2024 UK Targa/Road Rallying Thread
Discussion
Seems I came in for a bit of light hearted flack for how I filled in my name, at my PC, on the Dishforth Targa, 
In my defence, I was the only one doing it as instructed...
Next event for me will be the Rali Llyn next weekend and if you've not been to a Welsh Championship round I would recommend getting yourselves across
to one as they're on another level and highly competitive,
In my defence, I was the only one doing it as instructed...
Next event for me will be the Rali Llyn next weekend and if you've not been to a Welsh Championship round I would recommend getting yourselves across
to one as they're on another level and highly competitive,
Can’t remember what you did Jez?
Was it your full Sunday name which takes exactly 42 seconds to write?
Rather than a smiley face which Suzanne Barker put in one of mine!.
Meanwhile I’m up on the lovely Isle of Mull waiting to start the Mull Classic tomorrow morning in a very nice works spec Imp.
Was it your full Sunday name which takes exactly 42 seconds to write?
Rather than a smiley face which Suzanne Barker put in one of mine!.
Meanwhile I’m up on the lovely Isle of Mull waiting to start the Mull Classic tomorrow morning in a very nice works spec Imp.
velocemitch said:
Can’t remember what you did Jez?
Was it your full Sunday name which takes exactly 42 seconds to write?
Rather than a smiley face which Suzanne Barker put in one of mine!.
I only did a PC when they joined up the tests as I was watching two loops off the back straight before, but I did my name in block capitals,Was it your full Sunday name which takes exactly 42 seconds to write?
Rather than a smiley face which Suzanne Barker put in one of mine!.
as it's what I was asked to do and do in Wales so I'm used to impatient crews being disappointed when they don't get a quick scrawl.
Have a good run on Mull, I've just booked my ferry tickets for October where it looks like we'll be running two stages.
Had a cracking event up on Mull for the Mull Classic.
The little Imp went very well and we kept it pointing in the right direction around all the cones.
Ended up third historic and narrowly missing first in class.
Nice selection of Cars on the event, but not as many Cars as the organising team would have liked.
Not sure why as it’s a good reputation and previous events have been full. The Island is well worth the trip and the Craic with the other competitors is brilliant.
The little Imp went very well and we kept it pointing in the right direction around all the cones.
Ended up third historic and narrowly missing first in class.
Nice selection of Cars on the event, but not as many Cars as the organising team would have liked.
Not sure why as it’s a good reputation and previous events have been full. The Island is well worth the trip and the Craic with the other competitors is brilliant.
It was the final round of the Weald 12 Car championship last night, a good rally organised by Blackpalfrey MC. The clerk and secretary were running their first rally, and did a great job.
We didn't! We missed 3 code boards, one was on the apex of the first junction which was odd, one I think was when we were stuck behind a queue of Novices, and the third I think was on a LWRNAM that we contemplated, but ignored. Bad move!
We also towed another crew out of a ditch which cost a couple of minutes.
The route took us down to Romney Marsh, which has some great rallying heritage and it's east to see why - great roads!
We ended up 11th and last
Next for us is The Hughes, Clubman section of the HRCR round. Daylight, tests and regularity. Should be fun!
We didn't! We missed 3 code boards, one was on the apex of the first junction which was odd, one I think was when we were stuck behind a queue of Novices, and the third I think was on a LWRNAM that we contemplated, but ignored. Bad move!
We also towed another crew out of a ditch which cost a couple of minutes.
The route took us down to Romney Marsh, which has some great rallying heritage and it's east to see why - great roads!
We ended up 11th and last
Next for us is The Hughes, Clubman section of the HRCR round. Daylight, tests and regularity. Should be fun!
Has anyone got experience of using a Focus ST170 for Targas? I’ve got the chance to get my dads one for free, needed only an inlet manifold and some tyres, and I’m immediately thinking it’d make a great Targa car for me to have some fun in.
I assume a sump guard is a necessity, anything else?
I assume a sump guard is a necessity, anything else?
Beethree said:
Has anyone got experience of using a Focus ST170 for Targas? I’ve got the chance to get my dads one for free, needed only an inlet manifold and some tyres, and I’m immediately thinking it’d make a great Targa car for me to have some fun in.
I assume a sump guard is a necessity, anything else?
I haven't seen many around, have a look at:- I assume a sump guard is a necessity, anything else?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/334976716911168/se...
There shouldl be some nuggets of wisdom there.
What’s everyone been up to lately?
Mid March we were out on the Primrose in the depths of the South Hams on the always challenging map 202.
Had our best result on a road rally after a tough night and finished 8th overall with some top three times along the way in the Proton.
The weekend just gone we were out on the Stu Wood Targa at Chivenor airfield in North Devon.
PaulV will be able to confirm the code boards were complete t
ts. A frame around the boards obscures the letters, and O / C and P / F especially caused a lot of issues with crews picking up code board errors like I’ve never seen before.
We got one code board error and we finished 1st overall in the Clubman’s event.
While other crews were ripping through racers on the super abrasive surface, we used the same set of the finest £50 ditchfinder tyres all day, which had also done the whole of Bath Festival.
The BMW Compact was faultless all day. Right up to the point it wasn’t. Which was when something in the transmission let go about 50m from the finish and we lost all drive. Luckily we were able to coast to the stop line and get a result.
Overall though, the event was super slick with 8 tests before lunch then two long ones after. Would have been an early finish but it was results query time for all those that didn’t go home in a huff.
It is nice to be finally mixing it with some of the fastest South West road rally and targa crews in the south west.
