Donaldson Fuels Rally 2012

Friday night (30 Mar 2012) was the 3nd event of the NI Night Rally Challenge and this time we where up near Cookstown with the rally running out of the Braeside Bar. Paddy McCollum again showed off his Powerpoint skills and did a great job of talking everyone through the final navigation rally school. All new competitors should now have all the information they need to work out any route instructions they receive on a navigation rally. The next step is to teach them how to correctly judge their timing which will be covered in the rally schools after the traditional navigation rally summer break.
Rachel and I were out manning a couple of secret controls so didn't get to drive the route but the feeling from everyone back at the bar was very positive. From our controls it seemed like the crews had a much better handle on things than they had the first night out on the road and almost everyone was close to being on their minute.

 It is very interesting to see that the top 3 crews all had lady navigators. In general women are under represented in motorsport so it is great to have such an influx of good lady navigators at our grass roots level, hopefully they can encourage some lady drivers to come out too.

With this years beginner rallies going down very well with all the competitors I don't think that the sport itself has anything to worry about in the future. I think that the biggest thing that is keeping the entries low is that not enough people know about the sport so with a few big motorsport events over the summer hopefully we can get out and raise awareness with the wider public.

Results

1st Place, 0 Penalties, Andy Hughes and Kerry Moreland.

2nd Place, 0 Penalties, Neil Anderson and Kathryn Vaux.

3rd Place, 3 Penalties, Laura Fletcher and Neil Fletcher.

2nd Press Release, NI NRC

The McGrady Insurance Night Rally Challenge 2012 will kick off on Friday 10th February with an introduction to the sport of Navigation Rallying and full details on what is happening this year.

The night will focus on the fundamental skills required to compete in Navigation Rallying with presentations from experienced competitors in the sport. These skills can then be tried out with a practice table top rally in preparation for the first road based event which follows on 2nd March.

Topics covered on Friday 10th February will include:

• What is navigation rallying?
• Simple navigation instructions
• Car preparation
• Rally Timing

The venue for the first night will be Superdrive Motorsport Centre near Portadown. Sign on will be at 7:00pm with the presentations starting at 7:30pm sharp. The cost to register for the 2012 Challenge will be £10 per person which includes a starter pack containing everything you will need to use on the first night. You will not need to bring anything with you.

There will be many people there who are not already part of a crew, so if you need a driver or a navigator for future events then we should be able to provide one.

The Northern Ireland Night Rally Challenge rounds will be on:
10 February – Queen’s MC (No driving will be involved)
2 March – Newry & District MC
30 March – Cookstown MC
15 September – Dungannon MC
13 October – Rathfriland MC
26 October – Omagh MC
17 November – Ulster Automobile Club

These dates and more information will be posted on the ANICC website and our Facebook page.

Superdrive

First Press Release for the NI Night Rally Challenge

2012 ANICC Northern Ireland Night Rally Challenge

Have you ever wanted to compete in motorsport but thought the cost meant it was out of reach?

Well 2012 could be your chance to get involved in a great low cost motorsport. You could follow in the footsteps of Northern Ireland’s two top WRC competitors, Kris Meeke and Chris Patterson, and compete in Navigation Rallying.

Just like in the WRC, navigation rallying needs a crew of two people to compete against the clock, but unlike the WRC, navigation rallying doesn’t require a special vehicle or expensive safety gear. A completely standard car will allow you to compete, even at the highest level.

To ease new competitors into the sport there will be a series of 7 dedicated beginner events throughout the year to help them learn the navigation and timing skills necessary to go on and win rallies. Each event will be competitive and together they will make up the “Northern Ireland Night Rally Challenge”.

The first event in the calendar will be an introduction to Navigation Rallying and will include some training on what is required to start competing on events. The rest of the rallies will start each evening with a short training session on some more aspects of the sport, followed by an event out on the road. Each event in the year will get progressively longer, so that by the year’s end, crews will have reached the level and experience required to compete in a full navigation rally. Details of each event will be posted up online so if you can’t make an event you will be able to catch up on what you missed before the next one.

So why not make 2012 the year you take the first step to getting involved and join some like minded people to enjoy this low cost motorsports. Your weekends will never be the same again!

The Northern Ireland Night Rally Challenge rounds will be on:

10 February – Queen’s MC (No driving will be involved)

2 March – Newry & District MC

30 March – Cookstown MC

15 September – Dungannon MC

13 October – Rathfriland MC

26 October – Omagh MC

17 November – Ulster Automobile Club

These dates and more information will be posted on the ANICC website.

Please also take a minute to join the Facebook group.

To be kept up to date please join our mailing list. 

ANICC Navigation Rally Committee

I've been going to the ANICC meeting for a few years now to represent QUBMC. As Queen's only run a few events I don't need to do much so it hasn't been that taxing, but that has all changed now as I was voted onto the navigation rally committee for 2012.

