Regs are out for the April Blossom 12 Car on 29th April, and entries are now open:
http://chelmsfordmc.co.uk/node/4703
Entries so far:
Sat, 19/03/2016 - 13:36
#1
April Blossom 12 Car
April Blossom 12 Car
Only open a couple of hours and 3 entries already!
Really pleased to see the entry list has filled quickly - this is the first 12-car I've organised so I hope it lives up to expectations.
But like any event, it'll be all the better if I can get a decent band of volunteers to take on marshalling duties on the night. So, please come along and help out if you're free on the final event of the 2015/6 season.
Naturally it'll help me massively if I know who can help in good time so please let me know via either
or on 07885 783536.
Thanks,
Ian Graham
Ian,
My entry is in and paid but it's still very provisional. I should have the car by then but I still don't have a nav... If plans don't come together I can marshal. I'll keep you updated.
Luis
I second Luis's statement. My entry is very much the same - still provisional, as I don't have anyone to navigate for me yet, so if anyone is interested please let me know. If I don't find anyone 2 weeks to the event, I'm thinking surrendering my entry to allow another crew to enter might be the most sensible thing to do.
Antons
Ian,
I am now definitely available to marshal on the night. Let me know of plans.
Cheers.
Luis
Yes I can marshal on this one.
kr,
Ken
A huge thank you to everyone who has offered to help on Friday - I'm sending individual e-mails out to you all and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everyone is still free. With a bit of "double" cover I can just about get all controls manned but as anyone who has organised an event will know, it's not great to be doing everything by the skin of your teeth! So, a plea - if anyone has a couple of hours spare on Friday evening it'd be great to have a bit of extra manpower - either SMS on 07885 783536; e-mail
or send me a message via the CMC website.
Thanks,
Ian
Hi Ian - are there any finals and a seeded entry list available yet?
Cheers - Mike
Apologies to all for delayed issuance of finals - will be published later this evening...
We are really looking forward to this Rally as we were a doubtful entry after frying the Alfa 145 clutch at the Targa on Sunday.
We have managed to get it all sorted so happily we will be bringing a little bit of Italian flair along instead of Mrs G's 406 coup'e much to her relief
Still no sign of the finals and i need to go to bed soon.
hi should they be online or will I get an email?
Been checking both
Thanks
E-mail(s) sent to all competitors with finals as an attachment (and repeated here)...
Here is a summary of the results from last night:
After a really enjoyable evening last night (am I'm not saying that due to the result!) can i say thankyou to Ian (and his assistants in the background and out on teh road) for a very well balanced event. Just the right difficulty for all everyone, and it could have been won by any of teh 3 classes.
I am sure Neil and Will are rueing that missed codeboard right now.
All we need to do now is sharpen our observation skills as we failed to see the DSO at all.... :-)
Colin and Mike.
We would like to also thank Ian and the team of marshals etc for their hard work to make this event work so well.
It was a great time for Leigh and myself in the Alfa, even though it was a manic week getting a new clutch fitted etc it was worth the effort so we could take part.
We finished very low but it is only our second event and we seem to be learning as we did not have to cut and run any TC's this time.
We are really looking forward to next season and hopefully we can learn some more about likely clue types in the meantime.
Cheers
Colin and Leigh
Thanks Ian and all the marshals. It was a really nice event and one which I enjoyed very much. Although we are not doing that well at the moment as Experts, it was a great route and I had a great drive round, especially first bit in sunlight!
A question please - what did "...AIV" mean on the Section 2 Expert clues? We spent a lot of time looking for that and never did work out what it was.
Via backwards. The navigation worked in reverse.
The handout started with ...AIV which is VIA backwards (it was also on the RH side of the page) - this was the hint that the numbers that followed were also to be read backwards; it was three spot heights but with some (entirely irrelevant) spacing between the digits. After all, I've got to try and slow the Expert crews down somehow!
WON DNATSREDNU I KO ,HA I would never have got that in a million years, not sure about Mark. We'll hopefully remember that.
We don't need any slowing down, we are slow enough already....... :)
Surely it is easy navigation that slows you down? Trying to make it work or getting it wrong is what speeds you up. #justsaying
absolutely agree. when the navigation is more difficult you will have to drive quicker to keep on schedule. we had exactly this on last Fridays 12 car. with Stuart just moving up to expert class the clues were a bit more difficult and we wrong slotted a few times so had to retrace. this cost us time so we drove a bit quicker to make it up. we now have quite a break before the next 12 car so i think it would be good to start a discussion page with suggestions of how we can take things forward to improve both safety and enjoyment.
That's a very good idea Pat.
Each summer the committee, or a sub-group, review the season and look at changes that may be necessary, and this summer will be no exception. If people who are involved with 12 cars as organisers, competitors (or both) want to post ideas on here then I assure you they will be considered. That doesn't mean they will automatically be adopted but they will be considered.
From our point of view as the regular course closing car team I would like to see maximum mileage 45 miles, maximum time controls 10 and a reduction in the number of code boards to an average of 2 per section or less. We competed on a Weald 12 car which had only 12 or 13 code boards, used only where there was a loop or alternative shorter route that could be taken, and it didn't spoil the event or make getting a winner any more difficult. Simply placing them on the route every couple of miles just reassures crews that they are on the right track.Each code board takes time to put out and collect especially if hammered in with a sledgehammer! LWR triangles do not necessarily have to have a code board - they still have to be driven in case there is one, which has the effect of taking time out of competitors. I intend to put some of these suggestions into practice on the Priestley, the first 12 car of the new season.