Mid March we were out on the Primrose in the depths of the South Hams on the always challenging map 202.
Had our best result on a road rally after a tough night and finished 8th overall with some top three times along the way in the Proton.
The weekend just gone we were out on the Stu Wood Targa at Chivenor airfield in North Devon.
PaulV will be able to confirm the code boards were complete t
ts. A frame around the boards obscures the letters, and O / C and P / F especially caused a lot of issues with crews picking up code board errors like I’ve never seen before.We got one code board error and we finished 1st overall in the Clubman’s event.
While other crews were ripping through racers on the super abrasive surface, we used the same set of the finest £50 ditchfinder tyres all day, which had also done the whole of Bath Festival.
The BMW Compact was faultless all day. Right up to the point it wasn’t. Which was when something in the transmission let go about 50m from the finish and we lost all drive. Luckily we were able to coast to the stop line and get a result.
Overall though, the event was super slick with 8 tests before lunch then two long ones after. Would have been an early finish but it was results query time for all those that didn’t go home in a huff.
It is nice to be finally mixing it with some of the fastest South West road rally and targa crews in the south west.
The codeboard thing could have been the organisers way of getting round this years MSUK ruling for Targa, which states the board must face the oncoming direction of travel, and be of a certain size. That rule has always been the case for road sections, but never properly defined for tests, so many put them sideways, hid them in biscuit tins, or had them so small you had stop. It was a method of taking time out of you, rather than checking route compliance.
My next outing is this Saturday Night on De Lacy MC’s Taurus Rally. 130 miles of Lanes in the NY Moors and Wolds. I’m driving and got Henry Carr Navigating ( one of the best! ) so it’s all going to be down to me in a fifty year old car mixing it with the modern stuff!
My next outing is this Saturday Night on De Lacy MC’s Taurus Rally. 130 miles of Lanes in the NY Moors and Wolds. I’m driving and got Henry Carr Navigating ( one of the best! ) so it’s all going to be down to me in a fifty year old car mixing it with the modern stuff!
I spoke to one of the organisers after the event.
He said that the code boards were designed to get people to stop as that was helping keep people away from bogey times.
It seemed to work okay however as some have stated, they could easily be misread if you rushed it or got the angle wrong.
I was clear until test 9, then cocked up and transcribed two wrong onto the timecard.
Tyres did seem to be a problem for some, was easy to kill the set on the driving axle. Cheap and cheerful may be in order next time.
A well run event though, made good use of the land available and finished at a sensible time for the long run back to civilisation
He said that the code boards were designed to get people to stop as that was helping keep people away from bogey times.
It seemed to work okay however as some have stated, they could easily be misread if you rushed it or got the angle wrong.
I was clear until test 9, then cocked up and transcribed two wrong onto the timecard.
Tyres did seem to be a problem for some, was easy to kill the set on the driving axle. Cheap and cheerful may be in order next time.
A well run event though, made good use of the land available and finished at a sensible time for the long run back to civilisation
The Taurus made a neat demonstration of the problems organisers of Road Rallies have in our area.
They are on the horns of a dilemma, the majority of the Yorkshire Roads are generally very fast, to get time out of the faster cars you need to do one of two things, you either make it plot and bash ( doesn’t really work on the top guys anyway) or you screw the timing, using the various technically illegal methods. ( or both)
The Clerk of the Taurus did neither, they were convinced ( and they may be right) that they wouldn’t get the entries with PnB and being a club new to the game, they can’t risk the wrath of MSUK if they get caught cheating.
Last night ten cars fully cleaned the whole event, from a timing perspective. The dreaded code boards then came in! Placed randomly and with no indication of where or how many, they were incredibly easy to miss, so only two of the ten ended up penalty free. The winners chosen by engine capacity.
We almost had a clean night, dropping just 23 seconds, when we had to come back out of a NAM to get the headlights to pan onto the tiny reference letter on the code board, in order to be able to read it. Just happened to be on the tightest timed section ( 2 miles, 4 minutes timed to the second.
We shot past two codeboards without seeing them at all.
Still 14th overall in a 50 year old car is pretty decent in my book. I particularly enjoyed taking a minute and half out of an MG ZR on the tricky Millington section, even if they did sidle past us at the end when we were sat four minutes waiting to go in to the control!
They are on the horns of a dilemma, the majority of the Yorkshire Roads are generally very fast, to get time out of the faster cars you need to do one of two things, you either make it plot and bash ( doesn’t really work on the top guys anyway) or you screw the timing, using the various technically illegal methods. ( or both)
The Clerk of the Taurus did neither, they were convinced ( and they may be right) that they wouldn’t get the entries with PnB and being a club new to the game, they can’t risk the wrath of MSUK if they get caught cheating.
Last night ten cars fully cleaned the whole event, from a timing perspective. The dreaded code boards then came in! Placed randomly and with no indication of where or how many, they were incredibly easy to miss, so only two of the ten ended up penalty free. The winners chosen by engine capacity.
We almost had a clean night, dropping just 23 seconds, when we had to come back out of a NAM to get the headlights to pan onto the tiny reference letter on the code board, in order to be able to read it. Just happened to be on the tightest timed section ( 2 miles, 4 minutes timed to the second.
We shot past two codeboards without seeing them at all.
Still 14th overall in a 50 year old car is pretty decent in my book. I particularly enjoyed taking a minute and half out of an MG ZR on the tricky Millington section, even if they did sidle past us at the end when we were sat four minutes waiting to go in to the control!
Edited by velocemitch on Sunday 21st April 19:16
Gassing Station | Rallying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff