2009 PMSC President's Prize Rally - Oct 24

[STeveD]

http://www.pmsc.on.ca/PMSC/Events.html

ORRC Navigational Rally

<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=13+Tupper+St.,+Millbrook,+ON,+Canada&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=53.341614,99.580078&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=13+Tupper+St,+Cavan-Millbrook-North+Monaghan,+Peterborough+County,+Ontario&ll=44.152296,-78.447669&spn=0.02879,0.048623&z=15&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=13+Tupper+St.,+Millbrook,+ON,+Canada&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=53.341614,99.580078&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=13+Tupper+St,+Cavan-Millbrook-North+Monaghan,+Peterborough+County,+Ontario&ll=44.152296,-78.447669&spn=0.02879,0.048623&z=15" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

Start/Finish
TJ’s Family Restaurant
13 Tupper Street, Cavan-Millbrook, Ontario
(705) 932-3220

Registration opens at 9:00 AM
Drivers Meeting at 10:30 AM
First Car out at 11:01 AM

Approx 160-170 KM

Organizer: Dan Demers (705) 277-1946
Cell: (705) 772-0671

Cost: $45

[isopropyl_z24]

Is it $45 per person or per car??

[Opal]

Entry fees are per car/team.
Does that mean I'll see you there? :)

[STeveD]

It'll be great to see you and Rob out there, Jenn! Bringing the WRX or the Audi?

This is a complete introduction to describe the whole thing:

http://kwrc.on.ca/events/snatr/Basic_Rallying.html

The navigator should try to make themselves familiar with the "Basic Instructions" on this page. Don't concern yourself with the other two columns.

http://www.torontoautosportclub.ca/articles/RallyMaster/index.html

[Cavemanrjc]

Depending on if the WRX is back from the body shop
She wants to drive if we go so well see.

[isopropyl_z24]

Need to work a few things out but going to try to be there. Shawn Monette ,one of my new best friends, he has spare parts in his tool box for my car ;), said he might go as well.

What time do you think it might end?
I have a date with a cave man that night.

[STeveD]

I'm guessing that you will be back at the restaurant and competition over before 4pm. 5pm latest. Most people have a bite and a drink and talk a while to figure out what they did wrong, then wait to find out who won. (Takes a while to calculate the final results, wait for inquiries and stuff.) I find we're usually there socializing about 1.5 hours after the rally is officially "over".

If you're pressed for time, you really don't have to stay to find out your final results. You can find them online later.

[STeveD]

Got confirmation from the organizers. It's going to be a quick one! Car 0 is expected to finish at 2:15. If you're not horribly lost, you should be in by 2:45, and they'll probably have scores tallied and awards presented by 3:30 latest.

[TrevorH]

Hey, that's early enough for me to head back to Toronto with a muddy car and a 1st place trophy for the end of the Forza 3 event ;)

[STeveD]

TrevorH wrote:
Hey, that's early enough for me to head back to Toronto with a muddy car and a 1st place trophy for the end of the Forza 3 event ;)

Why? Are they having a show and shine at this rally? :hammer:

[Cavemanrjc]

Probably coming with the red noisy car :)

[BruceL]

Jane and I did the green crew for the rally this past weekend. 158 km. It's about 40/60 gravel/paved, no rough stuff to speak of, though there is some new fresh gravel that's a little loose.

At this point, it looks like light rain for Saturday, which will keep the dust down, but will definitely detract from the spectacular fall colours that we enjoyed.

GPS coordinates for the restaurant, which is beside the Esso and the convenience store are:
W 44.15239
N 078.44784
that should get you in the ball park.

Bruce

[STeveD]

Sounds good, Bruce!

If anyone has wanted to try driving a Nav Rally but could never find a navigator, Jack Hannah is looking for a driver this Saturday: http://bb.pmsc.on.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1993


Andrew, are you in for this one?

[STeveD]

.

Congratulations, Trevor! 2009 ORRC Novice 1st Place Driver!!


Yes, today Ted and Trevor took first place at President's Prize with a remarkable 0.9 total points; which I think is their best score ever. My head was mathed out after the rally, so I failed to realize Trevor's placement until I was driving home. The best that I can do is TIE him for first at Open Road, but nothing can take away his First Place season finish now! Ted will have to go another event at least before he finds out.