This is going to be a big year for navigation rallying. Due to the low entries that events have been getting we are going to try and encourage new competitors to come out and get started in motorsport by running a series of beginner events rather than the normal championship.

I think the two main problems with navigation rallying are that most people have never heard of it, and those who have are being thrown straight in at the deep end where there is just too much to get your head round. Hopefully we will be able to address both of those issues this year. We will be trying to kick up a bit of interest on the internet and in local motosport magazines with some press releases, and we will be attending stage rallies and car shows to hand out flyer and talk to people. As well as that before each of the seven beginner events we will be holding a rally school to go through all aspects of nav' rallying. Competitors will then go out on the roads to put into practice what has just been leaned, and when they finish there will be a debrief to run through the instructions so people can learn from any mistakes.

Navigation rallying is too important to let disappear so we need to put up a fight to try and save it. There are a lot of current competitors and organisers who cut their teeth in nav' rallying so if nav' rallying isn't there at the grass roots it could spell trouble for all motorsport in NI further down the line.

I just hope that I can get across to people how much I enjoy nav' rallying and encourage them to have a go themselves.

Circuit of Down Nav Rally 2011

Unfortunately the Circuit of Down navigation rally rally didn't run on Friday night. Again the reason was a lack of entries. I thought that this one might have ran, there seemed to be a bit more movement towards people entering on Monday but it still wasn't enough. I've been putting posts up on Really Mean Sounds about the rallies so I think word is getting out, very slowly though. Not much we can do but keep plugging away in the hope that things will pick up again. There is a nav rally section on this years Circuit of Ireland Retro so if people enjoy it then they might think about doing a purely navigation event, we can but hope.

Really Mean Sounds
Newry and District Motor Club
Circuit of Ireland Retro

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.

Nova Saloon Parts Car

Being off work on Friday for the Royal Wedding was great, it gave me a chance to finally pick up the Nova saloon that I'm going to use to repair the rally car. The saloon has a rally history of it's own as it was campaigned with success in the NI nav rally championship by Neil Anderson and Andy Hughes. It's last event was the Dawnbreaker Inter-Association Rally in 2004 where it took a class win. It was then parked up in a garage in Ballywalter until I dragged it back out so that, at least some of its parts, can hopefully go on to future class wins. The saloon wings are different from the hatchback wings but they will do for now to get her back on the road.

It's still wearing its competition numbers from its last rally.

A big thank you to Richard Swanston for giving up his day to tow the car home.

Just out of interest these are the results and report from the saloon's last outing.
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20041112_NIMC_DawnbreakerRally_Results.pdf
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Blog.aspx?b=210

Bone Shaker Rally 2011

Omagh Motor Club had their Bone Shaker rally on Friday night. It was a great event and we managed to come away with 1st in class, which is a huge relief after our poor result on the previous round of the championship. Last years Class 2 Champions Neil Anderson and Andy Hughes were competing for the first time this year and were debuting their new rally car, however their recently purchased enduro spec 106 was almost their downfall as poor quality wiring meant that the car wouldn't start again after a stall and it cost them over 15 minutes getting it going again. We had a pretty clean run and Rachel had thought the instructions were easier than they had been in Enniskillen but it turned out to be a high scoring rally for everyone. Luckily for us Davy McElroy and Clive Latimer made a few errors to finished 3rd so we were able to take a few points back on them in the championship.

My Passat estate daily driver was once again called upon to double up as my rally car and it performed fairly well. I've removed the rear window tints and added a rear wiper so for the first time I could see where I'd been and I'd added uprated headlight bulbs to help me see where I was going. The new bulbs are some 130/90w "Ring Sport" jobs that I got from eBay for £15 and are a great improvement, especially on dip. The bulbs produce a lot more light but it doesn't travel any further so I still felt like I couldn't see as far as I needed to, but the junctions were easier to spot. As well as lighting the other main car issue on the night was a major lack of grip. It stayed dry for the rally but it had rained fairly hard about an hour before we started so the roads were wet. It seemed like every time I touched the brakes they locked the wheels and as a result I had to be extra cautious. Maybe that was for the best though as I managed to stay out of the fields this time.

That is us into the Nav rally summer break and the next event isn't until the 2nd September. I hope to have the Nova rebuilt by then so hopefully the Bone Shaker was the Passat's last rally. I'm pleased that it got to go out on a high, Passat estate - class winning rally car.

http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/20110415_OMC_BoneshakerRally_Results.pdf

Donaldson Fuels Nav Rally 2011

Unfortunately last nights round of the NI navigation rally championship was cancelled due to a lack of entries. I didn't do the rally last year but it seems to be the general feeling from people that I've talked to that the event was not well run and this may be the cause of the low number of entries for this year. Hopefully this will be the last event to be cancelled as we haven't scored well on the 2 rounds that have run and with fewer events left it's going to be hard to catch Davy McElroy/Clive Latimer who have won the class on both times.