We could also re-consider the class system and re-instate the semi-expert who could get the more difficult navigation all at the start. I am sure that many of the recently-promoted crews would appreciate that - I know it was beneficial to me back in the day. Maybe semi-experts could also be given a guaranteed entry if they enter in time rather than be bumped by beginners entering later.
As I said there are many other ideas and all will be considered.
Cheers and have a good summer.
Paul
PS entries, from those who have suitable cars, or offers to marshal on the East Anglian Classic would be very very much appreciated - thanks!
perhaps we need more dummy codeboards to lull people into a false sense of security... :-)
Ifyou drop mileage even lower, then it gets towards the point where each section is shorter, reducing the possibilities of multiple routes between controls, so the numbers of boards required drops dramatically.
I tried an alternative in Feb for providing control locations for experts, sadly I had a 66% loss of experts just before the start, so there was very little feedback. perhaps it needs trying agin.
I think reintroduction of semi expert should be considered. It could also be the novice clues, but handed openned at each control.
For me, plot and bashing each section is sometimes easier that having all the clues at the start, as you can knock out the section, switch off the light and the driver can get a move on, having all the clues encourages the navigator to get it all on the map asap, loosing time earlier, only to have to fly along later "making up" at every control.
Well done on another great event and I am absolutely gutted we had to miss this season finale, which I am sure was absolutely fantastic judging by the responses here.
Now, I may be wrong here but I thought I'd chip in my 2p to the conversation.
In my opinion it's not the difficult Expert clues that speed you up trying to catch up, it's the driver's decision. It may be out of place for me to comment but from what I gathered so far, a 12-car is as much a challenge of wit as it is of driving, and difficult expert clues are made with the intention of dropping your time in results WITHOUT giving you an opportunity to catch up without penalty by driving quicker, something that should be accepted and abided by by the crews stumbled by the navigation and inevitably falling behind.
I must say we found the current format quite enjoyable, safe and fun, giving both Experts and Beginners plenty of challenge as well as incredibly fun routes and sections to drive on. I will leave speculation of the effect of changing the event format on driving ethics, and inherently - safety, in the hands of the more experienced crews and organisers on here.
In terms of pure technical suggestions to add to the regulations, I think if not made compulsary, the crews need to at least be warned of the dangers of using a navigational potti with an active passenger airbag. Most (reasonably) recent road cars are equipped with a disabling switch and most road rally spec'd cars will have them removed anyway, so I can't see it being of great inconvenience for entries. If for some reason that cannot be enforced, then the cars deciding to leave theirs on should not be allowed the use of magnifying pottis. As far as the unfortunate experience goes, I know our crew would have sure liked to have thought about this before we entered.
My view, as a driver of an Expert class navigator and driving a relatively low powered and slower car:
The Expert clues we have generally had are just about right as long as they can be understood pretty quickly. By understood, I mean that they can be deciphered okay but may take much longer to plot than the Novice clues. This means that they can plotted whilst I drive slowly and smoothly until we have the route, and then I can speed up for the rest of the section and we are then generally okay on time. If this happens on each section we generally lose 20 to 30 mins over the whole event, which is probably about right for our competance at Expert at this point in time.
If the clues cannot be understood straight away we stop and we both look at them, which obviously takes quite a bit of time. If we finally understand them we proceed as above. If not, we guess the route to the next control and either I have to drive faster than I and the car are would like, or we lose more time, or both. I'm not saying it's dangerous, just less-safe and can lead to driving behaviour that the club is currently trying very hard to discourage.
I'd like to propose that Expert clues must not rely on the imagination to understand what they mean or refer to. Make them more difficult or time consuming to plot by all means, but don't make them difficult to understand what it is you are looking at.
I would also say that giving the section end location on the clue card would be a help in respect to the issues above.
I know the this forum conversation has moved on and now discussing wider points in respect of 12-car rallies which is absolutely fine.
But for those who are interested and especially for the less experienced crews, I've penned a summary of how it all linked together on Friday alongside some tips/hints (attached).
All the best,
Ian
Ian
Thanks very much for the informative and complete summary of the event and your thinking - certainly some ideas for other organisers (I already intend to pinch one or two of your presentation techniques). It is very useful when experienced road rally navigators like yourself pass on their experience of other events around the country. I don't think there is any doubt that you will be asked to organise the 2017 event and it's great that you are still keen to do so!
Cheers
Paul
For myself and Mike one big problem since getting promoted to expert is the fact we don't get to participate in many 12 car rallys anymore in the last 18 months since moving up I believe we have only managed to get on 3. Since the rules changed that experts only get to fill any spaces not filled by beginners or novices we are finding that we continually get bumped off the bottom. Its got so bad that my navigator skills are suffering and have been contemplating asking the committee if I could be reclassed as a Novice
I did make a suggestion sometime ago that each class should get 4 guaranteed places and 2 weeks before the event any places not filled in each class gets filled by the reserve list on a first come first served basis.
Mark
Full results are here.
I'm pretty sure there was a lonely marshal at STC5
STC5 was missing from the bit of paper I was given!