Seven crews started (two non-starters) Chelmsford Motor Club’s March Hare 12-Car Rally. My usual amazement that the March Hare didn’t attract a full entry given the low cost, low risk, much fun nature of such events. Credit to the organisers for putting on a splendid well-marshalled outing which I know requires considerable effort, admin and herding of resources. Long may they be devoted to providing competitive entertainment for the benefit of others.

I was entered with George Hendry as, again, the only Master crew, a repeat of last year’s outing including the loan of my wife’s well-scuffed and 140,000 mile Honda Jazz - the Jazz, since George’s MX5 only emerges from SORNed hibernation in April. Not that the car really matters; as long as it is road legal and is capable of reaching the national speed limit (when safe to do so) on country lanes, it’s game on. With sections set at no more than 30mph, this is easy to maintain as long as the navigation doesn’t confuse, you don’t get lost, and you don’t get baulked by Friday evening traffic. Such advice will hopefully get to those thinking that a navigational road rally couldn’t be attempted without a prepared speed machine being necessary.

The start was compromised when scrutineering in Danbury Park Community Primary School’s car park was joined by documentation since the Bell PH over the road failed to open. So, camaraderie took place in the open on a fortunately dry, albeit chilly, Friday evening. I was decidedly nervous when I collected my sealed navigation envelopes since the top right corner was flagged as “Master”. Was this to be another (following the Shotley Peninsula 12-car) form of devious navigation just for the only master crew on the event? As we waited at TC1 to lead the field away, the marshal said “Don’t worry”, there was no Master-Malice as the route cards were the same as the Experts. Whew!

The navigation was perfect. No errors, and a classic mixture of techniques without resorting to trickery, all plottable with care and little puzzlement or delay as an envelope was opened. One idea I hadn’t seen for a while was a series “RRBBTTRB”.  Red, Brown roads with T-junctions? No, just a different way of leaving grid squares: Right, Bottom and Top. The only pedantry was the occasional map reference which had to be plotted very accurately to ensure the correct loops were traversed.

The dry start didn’t last long when drizzle set in, but the well-chosen roads were mostly clear of traffic. A kind of anti-clockwise route skirted the villages/towns of Little Baddow, Sandon, the Hanningfields. South Woodham Ferrers, Stow Maries, Cock Clarks, Woodham Mortimer, Woodham Walter and back to Danbury. One loop through Cock Clarks brought back memories of the 2023 March Hare that I did with Craig Salter when we had a clean run but for driving past an unseen codeboard on Chimneypot Lane. I mentioned this to George and we were particularly vigilant on this stretch of road.

The finish was at the friendly Cricketers in Danbury, where a pint of (unknown to me) Whitstable bitter went down a treat with crisps and nuts. It was a while before another crew arrived, so I looked over the shoulder of Paul Brewerton as he compared our timecard with the master version. A cold sweat followed as I saw we had missed the last codeboard (MW) of the event! My grief was obvious as tears dripped into my Whitstable; I was mad as a March Hare. This started a discussion amongst the officials, none of whom could remember putting out the board!? Fortunately, it soon became clear that this was a mistake. The intention had been to put this board on a LWRNAM (Long way Round Not As Map triangle) junction near the end of the event. That was odd, since despite the warning in the Final Instructions there were no LWRNAM instructions on any of the route cards! Dilemma resolved, we had actually got round without dropping time or missing codeboards. As George remarked “You’ve got to be blind as a bat, not to spot Chelmsford glow-in-the-dark, well-placed boards”. Hmm … famous last words methinks.

My final name check thanks to all officials and marshals: Graham Robinson, Jane Robinson, Paul Brewerton, Charly Wallace, Tony Michael, Paul Barrett, Mark Andrews, Jim Bowie, Ed Scott, Andy Merchant, Ken Larking, Keith Lane,  Stuart Kingham, Kevin Tilsley, Ben Scott and Karen Scott for their dedication in putting on a super event which appeased the Friday night obsession of the author.

So herewith a roll of honour which we were happy to head.

1. George Hendry/”Crow” (1M) - 0F 0M
2. Luis Gutierrez-Diaz/Lucy Fryer (1E) - 0F 10M
3. Jim Drake/Colin Skoyles (1B) – 0F 11M
4. Mike Helm/Colin Wake (2E) – 1F 15M
5. Jamie Ruffle/Lous Statham (2B) – 3F 20M
6. Trevor Suckling/James Suckling (3B) – 3F 27M
7. Curis Jacoby/Dexter Jacoby (1N) – 14F 34M