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

South African
Regularity Rally
Association Newsletter
November 2009
Greetings from the dam on a grey summer evening.
Birds are chirping themselves to bed and kids are
trying not to do their homework. This one’s a day
early you say – yes ‘cos I’ve still only got 18 regular
entries for the rally on the eighth...
But for your delectation: two reports on the
Western Cape rally by Pat Whelan and Roger Manton
and the next part of the saga by Jerry Paice. Thank
you, gentlemen. The last series rally of the year
November 8 th , Jimmy Dewar’s KZN event on the 21 st
and our prize giving on the 28 th . Then it’s all quiet
‘til January. Any input to - brian@quaestior.com.
Ed.
Western Cape Regularity Rally
First Point of View
The Eikestad Motors Blind Navigators Rally was
organised by the Cape Car and Motorcycle Club with
the start and finish in Stellenbosch.
This event is normally just part of the Western Cape
Blind Navigators Series but for this year SARRA
National Committee decided to include it as part of
the 2009 TOTAL Northern Regions Blind Navigators
Series as well as the SA Classic Regularity Rally
Series to try, for the first time, and make all the
Series more National. From this point of view I
believe that it was both a success and a failure.
Seven Northern Regions Blind Navigators came down
for the rally and competed with 21 Western Cape
Blind Navigators which, to me, was a great success
especially as Northern Region Navigators came 1 st ,
5 th , 12 th , 14 th , 15 th , 23 rd and 25 th in the combined
Braille Route Schedule section. Zarina Kahn with
Ernest Mee won by 21 seconds while Petrus van
Niekerk with Nico Kleyn was 5 th only 40 seconds
behind the winning score. Both these teams were
very fortunate as Susan Webber with Gerhard Korf
ended up 25 th 572 seconds behind the winner as
they did not see the one Control Board until it was
far too late to stop and so lost the maximum of 600
seconds for missing the Control.
To me the failure part was the fact that only two
Northern Regions SA Classic competitors came down
for the event. Syd Brett with Adri van der Berg won
this category from Pat Whelan who flew down to
compete with Ivor Wiid who has moved down the
Cape. There were two instructions which read the
same but a couple of instructions apart and
unfortunately Pat, after doing the first, marked the
Route Schedule as having done the second so they
saw a little more of the Stellenbosch area than the
organisers intended. We had also hoped to attract
local sighted competitors as there is no Regularity
Rallying for them in the Western Cape but, while
interest was expressed, only one team competed
nevertheless we will continue to make these events
open to them.
While the format of the Route Schedules down here
is a bit different from the way competitors may be
used to elsewhere it did not appear to faze the
Northern Region competitors as much as some of
them thought that it would.
From the SARRA Western Cape point of view it was a
great honour and privilege to have the visitors from
Gauteng compete with us and the constructive
suggestions that were made are very much
appreciated. Hopefully the introduction of some of
them next year will make our events more
attractive to competitors from other regions. You
will always be welcome.
Roger Manton
100 mph for seven days and seven nights –
Stirling Moss’ XK 120 @ Goodwood.

Second Point of View
This event took place in Stellenbosch on Saturday 10
October and, contrary to the official name, was an
open odo event, but the organizers did not give you
any distances at all. At 15 of the 140 instructions on
the route schedule we were given estimated times
of arrival – with the emphasis on estimated and 5 of
them were in the first open section. It is possible,
with the aid of a calculator, to work out what the
distance should be at the 15 time given points -
which we did. The only problem was that the
organizers, unbeknown to us, had used a normal
car’s trip meter to set the route. These trip meters
give readings at 100 meter intervals which results in
a possible error at all instructions of up to 99
meters. We found it very difficult to run accurately
when not able to calibrate our odometer. Had we
known how the organizers had set the route we
would have been far more relaxed in the car but
good fun was still the order of the day.
For me the event started a few weeks before, when
knowing that Maggie would be in the UK visiting
family, I phoned Ivor Wiid, who now lives in Cape
Town, and suggested we do the event in his Fiat.
I flew down on Discovery Miles on the Thursday and
was collected at the airport by Syd and Brenda Brett
(in Bluecat Jag XJ6) who had invited me to stay with
them in a friend’s holiday home in Kleinmond. Syd
would be competing with regular driver, Adri van
der Berg, in Bluecat on the rally. Much hilarity in
car as we searched Gordon’s Bay, for 40 minutes,
for a restaurant that Syd had seen two days before
with a sidewalk advert for perlemoen. After all this,
Syd was not impressed with the perlemoen, but the
calamari was delicious. We moved onto a pub in
Hermanus where we were so close to the sea that
we were convinced that the lower tier tables and
chairs could not be used at high tide.