Unfortunately, Opal got sick and I just couldn't find another navigator. It's a shame that she didn't make this one, because these notes were exactly her style... So, after trying four different forums looking for a substitute navigator, and trying to steal Checkpoint workers from Dan (PMSC President) on the morning of the rally and failing, I decided to enter myself doing double duty as Navigator and Driver. But 1.3 was the best I could manage because I somehow got the ODO calibration wrong. So I collected a total of 0.6 points before I could get it sorted out. I managed to zero six of the twelve checkpoints, but it wasn't enough to beat Ted today.

Sorry Opal!

Christine L from HADA navigated for Maxine, and was totalling 6.2 until a tricky road counting note put them off course. I stopped at that same one, unsure of which way to go, and had to add another minute to my TA. It was tough, and Christine should be proud of that result! Nice to have Maxine back at rallies, and she picked up an extra 4 club points for SPDA, strengthening our lead in the club overall!

Burgess and Ford in the vintage Ford were third with 3.8 points. Okay, it's not a Ford, but it DOES need to be fixed or repaired daily. Close behind them were Brownhill and Corbett at 4.3.

Then came the PMSC teams of Grubb and Holt with 9.5, with Henderson and Whimbush close behind with 10.0.

In Expert, the Moores beat Sanderson and Wharton 0.2 to 2.0. Running alone in intermediate, the Carbardos family had 3.9.

Even though I missed having Opal there terribly, I'm glad I went. That was a unique experience that I hope NEVER to repeat.

I'm not sure if these are the correct and final notes, or the second last printing. But here it is:


http://spda-online.ca/uploads/forums/116_4ae37c96ab2f1.jpg

[STeveD]

I noticed this on the drive home. It looked like he had a racoon wrapped around his steering wheel!!

http://spda-online.ca/uploads/forums/116_4ae47520003f7.jpg

[STeveD]

If anyone is interested, here is what the instructions looked like. Please forgive the messy handwriting... some of that was, uhm, written while I was still doing earlier sections.

When we get to the end of the season, I'll post how Opal and I work together in the car so that some of the other novice teams can move ahead next year. I think that some drivers rely too much on their navigators. They could be helping more.

First thing all drivers should do is stop their hesitation, take some Gravol, and run a mini as the navigator to see what the navigators are up against. Then you'll respect more what they have to do and won't bother them so much during the rally ;-)

[Navigator]

Steve you did fantasic on your own. Cant say I ever wanted to try driving and navigating at the same time.

Congrats to Trevor on the Novice Championship.

[TrevorH]

Thanks for the congrats all.

Knowing this event could put me in first place for the season, I was really nervous in the week leading up to the rally. Steve's car "Ol' Smokey" was running well ( or what passes for running well), and with Steve and Opal being so competitive with Ted and I all year I was really expecting a challenge at this event. That proved to be the case.

Lets be clear, doing both roles of Navigator and Driver is insanely difficult. Not only did Steve finish his solo run of the rally with no missed checkpoints, his final time is very competitive. His finish is less than 24 seconds of penalty from taking first place at the event. For that accomplishment, I'd say Steve is the real champion of this event. (Sadly, no, you may not have my 10 points :-P )

I noticed on the SPDA shout box on Friday that Steve was looking for a Nav. , with Opal being out sick. Since we have our usual pre-rally smack talk and deception, I figured this was just another tactic to put Ted and I off guard, and flatly refuse to believe Opal wasn't well.

Rally day started with breakfast at Wimpy's on Younge St. near the 407. This has become my ritual for any rallies out east of Toronto. I'm not one for believing in luck, but every time I've stopped there for a pre-rally breakfast, they've had a daily special with blueberries in it, which I've ordered and then gone on to win or place very well. Usually it's blueberry pancakes, this time it was waffles. So we win. My secret is out folks ;-)

Registration and the pre-rally meetings was the usual great time with friends. I kept asking when Opal was going to arrive, still not trusting that Steve wasn't up to something. Steve wisely asked to be first car out to maximize the time he'd have before the CP's closed (20 minutes after the last car is expected).

The event itself went fairly well, if a little stressful. See, I was really expecting to find Steve by the roadside, working out instructions, sometime within the first 40 minutes of the rally. It didn't happen. In fact, at every CP he was in right when he was supposed to be. That was slightly distressing to say the least.

We had only one costly error, where we missed a CAS 20 traveling over a small wooden bridge. It was a short distance at 20, but since I was trying to maintain 45, we arrived 30 seconds early at CP 4.

