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MLRC Forum
https://www.mlrc.ca/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl General >> Rally >> New here and with questions. https://www.mlrc.ca/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1141581926 Message started by Toofastforlove. on 03/05/6 at 13:05:26 |
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Title: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/05/6 at 13:05:26 Hi all, I'll start with just a little about my self. I've been interested in rally racing ever since I was a wee lad seeing it on TV once in a blue moon. Of course growing up in Southern Ontario well all know there isn't a whole lot of coverage available. It think It was 2002 when Speedvision began coverage of the WRC season and I'd watch every time. I've also been a long fan of Rally PC simulations, and I don't mean those cheesy arcadish games like Rally Championship, and to a lesser extent the Colin McRae series. In November I went to my first rally ever with my brother and best friend, the Rally of the Tall Pines. I'm live just outside of Waterloo and a freak snow squall slowed our progress and it took a good 5 1/2 hours to get to Bancroft. I enjoyed the show but was dead tired. My brother drove back that night to the 401, but I couldn't really get any sleep in the back seat of my Pontiac Sunfire. Nervous about his driving and he wondered onto the slushy sides of the road sometimes waking me up. Also I swear every time I was just dozing off he would hit a huge crack in the road or something waking me up. In the end I was awake for 37 hours straight and I'll never do that as a day trip again, I'll make sure theres somewhere to sleep. Good times though. So to make a short story long.... Anyway, wanting to get my toe in the door I've been reading about the mini-navigational rallies off Highway 400. The web site says anyone with a car can compete. I've been doing some research on Navigational rally and it looks pretty complicated. What's the best way for a fella to go about learning the ropes of this? Perhaps somewhere online I could learn a firm basis of this? Or would say rally school be necesary. I don't personally know anyone who does rally in any form. As for the navigational rally I understand that just finishing on course is quite a feat in itself and I certainly don't expect to do very well. My brother would very much like to be a navigator. Any help would be appreciated. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Nikola on 03/05/6 at 14:58:41 Rally school is not strictly necessary, but it'd certainly help your first rally not end up like mine (176 minutes lateness penalty... wheee! :) ). Luckily, there is one being organized in March, running on three evenings, for I believe $50 per person total. First and last evening are classroom, middle evening is a short navigational rally practice :) There are numerous online resources as well. There is a good set of instructions on Toronto Autosport Club Website; and a set of links on Rallysport Ontario webpage. You should check out instructions from some of the previous rallies (for example, Discover Ontario has a few). There is also often a quick info session for beginners before some of the rallies. Finally, come early and talk to some of the friendly folks before the rally, they'll be glad to share some tips & tricks with you :). No matter. You will get lost your first rally! ;D Well, at least if you start with one of the provincial ones. MLRC Mini-rallies, you stand a fighting chance :). (After a couple of rallies, I strongly recommend Brooke's free Rally Calculator for palm pilot. It'll confuse you on the first rally or two, but afterwards it'll ease some of the more routine tasks). |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/05/6 at 18:04:40 Thanks for the links Nikola. I suppose its time for myself and my bro to get studying. I'm sure I'll be checking back with more questions ;D. I also may consider that rally school but thats probably more than an hour's drive from where I am. I also noticed in a couple of the videos on this forum from the rally of the tall pines I can see my brother, my one buddy and myself for a second, lol. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Wedge on 03/05/6 at 19:17:24 Quote:
To become involved in rallying, it's a requirement that you become used to long trips. Believe me, a 1 hour drive is nothing, that's practically in your backyard. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/05/6 at 22:26:38 I am aware. ;) Afterall I did stay awake for 37 hours straight for the Tall Pines event. I guess it really isn't that bad, just that its repeted trips. And I got a new job with a continental shift in which the term "weekend" is now meaningless to me. I will have to see about it with my work schedual. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by nhibbert on 03/10/6 at 12:15:45 Have you found the Kitchener Waterloo Rally Club yet? http://www.kwrc.on.ca/ |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/11/6 at 12:13:44 I looked into that a bit. Thier website seems alittle uninformative. I can't find information about rally school at all on thier site, wether its nessesary or not to first be a member, and next to nothing about any upcoming events this year. I'm not sure its what I'm looking for or how helpful it would be. ??? |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Jeannie on 03/12/6 at 19:45:46 The first thing to do is show up at a monthly meeting of the club that's nearest to your home. They will fill you in on the details of what to do next, and you'll get a "fix" of rallying to get you started. I think the MLRC rally school (especially the Minis) are a good way to start. But perhaps the Kitchener-Waterloo club members will have some other suggestions. Best to get some contacts going, anyways. A club meeting is an excellent start. Jeannie (PMSC) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/12/6 at 20:37:36 Well dang, seems the last meeting was on Thursday night. Its ok though, I went to see Motley Crue in Hamilton that night and have no regrets despite a rough day at work the next day and some hearing loss. Next month however I'll definatly look into it. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/13/6 at 15:19:44 Quote:
