Cross Border Rally 1997

Torbay Rally 1997

Two fastest times at the timed to the second IRTCs, coupled with a string of other top ten times netted Guy Robinson/Charles Wheeldon success on Eastwood & DMC's Cossack Rally. Pushing them close were a number of other crews, but they were unable to match Robinson/Wheeldon for consistency.

Eastwood & DMC set out to run the most competitive event they could, within the current regulations and using the territory available to them. They also complied with the EMAMC navigation rules (nothing harder than Map Refs, Grid Lines, Tulips & Herringbones) to ensure everybody had a fair chance of getting to the end fail free. Over two thirds of the finishers home fail free, and with penalties evenly accrued on different sections they were very successful in their aims.

Starting from Grantham, a few fast tarmac sections brought the field to the first regularity start at Sproxton. A few avoid map refs defined the route through to IRTC9 at Garthorpe. The intermediary IRTC was located near Stonesby Lodge. First blood went jointly to Terry Pressdee/Iain Tullie and Mark Turner/Alex Hoult both managing to clean the section up to IRTC8, By the next IRTC however they had slipped into arrears posting identical 03:08s. Second fastest time at the second IRTC propelled Steve & Richard Pashley into the lead. Fastest on the second portion of the section Alan Wakeman/Ian Perry moved up into 6th place.

The next few sections saw seconds traded between the top crews, but overall they were dropping the same minutes. By petrol the standings were (remember only the minutes count):

1 Pashley/Pashley              4 (5:31)
2 Robinson/Wheeldon            4 (6:37)
3 Carl Hawkins/Steve Coupland  5 (6:29)
4 Pressdee/Tullie              5 (7:01)
5 Wakeman/Perry                6 (8:17)

Although Hawkins/Coupland had dropped less total time than Robinson/Wheeldon, the timed to the second portions only counted in the event of a tie hence their relative positions. This was a source of great discussion over breakfast!

From petrol at Colsterworth, the route took in some long all tarmac sections before heading back onto the whites at Ewerby Fen. During these sections Pressdee/Tullie picked up a mysterious fail, dropping them 15 places. A few crews also dropped a few minutes, mostly due to the inclusion of NAM triangles rather than the navigational twists.

Ewerby fen was in superb condition, with a smooth gravel surface and full arrowing to keep people out of the treacherous dykes. This allowed some of the crews who had been suffering on the bumpier whites to demonstrate their abilities. Top of the time sheets came G Smith/M Ogram just managing to scrape in unpenalised (56 s). Four seconds down came Damian Conway/Pat Gadsby with John and Sarah Harmer a further four seconds back. Top of the front runners were Wakeman/Perry who were fifth fastest on 1:25.

A misplaced board just after TC44 caused some consternation as all the others had been exactly on plot. A few crews wasted minutes by going back to have a look for it, whilst others profited by assuming 'well we drove the right roads so we would have seen it if it was there'. This was another topic of debate over breakfast, and is the only problem with telling people exactly where the boards are located. Worst affected were Martin Self/Alan Ogden who dropped two places. With fails for missed boards they did the right thing by looking, but unfortunately some people either through luck or judgement were able to benefit at their loss, force majeure.

The final few sections took in the familiar whites between the A607 and the A15. With all the route instructions being given out at the start of the link section this was effectively pre-plot. It then became an exercise in how accurately crews could find the slots, and record the codeboards. Road Rallying at its purest!

Unfamiliar names topped the timesheets at Thompson's Bottom. Semi-Experts Owen Turner/Andrew Dadswell posted the joint lowest penalty (in of all things a Metro). Also featuring were fellow Semi-Experts M Nicklin/R Morgan (Cavalier) and D Brown/L Burgess (Escort). (If you can put any names to these initials please let me know - Ed)

By the next IRTC things were back to normal, with Robinson/Wheeldon at the top of the sheets. they were the only crew to clear two minutes (1:52) and this gave them winning minute at the end. Finally making a good showing were Doug Kingsley/PRAR, although they were almost half a minute in arrears. More importantly Hawkins/Coupland (3:17) and Pashley/Pashley (5:02) both dropped much more time than they should have.

With just a short link into the finish it was all over. The despite dropping a minute to both Hawkins/Coupland and Pashley/Pashley at the final IRTC Robinson/Wheeldon hung on for the win.

PRAR

Final Results:

The results are calculated only using the minutes portion of the penalties, the total time lost was the tie decider. The majority of the penalties were accrued at the Intermediate Regularity Time Controls.