Springfling Rally 2012

Rachel and I took part in the Springfling Rally on the 21st April and it was bloody brilliant, I think it was probably the best Lanes Rally yet. It was well organised, the test were great and there was very little queuing, I couldn't ask for anything more.

We finished up 18th out of the 36 starters so I was happy enough with that. We got a 30 second penalty for not stopping astride the line on Test 4, I was only a couple of inches over but over the line is over the line. That was the only mistake we made all day so I can't complain. Most of the crews that beat us are out more often or have more developed cars so I think our finishing position was about right. I don't have the experience yet to be able to push on the loose tests but I hope that will come.

As usual the Nova ran perfectly all day and never gave me any bother. Our friends Neil Anderson and Kerry Moreland was out in Andy Hughes 306 GTI and they had lots of trouble with a holed radiator and didn't make it back out again for the tests after lunch. I drive the Nova to all the events so being able to drive it home again is the most important thing to me. I've been thinking about buying a Clio 182 but the Novas reliability is more crucial than the extra horsepower, I never find myself short on power anyway, it is always a lack of traction that holds me back. Better to stick with what I know and trust, for the time being anyway.

I have videos from most of the tests so I will get them uploaded sometime in the future.

Results

Costs:
£60 Entry fee
£18 Insurance
£10 each for club membership
£30 Petrol
Total £128.



Snowdrop Rally 2012

The Snowdrop Rally was supposed to have been on Friday 24th Feb but unfortunately it was cancelled due to a lack of entries. Dungannon MC had added some special test into the rally for this year so I had though they would have had no problem getting entries as the pure lanes rallies are getting full entries.

It's a bit worrying as it was the first navigation rally of the year and even with the extra incentive of the special test they couldn't get enough support to run. I wonder what has put people off. I had an entry in because I wanted to support the event, but I did think it was a little expensive. The entry was £30 and then it was another tenner each to join the club, plus £18 for insurance which takes it up to £68 before I put any fuel in the car and the route was only 40 miles. To my mind that is too much money.

I was also a bit put off by the fact that it was going to be very simple navigation and only 6 special tests. I think that is the worst of both worlds rather than the best of both. It was to be very simple navigation so there was no challenge for the navigator, which would mean cruising round at 30mph all night, and then not enough special tests to make it interesting for the driver. However if they try to run it again next year I'm sure I'll enter, I'm always open to being proved wrong.

Hopefully the navigation rally landscape will be a bit different next year too. We had the introduction night for the Northern Ireland Night Rally Challenge on the 10th of Feb and we had a great turn out. Paddy McCollum made and delivered a brilliant power point presentation to explain map references and I think even the experienced competitors learned something from it. We had 42 people register for the NRC, with both men and women of all ages signing up so I think we are in for a strong year.

Ciaran Carey

Moonraker Nav Rally 2011

I'm not supposed to be in front of the computer right now. I should be out competing in Dungannon Motor Clubs Moonraker Rally but unfortunately it was cancelled due to lack of entries. DMC usually get a good entry for their rally as they run a popular rally school, so the fact that even they couldn't get enough crews to make the event viable is a very bad sign for Navigation rallying in general.

Entry numbers were down towards the end of last years championship and it was decided that if 2011 was also a bad year then there would be no championship in 2012, which looks very much like it is going to happen.  I have been talking to Davy McElroy who runs Newry and District Motor Clubs Circuit of Down Navigation Rally and he didn't seem optimistic about the chances of it running either. Bad times ahead for Navigation rallying.

The Moonraker being cancelled is even more disappointing because I've spent a lot of time over the last few weeks getting the Nova ready for it. Got some new spotlights fitted and my rally timer installed, all ready to get stuck into the second half of the championship. I'm now left in the situation where the championship that I built my car for doesn't exist anymore, not sure what I'm going to do. There are a few more Lanes rallies popping up on the calender so I can do those as the car is now, but to do anything else I'm going to need to get the Nova log booked. That's not a big problem because I have most of the bits to get it up to spec but it's the extras that will require a bit of money. I'll need to upgrade my competition licence and get a rally suit and helmet. I think that will have to wait till next year.