Awww common, we were all tired. My driving wasn’t that bad. 8) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Nikola on 03/13/6 at 16:14:55 Club meeting are a good way to meet people, but I didn't find them a pre-requisite for getting started with rallying. There's a Provincial Rally this weekend which is touted as reasonably beginner's friendly (you'll still get lost though;)) called Greenspond Go-Round. It was the first rally for my current navigator, and we did OK, all things considered. And if you come early (there's usually people there hours before), you can pick our brains for a while :) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Toofastforlove. on 03/13/6 at 16:46:10 Future Navigator says: Quote:
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by DaveP on 03/14/6 at 00:07:39 Toofastforlove. wrote on 03/13/6 at 16:46:10:
The Greenspond rally would be an ideal event for both of you to try. There will be lots of old hands hanging around early, that will be more than pleased to advise novices. I marshalled that event last year, (or the year previous, I forget,) but what I do remember, is that is signified the start of the rally season, and every old f*rt in the sport was there to marshal or compete. (unfortunately, I can't marshall this year.) Seriously though, they have three levels of instructions for ORRC events, ranging from novice, to intermediate to expert. Come out, try the Novice, You'll have a blast. Trust me. (I know what sort of rally Ray Felice puts on.) Dave |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Craig_Hamm on 03/14/6 at 09:52:05 Two things for you to do: 1. Enter road rallies often 2. Volunteer at road rallies when you want to, or can't find a rally partner. It's fun, too. You learn a lot about rallying from doing both of these things. And we need volunteers to run the sport, or there is no sport. Also, volunteer at performance rallies. Great way to start learning about the faster side of the sport while getting a front row seat. Have fun, and ask LOTS of questions and read lots of stuff on the internet. Craig (past MCO Rally Director) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Nikola on 03/14/6 at 09:56:45 umm... I don't know about that test. It's got some things that are different then around here. ??? |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/17/6 at 07:59:08 I talked it over with my brother and it looks like we'll give Greenspond Go-Round a shot. :) Me being the navigator I have a few questions. 1) From what I know we’ll be given a book with the navigational directions and other info about the rally. Would this book include instructions on how to read the notes? Me being a newbie and all I just don’t want to forget how to do something midway through the rally. 2) Is there any rule that says I cant print pages off the internet and have them with me during the rally? Here’s what I was planning to print off… The “Basic instructions” and “Navigation Skills” information. http://www.torontoautosportclub.ca/articles/RallyMaster/index.html 3) would the style of navigational notes ever change midway through the rally (novice)? Say from tulips to straight line maps? ~Brandon~ |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Nikola on 03/17/6 at 10:29:01 - You can bring any papers you want. - Each section will have different instructions, i.e. distance-to-turn, tulips, columns, and maybe even straight-line. - Last year for Greenspond, they put timing instructions on the last page, instead of in-line. That was our first time seeing it done like that in Novice category, but apparently it is not uncommon. Be aware of that, and check all pages quickly at the start of the rally :). If it happens again, we found it easier to quickly copy the timings onto the direction papers. - From rally to rally it differs how much info there is in the navigational directions, but don't expect a full out guide in them. Better bring your own. Also, things WILL get hectic out there;). I suggest creating a quick-reminder guide if you need one, that will make sense to you but fit on a single page (double-sided if needed). You'll have enough papers without shuffling through 30-40 pages of beginner's guide:). |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/17/6 at 18:21:31 Thanks. ;) I'll try to keep my notes to one page. |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by RyanHuber on 03/17/6 at 19:11:57 One other thing, I'm sure there will be people there at the start willing to help explain different instruction types. Arrive early and ask around, someone will surely help out. ;) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/17/6 at 21:01:32 Quote:
Will do. Thanks for the advice 8) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Nikola on 03/17/6 at 23:33:41 Oh, and: straight-line diagrams are one of those "intuitive" things that needs to 'click' with you. Lots of people are really confused until they "get them" (at which point they drop all their complicated calculations and say "ooooooooooh...!!!" :) ). If you don't understand what the fuss is about, don't worry about it :). But if they seem like devil's work, ask somebody to run you through a few examples of "Leave x roads on your left/right" on paper, and it'll go much smoother :) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/19/6 at 08:03:32 Quote:
Straight line maps dont seem to be overly difficult. They weren’t used in the rally "oh darn":-/. In the end we came 10th of 18 novice cars. :) |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by brynepp on 03/21/6 at 16:19:15 Contratulations. 10th out of 18 not bad! No for the real question did you have fun? Hope to see you at the Mini Rally in April. Bryn |
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Title: Re: New here and with questions. Post by Future_Navigator on 03/22/6 at 07:15:48 Quote:
Thanks, Yeah we had a good time accept for stage 3. I forgot that the last note form the previous section was the first note for the next section. That might explain why the turns were not even close to the correct distances apart. That little mishap got us 20 points. :-/ Overall is was a blast. We ended on a high note as the last stage went really well. We’ll definitely be going to the rally in April. 8) |
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