Controls: Any thoughts?

[Tim Bancroft]

All,

We would be very interested to hear of any thoughts about the Controls that we used.

One place that was not a success was Sixpenny Handley, John and co did a great job finding the venue, however the Village Hall doubled booked us!

Back to Pimperne?

[Alex]

Lands end was great Tim!

I think the stop on the way up the A30 was perfect and just what was needed for that difficult section.

Could we have the same weather next time aswell .....please ;D

[thescrapman]

Tim

I have sent you a "thoughts email".

For everyones else benefot I thought Six-penny worked OK, I hadn't noticed the double booking.

Car park was a bit tighter than Pimperne, but was very well marshalled.

Lands End worked very well,

Tebay was vastly superior to Lancaster (though i suspect that Lambrini would have had excellent results if the Floor-Show had been there....,.  ;)

Do you need one on the A10 near Papworth Everard??

I think the marshalls resisted demands to get early signatures quite well, that helps a lot!

Cheers

Colin

[GT6boy]

Sugarloaf worked verywell. Better signing and everyone seemed to heed the requests to not hang about there.
Okehampton an excellent idea and set up.
Wasn't aware of any issues at Sixpenny- really enjoyed the welcome and friendly service there.

[Baldry1500]

Tebay not a sucess for me. My mate turned miserable as he realised where we were stopping. He had experienced food poisoning from there once before and that meant we had to wait an hour until the control opened then drive on and waste more time so he could eat a burger king. Personally i like tebay, but not if he is with me.

[32valves]

I thought all the stops were very well run. A big thank you and well done to all the marshalls, you really helped make this such a success. I second the comments about the marshalls sticking to the timings. It seemed to make the whole thing hang together much better for me. I too wasn't aware of the double booking at Sixpenny Handley, excellent marshalling at a busy stop.  ;)

[Nick Jackson (2)]

The issue at Sixpenny Handley was that we had to get a load of footballer's cars moved in order to clear a space for the RBRR cars, so most drivers wouldn't be aware of the difficulty.  The access road did get blocked up at one point due to lack of space but I think we got away with it overall.  

There was also a right herbert in a Noble of all things who turned up to spectate and generally got in the way!

Good fun though.

[GT64fun]

We attended the Sixpenny Handley Control as spectators/supporters (White GT6 Mk 2) and were waved into the car park with great flourish and received a friendly greeting from the marshalls, even though we were'nt actually in the event.

I know , I know , I should have done it, but hopefully next time !!!

We found the atmosphere really great and enjoyed seeing so many Triumphs being used properly. They do all sound quite unique !!

Congratulations to everyone who entered and completed the event.

Regards

Ian F ;)

[Tim Bancroft]

Ah, saw that car parked and it certainly looked good-good discerning choice!

[ferny]

I think all the controls had their plus points and can't think of any reason not to use them again. Except Didcot. It's boring and the drive to the finish from there is crap. It eats up time which could be spent in Wales or Scotland.

[cook1e]

I don't have a problem with Didcot as a control in teh way it's run etc, Andy and Tina do agreat job, but the drive onto the Plough from thier was a nightmare and Jams on the M40 made us nearly miss last food orders at the Plough. Not sure how we can get around this and chnage the route though, anywhere around the South East and London is a nightmare for Traffic on a Sunday evening.

[GT6boy]

Constructive observations  :)

The drivers meeting was not helped (for me) by the audience chatting mid-presentations, whilst the speakers were at times barely audible as a result. Not surprised if 1st timer's may have missed important detail?
How many of the McJim's valid observations on Marshalling frustrations could have been avoided by people listening and heeding the advice at the drivers meeting? :-/

How about stressing certain Control Stops are 'Drive-through' at the Drivers meeting AND in the Road Book on the Signing In page?

Carter Bar- excellent drive through Control Stop.
Tebay- marvellous venue, facilities and welcome from CT/marshals/members and the staff.
Sugar Loaf- Much improved signage and discipline of drivers: seemed very little people elected to park up this year, making the Marshals job much easier.
White House- excellent idea for a stop in the long drag to Cornwall, this one worked very well too.
Lands End- much improved on the last time we were there. Only issue appeared to be that they didn't seem to be quite ready for anyone getting there possibly 30 minutes before the Control opened.  :-/
Sixpenny- good all round,loved it :)
TR Register- not sure why the previous 'Drive-through' layout wasn't adopted. Having said that, I really enjoyed getting out and chatting with the TR people and CT/RBRR drivers.

A big thankyou to everyone who mashalled and helped out with all aspects of achieving what is an incredible event :)

[Steve28]

How was the lands end breckfast and service this time ?

