South African Regularity Rally Association Newsletter - The South ...

South African
Regularity Rally
Association Newsletter
May 2009
Greetings from the dam - still overcast, but Friday.
A brief report compiled on the Drakensberg
Commemorative Trial – thank you to Chris Andrew.
May looks to be a busy month with the Lotus event
on the 10 th , Cars in the Park, Pietermaritzburg
together with the Durban Dash on the 17 th , the
Mampoer on the 30 th and the Plateau Trial on the
31 st . Aagh… Comments, letters, back bites – send to
brian@quaestior.com. Ed.
Stop Press: Formula One update
Button hurt in horrific F1 accident – see P2.
Judging from comments in the pub afterwards all
enjoyed the challenges of this event and will be
back next year.
Chris Andrew
First Overall: Adri vd Berg / Syd Brett
First A: Adri vd Berg / Syd Brett
First B: Alan Hooper / Angus Flockhart
First D: Dieter Kok / Fred Vroomen
Comments Ian Carmichael: “We enjoyed the
afternoon section through the Camberg mountains,
the scenery was superb and the drive good. We also
came across a gymkhana with some 300 people and
horses participating – in the middle of nowhere.”
Drakensberg Commemorative Trial
The night section was run over an old route
last used in the 70s. Apparently the night
section was somewhat challenging as five
crews retired with accident damage. Our
particular condolences to Laurie Steyn, who
has had what can best be described as a
$#!& month with his Alfa.
The day section started at 10:00. The first
section to the refuel at Mooi River was great
with roads challenging, many potholes. The
scenery was fantastic with good marshal
placements good. The section after the
refuel via Escort was long and boring. We
found that the odo was all over the place
and the afternoon seemed never ending. We
arrived back at the Nest after 18:00.
The leapfrog marshalling concept was a good
one, but the competitors need to be trained
properly. The idea was to read the
competitors clocks and record the time, but
eventually competitors who were
marshalling were so tired that they were
writing the time down as called by the crew
- which is not quite the idea.
The concept of Leap Frog Marshalling is good
and needs to be developed , particularly for
the longer "away events " - please let us not
drop the idea!
Ian Appleyard 1952 Rallye des Alpes

Forthcoming Events:
May 10 th 2009: Lotus Regularity Rally
This rally will start near the Cradle of Mankind and
will run around northern Gauteng. For more details
contact Steve Crook on 082 653 1572 or see the
SARRA website.
May 16 th – 18 th 2009: Durban Dash
This event is running from Jo’burg to Durban. Call
Pat Whelan 082 447 5914.
May 31 st : Plateau Trial
Through the kind sponsorship of Michael Cabeleira,
the Plateau Trial, first organised by the Steelveld
Motor Club in the 1970s, will run once again on 31 st
May 2009. The route starts at Cullinan and will
finish at the Portuguese Club in Witbank.
Competitors will be treated to an afternoon of
Portuguese hospitality including an exotic
Portuguese lunch
The POMC’s annual Mampoer Rally is a sealed odo
event running under SAVVA regulations. This event
will run on May 30 th from the POMC clubhouse to the
east of Pretoria ending at the Mampoer Festival at
the Willem Prinsloo Museum. With the idea of
increasing camaraderie between the SAVVA and
SARRA rallyists, there will be a prize awarded for
the Driver and Navigator who performs best on
BOTH events. Contact Syd Brett on 082 413 3104 -
or see the SARRA website.
Speed Keeping
30 seconds or more early. In this case it's often
easiest to stop for 30 seconds - but make sure that
it's where you won't be observed by any marshals!
You might find that you are booking in consistently
early (or late) at controls when you thought you
should be on time. This may be due to an
accumulating trip meter error, so you may decide to
compensate by always running a few seconds early
or late as necessary.
If you're approaching an uphill climb through a
series of hairpins where you're unlikely to maintain
the average speed, it can be worth giving yourselves
a good early margin so that you won't be too late at
the top - although cunning organisers have been
known to catch crews out by putting an
intermediate control at the bottom of the hill, so
it's a gamble you'll have to take!
Andy Gibson from www.historicroadrally.co.uk
Formula One update – from page 1
Marshal Points
At the Regularity Start Control, reset your tripmeter
and your stopwatch and be ready to start the
stopwatch at the moment the marshal says "GO".
Then every tenth of a mile, if possible, compare
your stopwatch with the time given in the average
speed table and tell your driver how many seconds
early or late you are so that he can adjust his speed
accordingly.
When approaching a junction where you have to
stop and give way to traffic it may be worth getting
yourselves about 10 seconds early, but generally
running about 3-5 seconds early will compensate for
the extra time taken as you slow down to stop when
a control appears. You'll find that it's much easier to
make up time than loose time. Often after a main
road section where you couldn't keep your speed
down to the required average you'll find yourselves
Bill Strong
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This message is from the SARRA Google Group
The SARRA website is http://www.sarra.co.za
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