Beverley 12 car Series 1/2 season review

[NFXdynomite]

As some of you know, I rally my sprint and have been competing in the Beverley & District Motor club 12 car championship this year. 12 car rallies are limeted entry of 12 cars to avoid an msa road rally permit.Anyway heres a half season review for those interested in the other half of motorsport.

Event 1 Pete Anable Trophy Entries 8 cars 29th Jan2009 Brough,E.Yorkshire
Seeded at car 5 sandwiched between a mark 1 RS2000 and a mark2 RS2000 we knew we had to be quick from the off. They set us off at minute intervals so no following occurs, so we went at 8.05pm, my navigator gets the first route instruction through the window and off we go! The mark1 escort set off like a bullet but we still kept with it catching it at the first crossroads, the route headed north to Skidby and round Brantingham Dales a corking bit of road.The twists and turns sent the dolly a little sideways a time or two ,all adds to the fun doesnt it, The mark 1 was out of sight by now his nav must be quicker at writing the code boards down than mine.From the 2nd control we wrong slotted letting the mark 2 and the sunbeam stilleto at car 7 past Grrr! A quick handbrake turn soon spun us round and full speed to try to catch the stilleto and get back on our minute, we soon past him on a long straight somewhere near South Cave and had the mark 2 in our sights.From control 3 we got it down on the map real quick and set to catching the escorts, we past the mark 2 as he stopped to plot and he set off after us but every corner we went round we lost him and got further ahead.By this time we were well and truely on a charge and our times were showing this, we caught the opel kadett at car 3 at one point, though i think he may have gone wrong.The mark 2 caught us up at control 5 and we continued the duel, he got past us when we pulled over to record a code board and he didnt, but then we caught him and past him when he stopped to plot. This cat and mouse game continued until i spun on a hairpin left near Market Weighton, i didnt get my handbrake off in time and it snagged the last ratchet, i could see the mark 2 steaming towards us and he only just stopped as he handbraked it into the corner too.phew! Any how he was gone as we had to spin round, although we passed him going back for the board he had missed(if you miss one its a fail penalty) so we were back behind the kadett again.By the time we had reached control 8 the last one we had covered 65 miles of eventful Yorkshire roads and went to the finish venue at North Newbald to await results.The dolly was running superbly and it showed, we came 4th.
1st Proton Satria 0 fails 20mins
2nd Mark 1 Escort RS2000 0 fails 25mins
3rd Proton Coupe 1 fail 24 mins
4th Dolomite Sprint 1 fail 28 mins
5th Opel Kadett 2 fails 34mins
6th Mark 2 Escort RS2000 2 fails 36 mins
7th Fiat Uno 5 fails 47 mins
8th Sunbeam Stiletto 9 fails 30 mins Event 2 soon

[Nick C]

Good to read about other people's rallying. I've not been out on an event for ages, as none of my regular drivers have working cars at the moment Our club ran a navigational Scatter last night, which was won by a Sprint (other cars out including a Mondeo and a Diesel 205, proof that you can rally anything!)

What sort of navigation do you use up there? I've only done one event in Yorkshire, a Scatter near Leeds back when I was a student, we came second to a local crew IIRC...

[NFXdynomite]

Now then Nick, we use mainly herringbone style, spot heights, tulips, grid squares and grid references.Bit of everything really depends on the organisers. We get all sorts out on our events a Range Rover v8 has been known to compete

[NFXdynomite]

Event 2 Spectrum Trophy Rally 12th Feb 2009 12 entries Start Middleton on the Wolds,E Yorkshire

Seeded at car 6 we headed the novice class in this fully subscribed event.The weather was awful Snow,Snow,Snow! about 6 to 8 inches deeper in places but the event still run. The top lads in protons and peugeots ran nobbly semi off road tyres I had some new dunlops on they seemed to be grippy due to them being fairly narrow.we were behind an ex stage peugeot 205 and had our friends in the mark 2 escort behind us at car 7. The start was at the pub in Middleton so we had to be quiet for the first section till we got to open road, then we was away down the hill to a very slippery grass triangle which we handbrake slid round and shot up the next hill towards Lund quarry.The dolly was sideways at every corner we were trying hard and went into many snow banks, our time was 3rd fastest round the quarry only loosing out to the modern protons ok i wasnt to far ahead of the peugeot 205 but the sprint is over 30 years old come on. After visiting controls 2 and 3 there was a loop around the back of Driffield, very slippery as neither the griiters or the plows had touched it...awesome! I noticed we were being caught in my mirror but it wasnt the mark 2 essy what the hell is it? At control4 we found out it was a Lotus sunbeam (car 9) he said the proton at car 8 had gone off into a ditch near the quarry, the mark 2 essy rolled up behind them, we were all queueing waiting for our minute because we had cleaned the section.The next section was round Watton Carrs on the banks of the river Hull, again very slippery and a lot of yumps and bumps in the road from here it took us back round Driffeild and back towards Huggate right up on the wolds and through some very deep snow, thank god the top cars had been through allready i would have struggled with my near standard road tyres.The sunbeam got past us when we wrong slotted coming back down a steep hill, well i say wrong slotted it was more like wrong slide, too much speed and we ended up someones driveway! At the next control we got back in front of the sunbeam because we were early again and wanted a few minutes before his, this somettimes happens on rallys you get in front of a car and get there early only for them to take the time before you its ok on regular sections but on timed to the second sections you just take the time your given and go regardless of the road order.From control6 we were on the last section around Holme on Spalding moor and round the A1079 York road on the hils and valleys, good roads to be rallying round,it was here the dolly stormed through the snow i just seemed to have loads of grip up hill and past a peugeot and a proton who were strangely struggling. we got to the last loop around Middleton and sideways all the way how cool is a rear wheel drive car in the snow. So we arrived back at the pub in Middleton to await the results this is about 10 o clock at night 12 cars dont go on much longer than this, probably due to them being on a thursday night.Anyhow the results came in a well deserved 5th place we were happy with that.
1st Proton Coupe 12mins
2nd Proton Satria 1fail 13mins
3rd Peugeot 205 2fails 13mins
4th Ford Focus 2fails 14mins
5th Dolomite Sprint 2fails 15mins
6th Lotus Sunbeam 3fails 13mins
7th Proton Satria 3fails 20mins
8th Peugeot 205 3fails 23mins
9th Escort RS2000 3fails 25 mins
10th Proton Coupe 6fails 34mins(been off)
11th Opel Kadett 9fails 12mins(been off)
12th Proton Satria 15fails 52mins(been off) Event 3 soon

[Nick C]

Finishing sections early in the snow? slack timing?

As for event length, I've run 12-cars over 100 miles long before Only possible on Friday or Saturday nights though, most of ours are around 60ish...

[NFXdynomite]

Yeah some are slack if you have a neutral section through a village, this one we went through Driffield.You cant run competitive through villages or you get excluded. Small villages you run as a quiet, which means competitors have to dip the main beam and cruise through, I usually stick it in top gear and cruise through on low revs.As long as plod isnt about

[NFXdynomite]

Event 3 Westwood Trophy Rally, 5th March 2009 9 entries, start Pocklington,E Yorkshire

Usually by this point in the season you can tell by the championship tables who the top crews are, the top crew at the moment are a pair of chaps in a pretty rapid Proton Satria gti.Think at this point we were about 5th or 6th in the table however this event would see us climb a bit. We started the event at a pub on the A1079 York road seeded at car 8 this time dont ask me how the seeding works each organiser does it different think this one was by order of receipt. We only had a Morris coupe behind us driven by two fellas from Lincolnshire come to have a go at our 12 cars, sometimes people from other motor clubs come and compete on other clubs 12 cars to gain experience of different types of navigation. The heavens opened that afternoon so i put me rubber glove over the distributor and a bag over me coil to stop water, ive been caught out before by this.We were behind another proton one of four competing they were very much novices as they pulled over almost straight away to plot and let us past.The route took us onto the area between the A1079 and the A63/M62 very flat with a few bridges over canals and rivers, we went airborne many times good job ive got the guards on underneath! We got to control2 having lost a bit of time as the navigation was quite difficult this event but looking at the map i could sort of tell were it was going to go(i used to navigate for someone else) it took us through Allerthorpe woods a very good stretch of road. We went sideways a little when we took off and landed funny and the car fishtailed a bit but nothing i couldnt handle, we soon caught the proton coupe at car 6 he was going very slowly indeed and i almost went into his boot when he slammed all on.He was looking for the entrance to the wood tracks used by the forestry commission or someone i expect anyhow we went down it, it was brilliant just like being on a proper stage but it didnt last long its not a big wood. Out onto the road again and we set off up to 80 easy in overdrive and rising, i could see a big bridge approaching fast and just as we were about 50 metres from it my nav says right before the bridge! Onto the brakes fast and down into 3rd and out of overdrive the revs shoot up and were sideways heading right for a give way sign, well i was willing the dolly to flick back as i had full opposite lock on and i was thinking any second now, then it flicked back and we shot up the road and all without going below 50 i reckon phew! i glanced across to my nav who was white as a sheet and holding onto the grab handle, you ok i says all he could say back with a clenched voice was well held! he reckons he looked out his window and all he could see was ditch and hedge haha! I must admit i was tense aswell. we got through the next two controls fairly sensibly and got to control5 just north of Market weighton on the fringe of another wood, we didnt go in this one though only round it on some very twisty roads and sideways all the way we passed a peugeot 205 at car 5 on this section however the morris that was behind us cropped up in front of us at control6 he must have gone wrong ...or did we? By this time it was getting on for 10 o clock and we still had another section to do and we were near the finish venue so we sort of guessed it to be Millington pastures an extremely quick series of roads between the A165 Bridlington road and the A1079 York road.We blitzed it or so we thought as we only dropped 2 mins 13secs i was well chuffed, but we got to the finish and others tales were a lot faster than us,modern cars grrr.But reports were coming in that the mark1 Escort had crashed, apparently he had tried to come out of a junction sideways, misjudged it and caught the kerb opposite and snapped his whole back wheel off! nowthats commitment! We thought we had it bad with our little mishap.
1st Proton Satria Clean (no time dropped)
2nd Ford Focus 2mins 15secs
3rd Proton Satria 2mins 38secs
4th Peugeot 205 4mins 57secs
5th Dolomite Sprint 6mins 13secs
6th Fiat Uno 8mins 36secs
7th Morris Coupe 11mins 50secs
8th Proton Coupe 16mins 22secs
9th Ecsort RS2000 Retired Event 4 soon

[NFXdynomite]

Here are some simple rules of road rallying for all the general public who havent had any experience with rallying.

