Rafiki's motorsport journey

I'll be adding odd snippets of my motorsport involvement throughout the year, especially any event on which I marshal.

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North Yorkshire Classic Rally 3 April

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After a disastrous finish to our 2021 Championship season, Ric (my navigator) and I decided we'd have a more focussed Championship season this year by concentrating on more accessible rallies.  The North Yorkshire Rally started and finished north of York whereas the route managed to circle around this noble and ancient city, so I put in an entry and a few weeks later received confirmation that our entry had been accepted.

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The Saturday prior to the event included the necessary scrutineering session to ensure the car was mechanically sound and various documents were in order and the equally necessary sound check.  Once all that was in place Ric was presented with an envelope full of instructions for him, and numbers for me to attach to the car.  We both had a good look at the route instructions for a couple of the regularity sections ( the rest would be handed out along the route at various time controls) and a chat about the tests of which there were thirteen on former airfields, quarries and a car park!  An interesting day was ahead of us!

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The first two regularity sections took us to the first test south east of York, a former airfield on a broken surface.  The next two regularity sections headed round the north of York to another former airfield to the south west of York where we had four further tests, two of which were on very thick mud, followed by loose gravel surfaces just to keep me on my toes - with Ric encouraging me to drive faster...And then to the Yorkshire Museum of farming for a coffee break (aka loo break) and four more gravel tests round the lorry park via two more regularity sections.

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Two more regularities took us to lunch at the Lavendar Farm now in the Hawarden Hills to the north of York - a useful 50 minute break which allowed Ric to catch up with his plotting - until the final hand-out as we left the lunch control!  Another couple of regularities saw us heading out towards Pickering and a quarry for our last few tests over some very rough sections of the quarry floor where we were to drive as fast as we could over sand and rocks.  And then the final two regularities which took us through Wass Forest and into the finish control at Easingwold Market Place via Helmsley where we were met with most of the townspeople waiting to see the cars arrive at the finish.

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We'd completed our first historic road rally since the two of us competed in the RAFMSA and HRCR Chanpionship events in my former 1969 Hillman Super Imp.  Lessons were learnt on the way round the route.  Ric was still suffering from a pretty severe cough and cold with some confusion over the clocks which seemed to have minds of their own - and I had to remember to drive more slowly on the regularities (average speeds were around 24 to 27 mph!) but faster on the tests,

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​​White Rose Classic Rally, 8 May

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Ric and I met up in Malton in time to get through the scrutinering process and complete the calibration of our trip meter (aka 'the measured mile, even though it's usually longer than just a single mile!) to ensure our distances were as close as possible to the organisers'.  very crucial on regularity events!  After collecting some of the early paperwork, we returned to my hotel in Malton to have a look at maps and to plot some of the route...and then Ric went off to his glamping site near Wetwang.

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The following day, we met back at the hotel to drive the short distance to the Markt Place which, by the time we arrived, was totally covered by rally cars of all descriptions..but a great opportunity to catch up with friends whom I'd not seen for a couple of years.  The drivers' briefing contained a couple of updates which had to be plotted before departure, but nothing too difficult.

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And then it was time to line up ready for the start - and a short drive through Malton before gaining the open road and the first of our regularities which was located just after the Eden Camp World War 2 museum.  This was the first of a number of regularities which were timed at below 20 mph and thus difficult to maintain separated by a number of off road tests, the majority of which were based in and around various quarries and farm roads.  Lunch was provided betwen two tests...the venue actually 'hosted' five tests in all, so not much road driving.  However, after lunch we were off again on some slow regularities, by now getting used to the system - until I mistook a road out of a cross roads while Ric was head down plotting and managed to drive up a wrong road, thus losing us a lot of time...and therefore finl placings!

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The final regularity took us back to Malton where a very welcome dinner was available - but the results were not as there were some issues with the road book which had to be corrected before results could be made final.  But we managed 5 in Class - and improvement on the previous rally!

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Updates:

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Unfortunately our next two rallies, St Wifrid's and Ilkley Jubilee had to be cancelled as Ric was away for both weekends - a family holiday and an overseas business meetings.  As we'd previously decided not to enter the Dansport, the season has come to a rather premature end.

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But I volunteered to marshal on the St Wifrid's Rally and manned a Test start control in the morning and acted as a Test observer in the afternoon at a Grass Racing Circuit near Ripon.  That made a change from driving and gave me a chance to chat, briefly, to some of the crews as they waited for their start times.

 

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