Christine was doing great navigating for her first time for Maxine, the two of them running the car ahead of Ted and I. We eventually passed them, but stayed very close to one another until the difficult road counting section where we lost sight of their car for the remainder of the rally.

Better than halfway through the rally, we finally found Steve by the roadside working out his instructions. I gave a short honk as we drove by to help break his concentration ;-). Good news was that there was no smoke coming out of the cabin, so neither Ol' Smokey nor Steven were losing oil.

A short while later we arrived at a CP, and announced our car number ( 7 ). The CP worker said "Seven? Where's everyone else?". In nav rallies, that's one of the best things you can hear from a CP, so I knew at least that other teams were having difficulties.

We finished the rally, ate and awaited the scoring. Then panic set in. Steve arrived, and with his usual deft calculations announced that he'd come in around 1.5 (or there about). Since I knew that we had blown one CP by a few seconds, and that we were a few seconds early or late at some CPs I was mentally adding up our own score to be around that amount. When the preliminary score sheets arrived, we saw the devastating results. Somehow we'd arrived 10 minutes early at one CP, then 10 minutes late at the next. The resulting score of 22, plus a large plate of poutine put my heart on full alert. Thankfully the early and late CP's were just a time entry typo, and poutine is actually healthier than most of the things I eat, so I lived to see our final score corrected to a 0.9. Yay!

I have no photo's to share, but victory mud will be on display on my Suby for the remainder of the week.

Opal, I really hope you're feeling better soon. I'm sure Steve won't be pulling off any solo miracles at the Open Road rally, and I'd like to see you two have a fair shot at tieing up the season points.

[Navigator]

When I talked to Steve Friday night I gave him suggestions on how to keep ahead of you. To bad he didnt listen, would have been entertaining and he would have won. LOL

- 4 flats
- steal your keys
- make you sick with exlax brownies
- hurt your co driver

The Nav rallies at the end of any year get really really competitive.

Oh and still not sure how Steve did it.

[STeveD]

Thanks guys! I considered Ivano's advice... considered how they violated nearly every CARS "Code of Conduct"... and opted to try to win the stupid (legal) way instead.

Trevor is right about the smack talk and deception though. There was one that fell through on me and Ted never got to see it.

.......

After it was clear that I would have no navigator and I registered solo, I put Opal's name on the registration sheet as my navigator. (Technically, there's nothing in the rules that says the navigator has to be in the car. She CAN technically phone it in.)

I went up to Mark, the virgin PMSC scorer for that day and said, "For the first printing of the results, please put my navigator's name in the results."

"I thought you were running alone."

"I am. Just put it in there for the first printing of the results so I can watch Ted turn funny colours."

Mark didn't say no, so I left hopeful to prep my car.

....

After the rally, I was disappointed to see "None" as my Navigator in the results printing. I asked him later why he didn't put her name in the software and he looked at me confused. "You didn't name a navigator."

Me: "Sure I did! Look at the form, there it is: Opal Gamble."

Mark, still looking confused after being tossed in the fire of learning a scoring system, and overwhelmed after the barrage of scoring corrections that he had to do after the first printing: "What's an Opal Gamble?"

It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what he was asking, then I realized; he thought I was making up her name and it was supposed to be something funny like "Uranus" or "Sum Yung Guy" but that he wasn't getting the joke.

....

So unfortunately, I didn't get to see Ted turn funny colours after the rally. I heard his voice get really tight when he was doublechecking his scoring after seeing the 22, but I didn't get to put him over the top thinking Opal was scoring points at that one.

Ah well. There's always next week...

[Opal]

Well done, Steve!
Ted, Trev - glad to see you've done so well. It's been a great season :)

Alas, Steve was UNDERPLAYING what's been going on. I've managed to catch the dread H1N1 and while you guys were battling it out, I was in Grand River Hospital trying to get them to take me seriously that this was not strep throat (their diagnosis from Friday night) and that nearly choking to death in Shoppers Drug Mart was indicative that I needed some help.

I'm hoping like hell I'm okay and not contageous for the next rally.

Take the health warnings seriously, my friends. You do NOT WANT THIS FLU!

[STeveD]

Opal wrote:

Alas, Steve was UNDERPLAYING what's been going on. I've managed to catch the dread H1N1!

I didn't want people wearing masks and giving you a wide berth there in Ottawa if you were up to going on Sunday. ;-)

You get better soon! If you need any Wonton Soup from House of Buddha, I deliver.