Cloverleaf Rally - September 6, 2008
Last year West Essex Car Club successfully revived the classic ‘70s Cloverleaf name with two modern day events rolled into one and for 2008 it will continue with this popular formula.
The main event – the Cloverleaf Historic Rally – is for pre-1982 cars, and is a round of the Richard Eggers Insurance HRCR Clubmans Rally Championship.
The Cloverleaf Clubmans Rally is for standard cars and crews without competition licences.
This 150 mile event will be based in the Cambridge area, which has easy access from all parts of the UK. This year we are avoiding the holiday period and running on a Saturday to better accommodate those crews who couldn’t take part in 2007.
We will be using the quietest and most interesting lanes of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Essex to provide around six public road regularities totalling over 100 miles.
The special tests at two MOD airfields will be on smooth concrete and will comprise a balanced mixture of fast and tight courses to cater for all types of vehicle.
The airfields will also host two private road regularities.
The Rally HQ and start/finish will be the spacious Heydon Grange Golf and Country Club which has parking room for crews bringing trailers. You’ll be able to buy a good value breakfast there before you start, and we’ll be funding your evening meal at the finish.
There will be mid-morning and mid-afternoon P & T halts this year for breaks during a busy day.
We are retaining the popular novelty of a driver-only and navigator-only regularity – although these will only contribute marginally to the overall results.
The Results Team have drafted in additional resources so you should be on your way home by 7:30 pm …
… possibly with one of the many shiny awards which will be presented.
The Cloverleaf rallies are masterminded by Ray Crowther – winner of the 2006 HRCR Clubmans Championship – and supported by a dedicated team of Cloverleaf “oldies”, who understand what is required to satisfy competitors.
Clear marked map navigation for most of the route plus a few simple navigational sections to satisfy those who thought the route-following was too easy last year.
Most of the documentation will be in a bound Road Book this year.
We will continue our dislike of codeboards on regularities so that you can concentrate on maintaining the average speeds without having to be constantly vigilant for letters and numbers.
And if you get baulked on the public road you’ll be able to drop your worst two regularity scores.
We will again be raising funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society during the event and hoping to beat our total of over £1,300 last year.
In 2007 we achieved a perfect balance of test and regularity penalties to reflect driver and navigator abilities, which resulted in a closely fought event.
2008 will be no different.
This is a notice I've just posted to the website. If you intend to do the Cloverleaf, please advise us as soon as possible.
Thanks
"Crow"
http://cloverleaf.wecc.co.uk
Important Notice
The MoD have "dropped a bomb" on our plans and budget by suddenly wanting to charge much higher fees for use of their airfields.
This shell shock is manageable so long as we have an early indication of sufficient entries for the event. At the moment we are below our breakeven figure but sufficient crews have promised "an entry is coming".
If you are intending to enter the Cloverleaf Rallies we would appreciate your on-line entry (preferred) or postal entry within the next few days. A cheque at the same time would be nice, although we will accept a deferral on payment until August 22 at the latest.
The Cloverleaf team have worked hard to bring you a superb event and would be devastated if the event didn't run.
Thanks for your co-operation.
Ray Crowther
Clerk of Course