[HNJ1N]

Both Martin and i(entry 63) felt that all Controls were excellent, efficient,friendly and well organised,without exception.
Having partaken in a number of rallies over the years i can confirm that the RBRR Controls were of the highest standards, it was a real pleasure to be greeted at the end of a tough sector by a friendly face who knew what they were doing. I particularly liked places like sixpenny ,a touch quirky, but with lovely friendly wi members running the facilties in the hall.
   Welldone to all at CT that got everything organised,
    cheers,
      Laurence

[thebrookster]

From an Edinburgh point of view, why did you use the Taxi Rank?

Whilst it worked reasonably well, it does require a man on the barrier, and for a while parking space became a minor issue, did not see this becoming an issue for the RBRR Drivers (who may be used to this kind of thing), but I got the impression it didn't go down as well with some of the taxi drivers, whose facial expressions at time were bordering comical!

Can you not get part of a car park allocated in future, Edinburgh Airport has enough of em!!

That was the only thought I came up with!

Cheers,

Phil

[Deleted User]

David Huddy and I tried to catch the last few cars at Edinburgh Airport after marshalling at Carter Bar as it's on our way home but ended up totally confused by the new layout.

There were 3 lanes to choose from, the short stay car park (minimum fee £28.00!), the drop off zone where we eventually ended up and had to pay a pound just to drive through and the authorised car registrations lane for taxis etc.

The beefed up security and confusing signing must have been a problem for first-timers, it was for me and I know the place well but haven't been there in over a year.

It felt that the whole place was just saying "Go away!" but then it is one of the few places open in the area at that time of night.

Jim.

[DaveKent]

Edinburgh Airport is a prestige control we have used for quite a few years. The authorities have been very kind to allow us our own barriered area right in front of the terminal building. If you follow the instructions given at the the drivers meeting, ie " head right for the main terminal building" you shouldn't have gone wrong!! ;) . Many thanks again to the marshalls and of course the Airport Authority.

[MarkDeTriomphe]

Although we did not experience it in full swing, I felt that Sixpenny Handley was a great stop - nicely situated and easy to find.  We had a really warm welcome from Nick, James and Geoff to name but a few who had stayed on to see the stragglers pass.  

It also opened up a great 'alternative' route choice for those of us who were slightly pushed for time - taking the A3081 from the point where it joins the A303 allowed us to make up time whilst demonstrating a great local road to Andy,  including  Zig Zag hill and the pass over the top of Cranborne Chase with its fantastic views.

[claire hill]

Thought all the control stops were excellently timed to combat fatigue, stress or thoughts of murdering your navigator!!

Congratulations to all those manning the stops in sometimes cold, wet and dark conditions. Especially congratulations to those who were being harassed to sign books early etc and had to take loads of flack. You all help to make this event the great weekend it is. Hope to see you all again in two years time

[yogi]

I thought Sixpenny Handley worked well too. I know it was busy but it was well marshalled and the constant movement of cars in and out gave it a great atmosphere. I loved it.

As others have said Didcot is not well placed at all. It's not a good route from Salisbury to Didcot and as mentioned elsewhere there is no sensible route from there to the Plough. It just seems to be a lot of messing about when everyone's been up for two days and just wants to get back to the finish. Many years ago we had a stop in the Basingstoke area which seemed much better placed, though I realise that venue is probably no longer available. I don't think it would be too much to go straight from Sixpenny Handley (or somewhere else in the Dorset area) straight back to The Plough. It can't be much more than 100 miles and some of the other sections are considerably longer.

[Alex]

The only problem I see with having a dorset stop as last stop is you still have to do some of the m25.I dont see how that can change?
I liked the route this year....I wont pretend I did it 100% correctly but certainly most of it.
The nicest thing about didcot that I see is that another club wants to join in and help.
I really dont see how you can say no to offers like that it must be good for the clubs in general?

[thebrookster]

xyv wrote:

Edinburgh Airport is a prestige control we have used for quite a few years. The authorities have been very kind to allow us our own barriered area right in front of the terminal building. If you follow the instructions given at the the drivers meeting, ie " head right for the main terminal building" you shouldn't have gone wrong!! ;) . Many thanks again to the marshalls and of course the Airport Authority.

I can see where you are coming from with the instructions Dave, though whilst I have not seen them I did wonder how clear they were?

Both Nick and myself noticed that we had to wave a lot of drivers into the correct lane, we suspected that the fact it was an "Authorised Vehicles Only" lane may well have thrown a few people. Unfortunately, due to where the raised separator bits where, if someone came down road with a taxi next to them (meaning they were in the wrong lane), it was quite a job trying to wave them to go behind the taxi without confusing the poor taxi driver! This was compounded by the fact it is a night time stop, which always throws people anyway.
Only a minor issue really, we managed to get everyone in as far as I know, but if this place is used next year then maybe scope for improvement, I believe last year was in a slightly different place so you expect these wrinkles to pop up!!

[DaveKent]

Yes maybe instructions need to be explained to new entrants again.  But we have used exactly the same area since at least 2008, my pics on this pc only go back that far!!

2008

[DaveKent]

2010

[DaveKent]

2012