No trip to the Fairest Cape would be complete
without a visit to Franchshoek Motor Museum and
that is what we did on Friday. The collection of 80
cars on display in four halls is stunning, but, as we
are greedy, wanted to see the other 300 odd cars
that were not on display. Our guide said they were
changing the display that night and we should
return the next day. We saw cars ranging from a
red1907 Ford to the red 2009 Ferrari Enzo, Jody
Scheckter’s Tyrell F1 and the Le Mans Porsche
shared by Jacky Ickx and Joachim Maas, plus an
extremely rare Aston Martin Coupe’. There were no
Lancias on display, (ag shame, Ed) but it is a must
visit for all classic car enthusiasts!
Saturday we were all up bright eyed and bushy
tailed to head off to Stellenbosch for the rally,
which had a pretty late start with the first car off at
1pm. My target for the event was to finish second as
I did not feel we could beat the experienced crew
of Adri and Syd.
As we were car number 46 we duly started at 14:30
and proceeded through the open section, where we
had been given 5 of our 15 times of arrival at
geographical points. I had calculated that the first
instruction “Robot – Turn Left” should arrive at 0.84
km’s on our odometer. It came up at 0.75 which
gave me an odo error of 90 meters. I did not correct
the odo and the second instruction at 1.89 km’s
came up only 20 meters early. I thought “that’s
good – it’s getting better” to have the third
instruction at 2.63 km’s arrive 100 meters early –
“(#!@?)”. By the end of open section at 3.47 km’s
we were 260 meters early, so there was no pattern
that we could work to. More “(#!@?)” plus
“(£$%and)”, a small correction to the odo factor
and away we went.
For some reason, at the end of this open section,
the organizers had placed an open time control,
who informed us erroneously, that we should leave
this point 2 minutes earlier then the time stated on
our route guide. We duly arrived 2 minutes early at
our next given time on the route guide but did not
know if were in fact early or just driving badly. - We
were definitely having fun in the car! More “(#!@/)”
and plenty “(£$%and)” “(£$%and)”
I was getting somewhat flustered and a bit
frustrated by this time and then missed an
instruction completely. By the time we were back
on route, we picked up errors at the next 3 time
controls of 600, 600 and 129 seconds respectively.
We ended up with a total penalty of 1474 over 11
controls but I still achieved my target and came
second in the sighted category. Adri and Syd were
first, as expected, with an error of 71.
What I forgot to tell you is that there were only four
entries in our category of which three started. The
fourth entry thought all rallies took place on a
Sunday so went to Franchshoek instead. Third place
did even worse than us!
The balance of the entries was in the blind or semi
sighted navigator’s category and a really great time
was had by all concerned. There were teams from
Gauteng as well as the Western Cape and I must
place on record that our guys and girls showed the
Kaapie’s the way with Ernie Mee and navigator
winning the event quite convincingly. It is a long

time since I have seen anybody as gleefully happy,
as Ernie was, with their win. Congrats to the Ernie
Team! The organizers awarded prizes all the way
through the field right down to last place so nobody
went away empty handed.- A very nice touch
appreciated by all the competitors!
Our group was then joined by Roger and Angela
Manton at the local Spur for supper before we
returned to Kleinmond, exhausted, (and me) a bit
frustrated, but all quite happy with our day.
Would I do this event again? Yes – Having done it
once and now knowing how the organizers minds
work (or don’t work) and how they set the distances
or times on their route guide, I would enter the
event again for the fun of it, but could never
recommend that it be included in our SARRA
National Series Championship as it definitely does
not comply to our rules and regulations.
I returned home on Monday evening having spent an
enjoyable Sunday and Monday morning with Ivor and
Ethne’ sightseeing and eating fish and chips. I had a
super long weekend and must thank all concerned
on the rally organizing team, plus Syd and Brenda
and Ivor and Ethne’ for their hospitality and last but
not least Adri, with whom I had to share a room in
Kleinmond, for not only not smoking in our room but
also for not snoring too loud.
Pat Whelan
First Overall: Adri vd Berg / Syd Brett
First Open: Adri vd Berg / Syd Brett
First Blind Navigator: Ernest Mee / Zarina Kahn
First Partially Sighted: Karl-Heinz Schreuder / Dave
Morrison
The 2009 Economy Run – an Xciting ride
– with a Scooter – Part the Fourth
The next (and last) section was the sting in the tail –
4 passes to negotiate. 197 km in 129 minutes. Out
of Lydenburg on the R37 (to Polokwane). 14 km out,
the start of the ‘Watervalsrivierpas’ - a downhill
pass with very tight bends – again the Xciting
handled the bends extremely well. ‘Scooting’ along,
so to say.
Then into Burgersfort – a town with seemingly
thousands of pedestrians, cars, donkeys, cattle,
buses and trucks. And 9 stop streets, a traffic-light
and two humps. All cunningly placed by Francois
and his team to make us lose time before the three
passes ahead.
One competitor, in the pillion-passenger class, was
wondering about the meaning of ‘HUMP!!’ in the
route schedule. Wot – here in the road? At the
second hump instruction: Wot? Again? (Give me 10
minutes). Finally, thru this obstacle course, on the
road to Ohrigstad, with another couple of stop
starts, then 22 km of uphill all the way to the leftturn
to Robbers Pass.
Sweeping bends taken with knees hanging out –
trying to ride like Rossi. All uphill. Now and again a
lone car to slow you down slightly. Twenty-two km
of this enjoyment, then the bends start tightening
up, and the uphills get steeper. The faster a bend is
taken, the less throttle is needed for the incline
following. Then over the crest of the mountain, and
a valley on the other side far, far below. A couple
of sweeps then suddenly the road dips downhill –
and the first treacherous left-hander that can catch
you unawares. Panic-braking, and then the fun
really starts. Dangerous down-hill switch-backs.
Huge drop-offs where you rather not want your
brakes to fade. If you go over the side, your clothes
will be out of fashion by the time you hit bottom.
All good biking stuff.
I need not worry as the Xciting has two huge
ventilated discs up front each with twin piston
callipers and a single ventilated disc at rear.
Unfortunately one competitor did fall off in
Robber’s, but managed to continue and finish.
200 mph – in South Africa – and a blind driver!
And then, the coup-de-grace – up Pilgrims Rest pass.
Most bikers usually stop at the Pilgrims Rest Hotel
for a wet-one, but alas, no time for that.
‘Sharp curves to the next instruction’ is an
understatement. 10 km of bumpy, narrow, U-bends,
needle-bends with slow traffic and a solid white

line. Yes – I did pass some cars over the line, but
the scooter purred past them gently, not sounding
like a wild biker with exhaust-noise etc. And I
waved to them very friendly-like. But just past
them the scooter went like a little rocket again.
After all – the given average speed for this pass was
70. Any biker can ride this pass quite safely, but
when time counts, it gets rough. If you dawdle up
this pass, you can easily get 10 minutes behind
time.
Only a minute behind at the top, the final hurdle
was ahead – thru Graskop with its stop streets, and
then Koewyns Pass. By this time it was icy cold
again. Again tight corners, with some that look wet,
and fantastic scenery around. Some l-o-ng bends
that just keep on and on. Then turn-off to
Hazyview, with 26 km of fast sweeping bends.
Fantastic. A fitting final section for a challenging
(for a scooter) Economy Run. Again arriving on time
at the control at the final refuel. Relief at being on
time, but sadness that the event is over.
No lateness penalties over the whole event, and
overall consumption was 20.54 km/L ((4.87 L/100).
Excellent for a 500cc scooter being ridden near the
limit of its capabilities. Not a single thing went
wrong with the Kymco the whole event. The motor
felt even stronger afterwards (run in?).
The Kymco hustled around tight corners with an
ease that surprised me, and was very stable under
most conditions - the handling was spirited or is it
even Xciting? Top speed is claimed at 153 km/hr.
The brakes are excellent, very firm and provide
plenty of feedback.
Useful road sign for SARRA folk.
Forthcoming Events:
November 8 th 2009: SARRA Regularity Rally
See you there…
November 21 st 2009: KZN Regularity Rally
Call Jimmy Dewar 082 825-2756 for details.
November 28 th 2009: SARRA End of Year Prize
Giving
Organised by Brenda Brett - you’ll enjoy it.
Marshal Point
This yearly m/c Economy Run is a most enjoyable
event, and the prize giving party afterwards even
better. Francois Jordaan, apart from being the COC
(Clerk of Course), is also an excellent compere,
needling all and sundry.
So the Kymco Xciting 500i goes, stops, is
comfortable and can corner. It has a decent sized
luggage space under the seat and can cruise to
Durban two up in comfort. It is the ideal runabout
to jump on and go to the shop. It is perfect for a
student or the first-time biker (male and female). It
is affordable and light on fuel. What else to be said?
Except: how well will a 700cc Kymco go?
Jerry Paice
Mike Haigh
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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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