OTL ! - I know .." it's not a race!" ..

[Greta]

... but as newbies we didn't quite know what to expect. " Push on" said Tim .. "it's not a race - but you can't afford to hang around" - so we didn't.

Despite that - we accummulated a total imaginary "penalty" of 1Hour & 6 minutes. We weren't consciously trying to get to every control early - just trying to keep ahead of the parts trucks and experienced mechanics sweeping up behind.

This afternoon - for a little bit of fun I deducted the Control Stop opening time from our arrival times - and despite reaching 10 controls just before their official opening times, I calculate we accumulated a total of ETA +66 minutes on the others.

"Pushing On" - London Map style -  through Woburn Park got us back to Mr Helm & Knebworth at 19:05 and 5th to return. In Nuala's world it felt a teeny weeny bit like what I suspect the marathon's of Leige - Sophia - Liege must have been. That said I do think the schedule was easily achieveable provided one didn't get too distracted by awesome views of Ben Loyal - or delayed by mechanical misfortunes. We observed most of the rest stop guidelines - apart from JOG where the open road and wild fastness of Sutherland was just too appealing. (Crask Inn would make a fantastic Passage Control.)

So - by way of summary  - I think the schedule was very good apart from perhaps too long at JOG and being too early to Skiach 2.

[RobPearce]

On the whole, yes, but...

The new start/finish location has shifted the Friday night earlier, meaning we now have plenty of buffer zone on the part where, generally, most cars are running well, largely in a pack, and people don't really need it.

The Sunday, on the other hand, remains on its original timing but is getting progressively harder to keep up. The traffiic, the ridiculously long breakfast queues, and the timings being faster than our satnag's "modern car" settings suggested, all mean that the final stretch, when people are tired and cars are being nursed, has no scope at all for making up time.

I'm not criticising the excellent work of the organisers - they did a brilliant job - but I do think a bit of "simplification" of the Lands End to Knebworth stages wouldn't go amiss.

Just for a reference, when I first did the RBRR in 1994, we had enough time to spare on the M25 stretch that we called in on my brother in Chorleywood for tea. This year, we didn't get to Knebworth until 9pm.

[Tim Hunt]

I don't know why cars should need nursing on the final stretch Rob. I find that if anything mine goes better on the second day than the first, once the cobwebs are thoroughly blown away!!

Tim

[RobPearce]

Well, Tim, yours is a very fine example that maybe doesn't get as much heavy use as light, so its biggest problem is cobwebs. Some of us have cars that acquire squeaky wheel bearings, burnt exhaust valves, hot brakes, worn clutches, leaky exhausts... for every car that sails through the 48 hours there's one that begins to struggle a little. Over the years I have personally had to nurse home a TR7 with no exhaust left, a Stag with a detached rear subframe, and a Toledo with hardly any compression. None of those were in any sort of state to play catch-up.

[DGF]

Greta .you were in little danger of the sweepers overtaking you ..at one point, friday night we were running 2hrs behind latest arrival time...by gledrig we'd managed to claw it back to arrive 10 mins after the last car had left 

[richard w]

I know! Sorry Doug - and thank you for staying with us up the A1 until Michel needed you more.

[Greta]

Quoted from widget-

Greta .you were in little danger of the sweepers overtaking you ..at one point, friday night we were running 2hrs behind latest arrival time...by gledrig we'd managed to claw it back to arrive 10 mins after the last car had left 

Hi Doug - At the time I didn't know you and Kate were sweeping - if we'd know we might have been tempted to drop back and talk GT6 Rally Cars for a while! Good work - a selfless and brilliant idea to do what you did.

[DGF]

It was a case of making best of a bad situation, as a new part failed on my saloon, on the way to the start, we arrived in katies modern triuck.not the done thing to do a triumph event in a toyota, so they prety much invented the job of course closing/ rescue truck.it was hard, but an enjoyable task

[Nick Jones]

Even though not intentional, it seemed to work quite well and I wonder if it's an idea that might stick for the future...... perhaps even with a selection of spares aboard to improve the repair rate!

Doesn't even have to be the same poor sods  intrepid rescuers all the way round - could be done as shifts......

......and Nuala, you were travelling pretty near the front of the pack for Newbies so you must of got the hang of it pretty quickly.  Generally, if the car stays fit and you don't spend too much time socialising at the stops (which is definitely a temptation!) you don't loose too much time.

Question is.... are you hooked?

Nick

[Greta]

Quoted from Nick Jones-

 

......and Nuala, 

Question is.... are you hooked?

