I took part in a 12 car Rally on Friday night. Our local motor club organises a few every year. The basic idea is that you set off in the dark along a 60 mile ish route which is only given to you in clues at each checkpoint. As we were beginners we were given 5 out of 8 clues before hand. The other 3 we could partially work out because the map location of each checkpoint was given and there was a set amount of time to get there.
In preparation for the event I bought a halogen conversion kit online but unfortunately my local motor factor didn't have the right type of bulb so I ended up de-soldering my bulbs to remove the fitting ring then soldering the fitting ring onto the halogen bulb. I now have 55w halogen bulbs and they are great! very impressed!
we were pitted against a Cinquento, Seicento, Peugeot 106, Astra coupe, MG midget, Audi RS4 amongst others.
We spent 2 hours snaking through B-roads as fast as the speed limit (or in most cases the car.) Would allow. I was overtaken twice although this is not necessarily an indication of the final outcome. There are penalty points for missing marker posts which are 2 letters of a number plate on a post staked into the ground. There are also penalty points for arriving at the check points late.
We were 5th overall out of 12 cars which was apparently quite respectable for first timers. We lost 40 points for missing 4 marker posts which was a shame because we were the only participants without a time penalty on the entire event! I think that means the car performed better than we did!

Well done. An excellent result

D

Well done, sounds like an enjoyable event!
R

MOD500 said:

I took part in a 12 car Rally on Friday night.

We were 5th overall out of 12 cars which was apparently quite respectable for first timers.

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Wouldn't that have been even better if all 12 cars had been Fiat 500s? Congratulations on the result and I think you had the best car for the job.

Your rally sounds like a junior version of a reliability trial, which is something that has only really been on my "radar" for a year or so. As a first-timer like you I'm competing in a major challenge over this coming weekend in an event called The Flying Scotsman. Most of the navigation (my job) is done by reading "tulip" symbols and parts of the course have to be driven at exact speeds for several miles whilst not missing any of the directions given. It would be even more fun in a 500 but mustn't grumble that I'll be the passenger in this.

fiat500 said:

mustn't grumble that I'll be the passenger in this.

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I can see why you would chose not to grumble! The event was fun although I'm not sure we will enter the same type of event again. Following the route, looking out for the markers and trying to get to the checkpoints on time was great, but we were let off lightly as beginners. We had the luxury of deciphering the clues in the comfort of our house over a brew, If we were competing at expert level we would have to work out the clues while driving which is where the biggest part of the challenge is.
In the image below directions to TC2 (YYYY YWY YYY.....) these refer to road colours an the number of letters is the number of roads at a junction so you would plot the route by identifying the junction then identifying the next junction joined by one of the roads and so on.
In the directions to TC4 (167) 143)........ the numbers are height markers. you avoid the ones in the brackets and go via the ones not in brackets.


The time to get from one checkpoint to the other is based on the speed limit and distance as all speed limits must be obeyed during the event.


The type of clues depend on the organisers sense of humour, I guess! Its a bit like orienteering and a crossword while driving in a car. I'm not a massive fan of crosswords so I'm not sure it's quite right for me. There are some Auto solos coming up soon so I'm keen to give one of those a shot.

Experts also get inverse circular herringbones......amongst other clues.

Once you get more experience of the navigation part, you start to look at the map while waiting for your clue. The time card will tell you roughly how long the next section will be so there is no need to look further on the map than that.

Prior to events we would use a highlighter on the map to indicate the spot heights and trig points along with the grid numbers.

A Potti makes following the map easier.

The speed of the vent is set at half the speed limit, so if you are on de-restricted roads its 30mph.

I used my Cinquecento and would leave larger cars behind down the twisty yellows and whites. I could also switch my tail lights off independently so no one could follow me.

A great way to spend an evening

D

In my younger years my father was secretary of the "Met Police Motor Club" and as such would devise, and then organise, rallies. I have spent many an hour in Met. Police sports centres (and this was well before the days of 24hr TV) whilst my parents ran the event. I learnt to use, and enjoy using, road maps as dad drove and I or my brother navigated whilst we 'route prooved' for a rally. The best rally he devised was called "The Crows-foot Rally" and was a pure navigational rally---a standard Morris Minor won the first time the rally was run. It eventually became part of one the national rally championships. The checkpoints were determined by how far a crow flew in a set time, in a set direction, with a set (speed and direction) crosswind----the navigators were given 3 hours to work out where all the checkpoints were before their 'off'. It was a very popular rally and usually oversubscribed.
Your comment regarding being able to turn your rear lights off reminds me of the trick the "works" Topolino drivers used in the Mille Miglia---they wired the BRAKE lights so that if a car from a competitors team came up behind them in the dark, they could flick the brake lights on---the car behind would think that they were coming to a corner and back-off (don't forget, head lights were nowhere near as good as they are today) They only had (or could, before the following car 'sussed' it) do the trick a couple of times for the works car ahead to gain a little bit.