The competitors who enter these events have to be members of a motor club and hold an official valid MSA competiton licence.All motor clubs who organise such events have to have the route approved by an MSA regional liason officer and any problems addressed, the route also has to be PR'd which means that any dwelling within 100m of the route has to be visited by a member of the organising club.The police have to be informed about the event and often place patrol cars at places along the route to observe speeding, driving behaviour and auxillary lights.You cant have your auxillary lamps on in any village or town if you are seen with them on its exclusion from the event, no exceptions.The same applies to driving standards.
Although the antics in these reports may sound like boy racers having a laugh they really arent, if any competitor encounters a member of the public on the road they must stick to the road laws and dip light and pull over.Most night events take place during the hours of midnight and 5.30am usually so as many public road users are off the roads.
A lot of time, money and effort is put into these events so competitors respect the rules because they have paid the entry fee.
John

[tinweevil]

Cracking stuff, do keep 'em coming.

[NFXdynomite]

pics from event 3(At the start)

[NFXdynomite]

Event 4 Curtis Memorial Rally 11entries start at Wetwang ,E.Yorkshire 19th March 2009

This was the last event of the first half of the season before the summer break. A near full entry it started at Wetwang in the car park of the Black Swan pub.We were seeded at car 4 top of the novice field only two classics competing this time us in the Sprint and the lads who used to have a Fiat Uno brought out their newly completed Firenza, very nice.We headed out on the runout from control1 to clear the village and got to Sledmere, we have whats called a runout just to get clear of any villages its non competitive.From the next control we went onto some farm tracks very hard going chalky ones, we came tearing down a straight and round a ninety right with the farmhouse on it the farmer had it lit up and was stood watching the cars handbraking round it he loved it! we slid round this one and tore up the track getting the code board and i managed to get a right drift on in the last corner half in the field aswell, it looked like someone had allready been in there anyway.This section was timed to the second we only dropped 34 seconds and did it in 2 min 34 car 1 did it in 1 min 56 in a Proton Satria Gti i think we were 3rd fastest.From here we were back on the main Brid road and soon up around the 4500rpm mark ill let you fill in the speed, in and out of a layby to get a secret check and onto the back roads around Kilham to control3 strangely enough behind car 2 another Proton.The Peugeot at car 3 rolled up behind us he had missed the check and gone back for it and missed his time at this control,we went on our minute and headed up towards Bridlington on some really fast roads, we needed to go into another farm yard to get some boards but couldnt quite work out were on the map as it wasnt shown, we flew straight past it and the pug nipped in while we were handbraking it round to go back.The diagram said to go through some silos and round a shed to find the boards this was ace we were sliding all over the pug in front nudged a bale or two, so did we. I now have a nice nudge mark in me osr quarter not too bad itll push out ok not like the peugeot he did all his osfront and his drivers door, my Sprint allready had one there when i got it and i pushed it out doh! Some organisers put little not as map bits in if they know someone on route like farmers who are pro rallying and like to see the cars through it just adds a bit of variety to the event if you get spectators.We were nose to tail with the pug for most of this section he just would not budge its a 1.9 version but i was still in his boot for most of it, them peugeots are good on twisty roads but have no top end to them.From control4 we headed towards Malton through some corking hills and blind crest roads we came down a hill at speed and hit the ford at the bottom too fast and the car started to chug, o no! I was praying no water had got in the airbox it soon cleared when we got above 50.The Dolly continued to chug on and off for the rest of the rally and our times dropped dramatically we lost time on almost every section till the finish, I took it steady on the last section another farm track this time back through the monument car park/picnic area at Sledmere as there was a lot of standing water, it was set up a bit like an autotest some slalom cones and a stop astride to finish. We finished the rally and got to the finish back at Wetwang I was straight under the bonnet to investigate, my nav checked the air filter it was a bit damp but ok, i checked the dizzy cap and the rubber glove had done its job so what was it? were was the water? I got me plug wrench and checked the plugs were tight... number 3 was loose! dont know how that happened as i check them before every event, I tightened it up and gave it a few blips on the throttle and the chugs had gone.Relief it was nowt major although how that plug came loose i dont know.
1st Proton Satria 16mins 56secs
2nd Proton Satria 19m 38s
3rd Proton Coupe 21m 44s
4th Peugeot 205 25m 19s
5th Ford Focus 26m 32s
6th Peugeot 205 1Fail 24m 52s
7th Vauxhall Firenza 2Fails 35m 32s
8th Proton Satria 2Fails 39m 53s
9th Dolomite Sprint 2Fails 42m 34s
10th Proton Wira 4Fails 28m 46s
11th Proton Satria 5Fails 34m 12s
More updates soon