Erne Safari 2011

The final result wasn't what I had hoped for but I had a good time none the less. It took me a few sections to shake off the rust from not having done a nav rally for what seems like a long time, but once I got back into the way of driving again it was really good. The Passat isn't the most suitable car but it performed well. The route wasn't overly tight so the Passat's size didn't cause any problems.

The main issue on the night was a lack of lights and that's an area I hope to have a look into before the next event in Cookstown on the 25th March. I just couldn't see far enough up the road to feel safe about trying to push on to get back on our minute. Some conventional uprated bulbs will be a good start, but I also have a HID kit that came with the Passat that I could refit.

Other issues that don't have such an easy fix are the brakes and the suspension. I could feel on a couple of occasions that the brakes were getting too warm so I had to look after them for a few miles until they cooled again. This was possibly only a problem due to there being no relaxed section on the rally so the car didn't get its usual half distance break to cool down. On the suspension side there were no real issues, I just felt that the car was sprung a bit soft for what I was asking it to do, I had to be careful of the sump and the front bumper was grounded out a few times.

As can be see from the results link below we were classed as DNF, which is very disappointing and not actually correct. Unfortunately just after TCH I got distracted, didn't notice a corner coming up and took the "safe" option of going a few meters through an open gate into a field. The field turned out to be very wet and we got stuck for the rest of the rally. Thankfully a local farmer towed us out and there was no harm done. We went to the finish at the hotel to hand in our time card and then went home. There was no point staying as we wouldn't be getting any trophies on this occasion. We were due to finish at TCJ so we had visited more than two thirds of the controls and should have been classes as finishers but the regulations weren't followed correctly. I've sent an email about it so I hope to get it sorted out, class 2 is going to be very competitive this year so we need all the points we can get.

Erne Safari Results:
http://www.enniskillenmotorclub.co.uk/es11/ESResults2011.pdf

CMC Donaldson Fuels Rally regs and entry form:
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/Regulations%20permit11.pdf
http://www.anicc.org.uk/Resources/Documents/Entry%20Form11.pdf

Finally getting started!

Tonight will be my first event of the year and I'm really looking forward to getting back out competing, it feels like its been a very long time coming. Unfortunately I damaged the Nova this week so I wont be able to use it tonight which is big let down. It looks like the rally car will be off the road for a few months as the damage is quite substantial so my Passat estate daily driver will be called into action to make its rally debut. I installed all my rally equipment last night and it makes the dash look a bit like a space ship from the 1980's but hopefully it will help keep me on time tonight when I don't have the agility of the Nova to fall back on.

Tonight's event is the Erne Safari and is organised by Enniskillen Motor Club. It starts in Irvinstown so it will be a bit of a rush to get down on time but hopefully the rally will be worth it. We missed the first round of the championship so have no points on the board as yet, a good strong finish will be needed.

Tour of the Mournes 2011

Tonight was supposed to be the first round of the Northern Ireland Navigation Rally Championship with the Tour of the Mournes rally organised by Rathfriland Motor Club, but unfortunately due to the bad weather during the crucial weeks leading up to the event it has had to be called off, which is a great shame. The Tour of the Mournes is one of my favourite navs of the year because the weather is unpredictable, but this time it is that very variable that has forced it to be called off. With the event route being up in the mountains, in January, the grip level is constantly changing and for me it just adds an extra bit of excitement to the driving.

I competed a couple of years ago in an old Passat estate that had been bought for £100 to do the Scally Rally and it was brilliant fun. The big car was a bit of a handful and getting stopped at a few junctions on the ice was a real test of my ability, but we got round to the finish with no damage and a respectable score which earned Neil and myself a trophy for 3rd in class.

I hope that the bad weather doesn't become an annual event and the Tour of the Mournes returns again in 2012.

Paper work

My plan for this year is to compete in some Hill Climb and Sprint events as well as the full Northern Ireland Navigation rally championship, and as it's January it's time to renew my competition licence. There are many different grades of licence and I think it's a bit confusing so I'll try and make it as simple as possible.

To start Navigation rallies no competition licence is needed for the beginners class, but you will need to be a member of each club. Joining the individual clubs can get a bit costly and if your doing the full season then it's actually cheaper to get a "Non-Race Clubman" licence. You will need a competition licence in the future if you get a taste for Navigation rallying and want to move up to the higher classes.

As I am aiming to compete in Hill Climb and Sprint events, which are classified as "Speed" events I will need to upgrade to the next level which is the "Non-Race National B" licence. To my knowledge this should cover me for all Hill's and Sprints in Northern Ireland. The licence will also allow me to compete as a navigator on Stage Rallies, should any opportunities come up.

See here for the MSA competition licence application form, including prices:
http://www.msauk.org/uploadedfiles/msa_forms/2011_Initial_Application_Form.pdf

and see here (page 17) for a list of what licences are required for each type of event:
http://www.msauk.org/uploadedfiles/msa_forms/bluebooks/11/124-141%20Comps%20-%20Licences.pdf