covered by just a further four minutes. There were numerous code board penalties kicking around too, only five minutes a time rather than fails but any errors writing them down would be costly, the organisers taking a hard line on this as they have always done in the past. That said, each code board had a route check number on it, so you knew straight away if you had missed one out. Mechanical failures had already accounted for two cars, David Howell / Stephen Taylor and Matt Blood / Graeme Potter the unfortunate crews.

The second time card featured just one neutral section, linking a handful of standards to two more regularities, the second of which was timed to the second. The navigation kept the pressure on again and a hard-to-find white road caused many to drop time on the very first section. The route took us generally Eastwards and onto map 113 and the first section of the event where everyone dropped time. A list of out of order map references took us down another footpath, along a white and through a very intricate not as map diagram around Grove Wold Farm. Third fastest time through here and an otherwise clean second card was enough to give the Holdsworths a slender lead over the Dimblebys. Andy & Mike blew their early lead when they missed the white straight after petrol, another couple of errors surprisingly only dropping them to fifth. Biggest fallers on this card though were Frank Evans / Dan Spittlehouse who picked up a couple of board penalties and then a fail for booking in early at a neutral, dropping them from sixth to twentieth.

The final card took us South on to the top of the Wolds and then back West. It was made up of two long groups of standard sections, rounded off by a regularity to the second around the disused airfield at Hemswell Cliff, for which we had already been given a detailed map at petrol. Everyone’s least favorite navigation (after circular herringbones), out of order black spots, cropped up early on and took time from most crews. The next couple of sections were a little easier, although the white which took us back onto map 112 from GS1096 caught a few out. A good variety of navigation saw few time penalties and only a few boards missed until STC44, where the lack of instruction to turn off the B road onto a white probably cost some of the later crews time. The final blast around Hemswell was very well arrowed and the code boards easier to find than last year, although one or two did seem to be blowing around in the wind. Steve & Roger were easily quickest here and this helped move them up to 11^th at the finish. Next quickest were Dan Robinson / Ian Gibbins, but they had a bad night otherwise and would finish 10^th.

Third fastest time on the final section could have secured a win for the Holdsworths, unfortunately five minutes dropped earlier on the last card put them in  3^rd at the end. 2^nd went to Mick Monaghan / Iain Tullie, who spent much of the night investigating alternative routes to those intended by the organizers, but nonetheless eventually found all the right code boards and controls in the right order. This proved to be the difference for the eventual winners too, who thought they had blown their chances by dropping three minutes on the very first section of the night. After two very near misses on this event, it was a deserved win for John & David Dimbleby, by a margin of just 15 seconds. Very well done to them, a maiden win had been on the cards for a couple of years despite David only being 16 – a future champion once he has finished school?

The event proved to be a tough one for the navigators, perhaps even more than expected, as penalties ranged from the winners’ 9mins 41 seconds up to 84 minutes, that’s before we get onto the crews with fails. So it was definitely a difficult one for the Semis and Novices, whose class was combined for awards purposes. James Everard / Dave Jobling had probably hoped for a higher finish than 18^th before the start but that was still enough for a class win by over ten minutes, well done to them. With only the two mechanical breakdowns mentioned earlier, everyone else was classified as finishers – well done to you all for persevering!

Many thanks to David Wilson, Ian Beech and their team for another well put together event that still deserves more entries. A good choice of route and the fact that there were so many marshals meant they could run a lot of relatively short, competitive sections on maps that have some better roads than you might think. It could be argued that perhaps some of the plotting was a bit tough, but let’s be clear, this is a NAVIGATIONAL rally not a road rally. In my opinion it provides a good benchmark of what a navigational rally should be, but with only 27 crews out, is that what the customers want? Those of you who competed please make use of the questionnaires and tell us what you think.

25^TH / 26^TH SEPTEMBER – ROUND 9, WESTMORLAND RALLY, EDEN VALLEY MC

As expected the clash with the Mercian took away most of our ‘Southern’ crews so for the second event in a row we had less than 30 starters, although at one stage it looked like we might have less than 20 so the organizers were happy with 26 in the end. That said it was not just ANCC crews who were missing – with no previous winners of the event were entered, our crews filled the first eight places when the seeding was decided.

The first section was the ‘traditional’ loop around the twisty and hilly yellows of Bretherdale, just on the Western edge of map 91. A variation on the route towards the end of the section caught a few for time and there were one or two missed code boards, but generally this was a good ‘warm up’ to get crews into the groove. Andy Beaumont & Paul Taylor were unlucky to pick up a puncture and dropped two minutes. Next up was a mega section with two intermediate time controls (all timed to the minute) which ran East on yellow roads from Orton, via Tarn Moor, Leases Ford and Smardale before a final loop over Wharton Fell to finish on the B road just South of Kirkby Stephen. Three different handouts were issued to the experts for this section, featuring tulips, herring bone and grid lines / spot heights, not sure what the non-experts and the novices got but many of them missed boards. The third section was another monster, down the B road through Birk Dale, up West Stones Dale to Tan Hill, over the moors towards Brough before a final loop around South Stainmore. The middle section of this was timed to the second but with fast roads and very few junctions the majority of crews cleaned it, despite a bit of fog here and there.

There should have been plenty of crews clean at petrol in Appleby, but in the last section, from Brough Westwards, nearly half the field missed the final code board and picked up a fail. This was inexplicable as it was a fairly long section and the navigation was simple references with approach and depart directions, but for some reason loads of us approached the last one from the wrong direction and in the process cut out a loop on the white after Rutter Force ford. I was kicking myself when I realized what a stupid mistake I had made, it was unbelievable that so many other experienced navigators made the same mistake. While there were plenty of us on one fail, Malcolm & Richard had picked up two after a bad first half and decided to call it a night as the car was a bit sick too. The faithful old Corolla may be getting retired after a long and distinguished career. Or will they bring it out to  ‘kill’ it on the Cossack?!

The second half started with a pre-plotted but very tight section through Hilton and Brampton. This was timed to the second and everyone dropped time. I thought we’d gone well to drop 1:50 but a couple of local lads further back posted 1:40 – the rest ranged from 2:26 to 7:57. Section 6 used the yellows to the North West of the A66, section 7 took us onto map 90 to the South of Penrith, from where section 8 looped back briefly onto map 91 before finishing just North of Shap. The quicker and less-hilly roads in these areas meant that there were few time penalties, but this was just building up to the ‘sting in the tail’! Section 9 started on a white and quickly took us through an arrowed farmyard at Waters Farm, before taking in the Hardendale quarry white. This proved tricky for even those who thought they knew it, the slot right half way through proving as confusing as ever due to some new piles of earth! There was plenty of standing water to contend with too, although a bit less for the rest of you as much of it seemed to be in our car after a big spin with both windows open… Eventual winners Ian Rooke & Stephen Clarke were quickest here dropping just 14 seconds, following it up with another quick time on the final section. Thid ended with a trip around a kart / banger track which had been used last year but this time was a little less confusing, even though many of us missed the slot through the gate of the B road again!

Overall a cracking route with some interesting variations on the sections that are used every year, the only criticism seeming to be that the re-join points needed to be a bit further ahead as simply cutting to the end of the section you are on may not pull back enough lateness. Many thanks to Tom Wilcox, all the Eden Valley team and all the marshals who came out.

ANCC crews managed to take 3^rd to 8^th places in the results, Andy & Paul being the best of these as the only ones without a fail! Probably the best performance was from James Everard & Dave Jobling, taking 8^th and the 1^st non-expert award on their first go at the event – they posted some pretty quick times too - well done chaps. Apart from the Holdwsorths mentioned earlier, the other ANCC retirements were Stan Featherstone & Mike Ogram (head gasket), Michael Judson & Derek Lewin, Mark & Glyn Casey (quote ’went bog trotting’!!) and David Howell & Steve Taylor (bent clutch lever).

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER ROUND 9