Nick

Absolutely - even if I'm tempted to have a more sedate run in my MKII next time and see if a slower tempo / pace is just as enjoyable.
The run from Llandrinodd Wells to Monmouth under cold and starry skies - in a train of 5 "fast" cars was unforgettable - but so too were many other moments. 😛

[Greta]

With c.22 retirements a sweeper truck with spares and mechanical assistance sounds like a great idea - lets face it no one wants to do so much preparation and then fail for the want of the odd horse shoe nail.

But does it also undermine the Reliability concept - whereby preparation and reliability and self resourcefulness are paramount? ( My thanks to those that had oil when we'd used nearly all of ours and to he who had a longer hose than Phil !) ... mutual resourcefulness

I suspect the pros and cons of this point would be a good thread on its own.

[thescrapman]

Quoted from Nick Jones-

Doesn't even have to be the same poor sods  intrepid rescuers all the way round - could be done as shifts......

Nick

Great minds think alike, I have been pondering a very similar proposal to send to Tim and the team in the near future whilst sitting recovering at work today.

[DGF]

we only had a few spares with us...i just grabbed a couple of boxes out of the saloon and slung them in the back of the truck...these were 6 spot spares

full set of ignition inc distributor

alternator

belts

wheel bearings

leccy bits

leccy fuel pump

fuel  .well petrol ..not diesel

i know there is the reliability aspect to it but we are dealing with cars, in some cases . that are older than the owners so not expecting to have to change something on a long trip could be classed as unrealistic..and that's where the spares list comes in ..who's carrying what.and a fresh pair of eyes can oft see a problem previously overlooked 

 

[Dave1360]

Doug - are you saying that you didn't have an odd horse show nail in the back too?!

[Velocita Rosso]

Quoted from Dave1360-

Doug - are you saying that you didn't have an odd horse show nail in the back too?!

That would be going a bit too far rier.

[kin74]

As a newbie I have to agree with Rob about making the Sunday legs a bit easier, the last control point was quite hard to find in the dark and at after almst 48 hours I'd have loved a service station instead. But I suppose it wasn't an easy agreement.

About us, we were able to be at Land's End in time, found a long queue and skip breakfast there but then took it too much easy and finally arrive in Knebworth one hour late. 

[Tim Hunt]

I liked the last part of the route - anything to avoid the M25! It was pity that the A5 was iffy but to avoid that we came off the A421 on the A5130 then minor roads through Salford and Hulcote and on to the A507 all the way to Junction 10 of the A1(M) and three junctions down to Knebworth. However, I never want to negotiate the awful Turweston Airfield perimeter road again. Please let's find an alternative, decently paved penultimate control location for 2020!

Tim

[Sidescreen Ben]

Quoted from Tim Hunt-

I liked the last part of the route - anything to avoid the M25! It was pity that the A5 was iffy but to avoid that we came off the A421 on the A5130 then minor roads through Salford and Hulcote and on to the A507 all the way to Junction 10 of the A1(M) and three junctions down to Knebworth. However, I never want to negotiate the awful Turweston Airfield perimeter road again. Please let's find an alternative, decently paved penultimate control location for 2020!

Tim

Agree re Turweston Tim!  I think that perambulation has finished off my rear spring bushes!  I have fond memories of the location however as it was where I learned to drive in my Old Man's Herald 13/60 Conifer Green estate back in 1978 but it was a lot smoother back then and there were no buildings!

[Tim Bancroft]

So, in summary, Six very good points have been made by this thread:

1. Run a Service Cav/Van as a sweeper. Yes, this must be done. Either hire a small van or small car. And find two very good practical CT members to run the car. Don't think a realy service will work, although its a good idea

2. Get rid of Turweston and either find another better location in the vicinity of that place. We will try. To be honest, we may look for a new start location as Knebworth costs so much, so it may not be necessary. But, Turweston will not be used again.

3. Close up the timings for JOG and Skiach 2. We extended the time at JOG as were worried that The Seaview Hotel may struggle...they were brilliant,so our conservatism was a mistake.

4. Crask Inn Passage Control. Great idea and something that could happen. (This sort of suggestion makes 'Forums' like this so worthwhile...Thanks Nuala).

5. Find a better route back to Knebworth. Very difficult

6. Build in some more time for Sunday.Only way to do this is to cut out either Bude, Badgers or Pimperne...loathe to do that. So simple route back to the finish from Pimperne is required....M3/M4 and M25 then! Terrible thing to suggest, back what about Haynes Museum at Sparkford instead of Bude and Badgers????

Nigel does wonders with the route, such a difficult task.

Think I will create a new thread asking for suggestions. Its a Club event and we want to run an event that pleases our members and RBRR entrants.