I forgot about the inverse herring bones!
My navigator is friends with one of the organisers so he ran through a number of previous event clues with us.

I like the idea of switching the tail lights off although most competitors had fitted very bring interior lights so they were quite easy to spot.
Brake light switch sounds like a good idea too! Very sneaky!

MOD500 said:

most competitors had fitted very bring interior lights so they were quite easy to spot.
!

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A potti makes much more sense. As a driver I want the car as dark as possible inside to be able to see better outside.

D

MOD500 said:

I can see why you would chose not to grumble! The event was fun although I'm not sure we will enter the same type of event again. Following the route, looking out for the markers and trying to get to the checkpoints on time was great, but we were let off lightly as beginners. We had the luxury of deciphering the clues in the comfort of our house over a brew, If we were competing at expert level we would have to work out the clues while driving which is where the biggest part of the challenge is.
In the image below directions to TC2 (YYYY YWY YYY.....) these refer to road colours an the number of letters is the number of roads at a junction so you would plot the route by identifying the junction then identifying the next junction joined by one of the roads and so on.
In the directions to TC4 (167) 143)........ the numbers are height markers. you avoid the ones in the brackets and go via the ones not in brackets.


The time to get from one checkpoint to the other is based on the speed limit and distance as all speed limits must be obeyed during the event.


The type of clues depend on the organisers sense of humour, I guess! Its a bit like orienteering and a crossword while driving in a car. I'm not a massive fan of crosswords so I'm not sure it's quite right for me. There are some Auto solos coming up soon so I'm keen to give one of those a shot.

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Did you ever do an Autosolo. If so how did the car compare with its handling?

fiat500 said:

Did you ever do an Autosolo. If so how did the car compare with its handling?

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I didn't, I haven't ruled it out yet though, maybe next year!

MOD500 said:

I didn't, I haven't ruled it out yet though, maybe next year!

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We've now booked in to do one of these in early November. The extra difficult part of it is that I want to do the navigating so Sheila needs to train-up at the Fiat 500 driving. .....and then she needs to learn how to drive it in the dark!

What we've already found is that on the minor roads it can be very hard to maintain an average of 30mph. It's nothing to do with the tiny engine or lack of experience but something that twisty, narrow roads would force on any car.

Add all that to working out a route on a 1:50,000 map in the dark and it looks like we are going to be challenged.

So now I have also competed in a "12" car rally in the 500; but not quite so successfully as MOD500.

There were 9 cars and all of the others were chunky, moderns, apart from one older Peugeot 205. We were slow although never past maximum lateness, missed one Time Control, although we were on the right road and came 7th out of 8 novices. But you can be a novice forever if you don't win, so we were one of only two teams who had never competed like this before.

It was not much harder on the car than my normal driving and no damage was done; in fact, it was driving brilliantly on the dual carriageway on the way home....probably just relieved to be going straight!

Sheila's driving surpassed my navigating and I did panic a couple of times.

Highly recommended as an antidote to sitting in front of the telly or computer on a Sunday night.

Photo taken the day before..daylight would have helped so much!

Much better in the dark, did you add any illumination?

D

rallycinq said:

Much better in the dark, did you add any illumination?

D

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Yes,. I already had spotlights and I taped an illuminated magnifying glass to the bottom of a plastic plant pot to make a potti. UPDATE, we. came 6th out of 8..[emoji3]
I need better organisation next time...I kept losing things in the car. Even though we'll never be up to the pace, most of our penalties didn't come from lateness!. Biggest mistake... didn't see a TC and didn't want a wrong approach so missed it. But obviously then missed code boards as we went off-route... we're learning!.[emoji3]

You'll only get a WD if you stop at the TC the wrong way. Drive through it, turn round, and approach from the correct direction then stop.

D

rallycinq said:

You'll only get a WD if you stop at the TC the wrong way. Drive through it, turn round, and approach from the correct direction then stop.

D

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.. now you tell me! [emoji6]. Thank-you![emoji106][emoji3][emoji106]