Well as it's almost time for this years Hilary Autotest I thought it was about time I made a video with the footage I took at the 2011 event. This is the first time I've tried any sort of editing and it's very rough but I have to start somewhere, hopefully my efforts will become more polished with practise.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Monday, 19 March 2012
Lanes Rally Meeting
Ballynahinch Motor Club called a meeting to discuss Lanes rallies on the 6th March so I went down to see what the craic was. It was a pretty positive meeting and I think everyone agreed on what things the organising clubs need to keep an eye on and how we are going to move things on in future.
At the minute all the Lanes rallies are run independent of each other which can lead to some confusion as all the clubs do things slightly differently. Hopefully the meeting will lead to a standard set of regs and all the rallies will be grouped together, and promoted together, so that competitors know when the rallies are on and we can hopefully get full entries.
QUBMC run our Lanes event fairly tight to the regs so I didn't hear anything that will mean we have to make any changes which was good news.
At the minute all the Lanes rallies are run independent of each other which can lead to some confusion as all the clubs do things slightly differently. Hopefully the meeting will lead to a standard set of regs and all the rallies will be grouped together, and promoted together, so that competitors know when the rallies are on and we can hopefully get full entries.
QUBMC run our Lanes event fairly tight to the regs so I didn't hear anything that will mean we have to make any changes which was good news.
Circuit of Down 2012
We had the first road event of the NI Night Rally Challenge on the 2nd March and it went really well. Davy McElroy organised a great event for Newry and District Motor Club and I felt that the route was pitched perfectly for the beginner crews that we are trying to encourage. It was mostly good roads with just a couple of twisties thrown in to give them a flavour of what a "normal" navigation rally is like. To keep things as simple as possible we ran the full route as a preplot. This allowed us to check that all the crews had the correct route before they started and they could concentrate on just finding the correct roads when they where out in the car.
Everyone that I talked to said they really enjoyed the rally and are keen to take part in the next one, which is exactly what we were hoping for.
We had three new crews from the South West College which was brilliant to see. College students are exactly the type of competitors we are looking for so hopefully we can build on the three crews we got and possibly encourage a rivalry between the NI colleges to bring out some new young people.
The next event of the NI NRC will been organised by Cookstown Motor Club on the 30th March.
I was helping out on the night and was doing tail sweep in the Nova. I had a great night buzzing about the countryside but I was only getting into the swing of it when the route was finished. It gave me a real taste for nav rallying again and I can hardly wait to get back out competing again. I just hope that some of this years traditional navigation rallies get enough entries to run.
Everyone that I talked to said they really enjoyed the rally and are keen to take part in the next one, which is exactly what we were hoping for.
We had three new crews from the South West College which was brilliant to see. College students are exactly the type of competitors we are looking for so hopefully we can build on the three crews we got and possibly encourage a rivalry between the NI colleges to bring out some new young people.
The next event of the NI NRC will been organised by Cookstown Motor Club on the 30th March.
I was helping out on the night and was doing tail sweep in the Nova. I had a great night buzzing about the countryside but I was only getting into the swing of it when the route was finished. It gave me a real taste for nav rallying again and I can hardly wait to get back out competing again. I just hope that some of this years traditional navigation rallies get enough entries to run.
Sunday, 26 February 2012
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
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
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Galway Internation Rally 2012
Due to the low entries the last couple of years and the move to early February I haven't been to the Galway rally for a while, but with Donnelly being back out Rachel and I headed down for a look.
We set off early on Sunday morning and had a pretty stress free run down the road. There is now a dual carriageway the whole way to Galway city, except for the few miles to my house, it's bloody brilliant! Even with a detour into Dundalk to get some euros for the toll we were down in about 3 1/2 hours, just set the cruise control and relax.
We met up with James Scott and Conor Auld from QUBMC and headed up to Headford for the stages. I don't know if it was Donnelly being back or just the compact route bringing all the spectators into the same area but the hedges were heaving. It's great to see people getting their enthusiasm back for the ITC. We managed to get to 4 of the 9 proper stages which was pretty good going. Unfortunately one of the stages was cancelled but we got to see the cars 3 times so all in all a good days spectating. The MINI looked like a read handful with a flat tyre on stage 6, it was squirming all over the road.
I was very pleased for Darren Gass getting his first ITC win and it was also good to see that Tim McNulty and Eugene Donnelly's still have great pace. If we get an entry list like Galway for the rest of the ITC rounds it's going to be a very tight championship this year.
I took some photos but they are pretty rubbish, I'll blame the camera.
We set off early on Sunday morning and had a pretty stress free run down the road. There is now a dual carriageway the whole way to Galway city, except for the few miles to my house, it's bloody brilliant! Even with a detour into Dundalk to get some euros for the toll we were down in about 3 1/2 hours, just set the cruise control and relax.
We met up with James Scott and Conor Auld from QUBMC and headed up to Headford for the stages. I don't know if it was Donnelly being back or just the compact route bringing all the spectators into the same area but the hedges were heaving. It's great to see people getting their enthusiasm back for the ITC. We managed to get to 4 of the 9 proper stages which was pretty good going. Unfortunately one of the stages was cancelled but we got to see the cars 3 times so all in all a good days spectating. The MINI looked like a read handful with a flat tyre on stage 6, it was squirming all over the road.
I was very pleased for Darren Gass getting his first ITC win and it was also good to see that Tim McNulty and Eugene Donnelly's still have great pace. If we get an entry list like Galway for the rest of the ITC rounds it's going to be a very tight championship this year.
I took some photos but they are pretty rubbish, I'll blame the camera.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
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
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
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.
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.
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