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The days when I enjoyed deciphering convoluted
navigation are, sadly, long gone - when you are over 60 the old brain
doesn't work too well at 3 o'clock in the morning! - but there are happily
still a few events in various locations that do not tax the navigator's
grey cells too much and can still be enjoyed by a crew with a combined age
of 120.
One such event is The One and Only Preston, which I
tried last year and am looking forward to again, but another, which I had
not done, before is the St Wilfrid's Road Rally run by the Ripon Motor
Sport Club in Yorkshire, and so it was up the Great North Road to Ripon
that I travelled with Chin on the 5th August in his Corsa.
Having been involved in stage rallying for quite a few
years now scrutineering for road events always seems incredibly
perfunctory, and the Corsa duly passed inspection without any problems,
after which we repaired to the Ripon MSC's Clubhouse (yes, they have their
own clubhouse with bar in what was probably a working men's club in the
days when men worked in the mines) to pass the time before the 10 15 p.m.
start.
The entry of 42 cars looked pretty good compared to the
usual entry on road events in the south, but it was a bit of a surprise to
find both a Mitsubishi Evo and an Impreza at the front of the field.
The format of the event was plot and bash with
navigation handed out at controls (no annoying envelopes), and competitive
timing was to Intermediate Regularity Time Controls set at 30 mph if the
control was where it should have been! Say no more.
Navigation was straightforward and just what I was
brought up on - grid lines, spot heights, map references, herringbones etc.
Nothing that needed a first class honours degree in mathematics or
psychology!
The first half went reasonably well, once we had got
used to the fact that the intermediate control might not turn up quite as
soon as one expected. Getting stuck behind a local farmer going home from
the pub in his very aged Land Rover did not help our cause, costing us 4
minutes at the next control, but at halfway we were quite happy with the
situation.
Early in the second half anno domini struck. A
herringbone, coloured roads only, passed the end of a road to a farm. It
looked as though it might have a hint of yellow - one of those where the
coloured ink runs a bit. Was it a yellow or not? After much peering at it
with fading eyesight I decided it was not and as the route plotted without
it off we went. Unfortunately, the route also plotted with it counting as a
yellow and although we ended up at the correct end of section control and
collected all the codeboards on route, we missed the intermediate time
control. The codeboards, incidentally, were car number plates fixed
vertically, so you really had to stop to read them.
The ensuing 30 minute penalty meant that we finished
29th overall instead of quite a bit higher. Never mind - we do these things
for enjoyment now, not to win!
The second half included roads, including whites,
across the moors which were great fun, Chin seeming to go faster on the
rough stuff than on the tarmac.
Back at the finish it was a very good breakfast in the Ripon MSC Clubhouse
before the drag home back down the A1. A long way to go for a night event,
but well worth the visit for anyone who fancies doing a rally like they
used to be (apart from the Targa Timing, that is) |
