Well I hope you all enjoyed the event. The majority of the comments seemed very positive. We set out to run an event where both driver and navigator could make a contribution to the overall result, and I hope you found it worked out that way.
In the past there have been lots of blank timecards handed in at the send of Swan Rallies. This year it seemed that the vast majority of you completed the whole route as intended (barring a few PCs here and there). Maintaining the time schedule seemed to prove a bit more taxing, but at least one crew was able to be penalty free on each section so a clean sheet may have been possible. Mike Biss & Cath Woodman dropped one minute at STC41, but this was cleaned by Steve Cole & Bob Blows. At the start I was expecting the winners to be on about 12 minutes. Given just 3 extra marshal crews all TCs (and a smattering of PCs) could have been manned. With the gaps some of the more challenging sections didn't quite pan out correctly.
The roadbooks all worked very well: I doubt very much if AJ got much work done over the last two months between sorting out the program and being SoM. I know I haven't done much in between the route authorisation and PRing. There were some negative comments about the evenness of the navigation: Bob Blows said the CRO bits were very easy and the AR bits were very difficult. We didn't actually set out to make the AR bits difficult, we only used them where we needed to include white roads to define the route precisely. Some of you did have trouble with LWR NAM triangles which were not at junctions. This was our intention - you just had to slow down and keep your eyes peeled!
The road themselves will be a loss to rallying. There were some bit which were not twisty enough, Paul Wright complained some sections were too easy to clean, but on the other hand the Novices & Clubmen liked them because it gave some respite and a chance to claw back the odd minute. The longish transports and neutrals were a different matter many people not liking them. A large chunk of route had to be removed due to the condition of the white and RUPP between the Swans Way and Firebrass Hill in 6591 to 6792. Hopefully this would have kept those of you who have an appetite for whites quiet (Paul Wright again).
Rob & Graham Dance didn't go a bundle on my screaming at them in the field. Those of you who have met me marshalling will know this is my normal approach, you'll get used to it. Manning that PC was quite amusing: almost everybody missed the slot into the field, some to the extent that they never came back... I didn't give out any wrong approaches: not even to the two cars who arrived from the wrong direction, did a 180 round the cone and then buggered off again... I still don't understand why having found the PC they didn't comeback the right way for a signature!
Sunrise figured a lot on comments from the tail of the field. Here I must hold my hand up and say we had a bit of a challenge juggling the timings between getting breakfasts, ending the event, and sunrise. To end half an hour earlier would mean cutting 15 miles from the route or 15 minutes from the rest halts. The rest halts provide useful time for all the marshals to move round, so unless you have a compact route they are vital to the timings. Next year we will address this. Other events latter in the year don't have proper halts at all: petrol is simply drive through and straight out again. I would welcome some opinions on this. We were really squeezed by the lack of facilities in the area. Is 140 miles with no fuel possible these days, again opinions please?
The number plates were universally hated by those who expressed an opinion. Doug Kinglsey emailled me at work to say he hated them but the did slow you down and they were easy to see. Other events have also been using them: in Wales I understand the practice is full number plates and you must get every letter correct and legible. In Derbyshire things are more pragmatic - four or five characters seems to give a nicer balance. We took the practical approach to marking, although apologies to Lee & Daniel Robinson who were heavily penalised because they only wrote down the first two letters for the first half's boards. I don't think the unmanned controls worked out as I intended. This is something we will improve on next year because you will all be bringing marshals. Somebody suggested that all the controls have the tulip number on board just beyond the marshals: this is something we will look into.
The map books were well received all round. They certainly made organiser maps easier, just print off another set rather than somebody having to mark the maps up by hand. The overlap maps seemed to cause some trouble, although there was little else we could do. You wouldn't have wanted to buy two extra maps for the 3 miles which were off the edge.
A notional Award for Gallantry goes to Rob Aslett/Pete Davies. They managed to head off into some trees at one point, on the wrong road I suspect. Having phoned for recovery and been fished out they called me to say they were going home. MTTC19 had closed and as they were clubmen they had missed out on their second map book. I suggested to them that they went to MTTC31, and at the very least came and had some breakfast (I always try to get to breakfast on a rally come hell, high water or hard impact!). Gallantly they set out from MTTC31 using the tulip book and plotting from the flashcards. Now, this is not some fairy story tale from the movies, but looking at their penalties on the final few sections they obviously made a good job of it, better than some with much lower start numbers.
Well there you have it, I've rambled on for far too long (much like the driver's briefing). Within these pages you should find a breakdown of your penalties, a list of the tie decider penalties and some photo proofs. Please do order something from M&H even if it's just a memento rather than something to go on the wall.
Next round of the Rally 2002 Road Rally Championship is the Wessex Rally promoted by Dolphin MC on 15th June. The Swan 2003 Rally is provisionally scheduled for 10th May 2003.
PRAR
CoC
| 2002 Results | 2002 Handouts | Archives | Swan Rally Home Page | Contact Us |
| © 2004 Swan Rally |
| Last updated: Wednesday 18th February 2004 00:00. |