2010 MLRC Mini Rally Series - First Event Mon Jan 25th

[STeveD]

Full info on the series here:

http://www.mlrc.ca/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1263483946

I have a new rally computer that I need to learn how to use, so I need someone to drive Ol' Smokey while I navigate. You should be:

- Able to drive an automatic without complaining audibly
- Able to drive an anemic powerplant without complaining audibly
- Able to take direction from a navigator without complaining audibly
- Unalarmed that the only thing more anemic than the engine are the brakes
- Unfazed by occasional smoke in the cabin. (Okay, frequent smoke in the cabin. The power windows still go down, and the heater works.)


You can curse all you want in your head. Just don't interrupt my concentration on the new toy. ;-)

[STeveD]

I think that I've found a driver, Tim Laye!

[Suba-Ken]

Despite the weather, the January Mini Rally is going ahead. The roads are mostly dry but a few unpaved roads have ice and snow. Nothing your daily driver cannot handle.

Come out for a fun drive!

[STeveD]

That was good! Just the practice I needed... though everytime I do this I seem to make more new mistakes...

I lucked into an expert win that I shouldn't have had. Don't worry, I'm sure that won't continue.

The new MLRC rules forbid any Average Speed measuring equipment (like a GPS, rally computer, etc.) in the novice class. The Moore's were expecting more inexperienced teams in expert, so opted not to take points, which was really nice of them. It turned out to only be them, the Leonards, and Tim and I though.

Bruce and Jane zeroed the competitor's meeting like usual (arriving just as the meeting starts.) BUT, Jane was feeling a bit under the weather, and didn't want to drive. So they decided to make EXPERT instructions Jane's navigational debut with Bruce driving!! Yes, she's not feeling well, but she toughs it out with Expert instructions.

Well, max late in a mini is not very forgiving; 8 minute TA budget, 8 minutes behind to maximum late! Jane and Bruce worked through the expert instructions (attached below... note the bloody Cricket section!! That was a good one, Ken!) but Bruce and Jane ended up with two Max Late penalties (5 minutes each)

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The clock in the TerraTrip was useless because you never have time to look at a screen with Time only, and whenever you're looking at the clock, you then can't do CAS resets! It's a performance rally box, really. So eventually, Opal and I stopped setting the clock on the Terratrip.

Well, it turns out that in the Timewise which measures your seconds ahead / seconds behind, time of day is pretty important. I set it before I left the house, but MLRC rally time was 21 seconds off MCO rally time from Saturday, and I forgot to set it before the rally. And I didn't REALIZE that it was off until the VERY LAST CHECKPOINT on the route. Doh! So lots of -0.3 penalties for us.

Then, I wasn't clear to Tim about how the display works on the Timewise... we crossed the first two CP's 2 seconds EARLY instead of 2 seconds LATE. Oops.

I got confused and double-wrote two straight ahead instructions in the Cricket section when we were only supposed to do one. We noticed immediately when we hit a 50km/h sign in a 72 CAS zone and fixed it with a 1.5 TA.

There was a small error in the header of Section 4's instructions. We were actually supposed to do them ascending, not descending order. Because Ken was so nice to include all the street names for the experts, it only caused a moment of doubt.

We had a total score shown of 3.1 (they missed a 1.5 TA) but it was enough to get an undeserved win in expert. Well, that's part of rally... you sure don't turn down an opportunity like that, because you know that your luck is going to go the other way later in the season anyway.

Aside from the minor struggles... it was a fun night! It's was Tim's first time driving a Subaru, and he now thinks that AWD is cheating. "If any 2WD car passes you at MLWR, you should be embarassed!!" It was also his first time using auxiliary lights, or a rally computer, so it was his introduction to "Big Dollar Rally" in Ol' Smokey. ;-) There were also more first time ralliers (ralliests?) out that night.

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Tim is working afternoons and can't drive for me on February 8th. If anyone else can, please let me know! No experience necessary, just a valid driver's license.

[STeveD]

The next event in this series is tonight, June 7th, in Bradford! you can squeak in, really, if you make it by 7:30.

[STeveD]

Bruce Leonard and I won Expert class! :-) They're simple instructions, and Bruce was nudging me on from the driver's seat, so I had some coaching on a couple of things. But it was enough to come in with 0.3, a trophy, and a LED headlamp! MLRC really does a great job with these.

The instructions are very simple, perfect for refining teamwork and timing in the car. The next event is July 12th.