My very 1st event.. any tips?

[Zico]

I hope the mods dont mind this being posted in the WRC section as I'd like to hear advice from as many drivers as possible..

I think I mentioned previously that my brother has offered his car for me to compete in my 1st ever event, an unbelievable gesture, for which I am extremely greatful. The car is a full Grp4 mk2 Escort, fully floating Atlas, 5 spd dogbox, powered by a Vaux 2.0 XE producing aprox 230bhp, the event is the Galloway hills rally which is a forrest event on the 2nd Dec. Im likely to be seeded further back so it should be well cut-up and likely wet and muddy if the weather is typical. I will be doing some more testing a week prior to the event and have a lot of pacenote familiarisation to do.

I'd be greatful for any hints/tips/advice from any experienced drivers on here, with my far back road positioning being my main concern.

Every time I think of it I get butterflys in my stomach, My very 1st event in a car that isnt mine.. I HAVE to learn to remain calm, disciplined and stop the red mist appearing and focus on getting to the end with the car in 1 piece. Any tips on how to get into this mindset would also be very helpfull. ;)

He must really trust me but Yep, I think he's crazy too.. :D

[Josti]

A full Gr.4 mk2 Escort :up: I would just say enjoy yourself!

Seriously, I have no valuable tip, hint or whatever, since I'm no rallydriver. I think you said it yourself, be calm. Try to find the good line, which I'm sure is possible (even though it's an Escort), considering you're starting way behind. I guess it's mostly for fun, so keep the pressure off.

Anyway, good luck! Hope to see some pics :)

[duff]

Not a bad car to start with ;)

I've driven many a rally with a fair bit of success (yes, only at a club level...) and for people starting out I think there are a few big rules to live by.

1. Like you said, don't let the "red mist" get you. Stay calm do every thing a little slower than you think you can and build up speed as you get experience.

2. Always concentrate, and only concern your self with the next piece of road in front of you, nothing else. As soon as you start thinking of stage times, how well you are driving etc. something goes wrong!
There are endless things to catch you out in rallying and it’s very easy to go from driving fast and having a great time to sitting next to a ball of scrap at the side of the road wondering want went wrong. More so as this is not your car!!

3. Slow into the corner and fast out. Don’t try to test your late breaking too much (again this will come with experience) a lot of rally pace comes from the exit speed of a corner. Play with the car and try to make it do what you want it to.

4. Stay in the wheel tracks. You always have to be thinking about grip and getting the most of it. This is a big part of good stage times especially in a 2 wheel drive.
Along with this as you are far down the order there will be a lot of loose gravel at the side of the road, Stay out of this at all costs!!! Once your outside wheels go into the loose stuff at any speed you usually will be heading for the scenery. I went off the road on my second rally because of this.

5. Stop listening to me and see what Pentti has to say!

6. have a blast!

[noel157]

You're a lucky man.

From a common sense point of view and in order of importantance:
#1 Get to the finish (in one piece).
#2 Enjoy yourself.
#3 Forget about setting fast times, no heroics.
#4 Remember #1

[A.F.F.]

5. Stop listening to me and see what Pentti has to say!!


Pentti will only say; Aja kovaa !

On serious note, have lots of fun Zico :up:

[Zico]

Not a bad car to start with ;)

I've driven many a rally with a fair bit of success (yes, only at a club level...) and for people starting out I think there are a few big rules to live by.

1. Like you said, don't let the "red mist" get you. Stay calm do every thing a little slower than you think you can and build up speed as you get experience.

2. Always concentrate, and only concern your self with the next piece of road in front of you, nothing else. As soon as you start thinking of stage times, how well you are driving etc. something goes wrong!
There are endless things to catch you out in rallying and it’s very easy to go from driving fast and having a great time to sitting next to a ball of scrap at the side of the road wondering want went wrong. More so as this is not your car!!

3. Slow into the corner and fast out. Don’t try to test your late breaking too much (again this will come with experience) a lot of rally pace comes from the exit speed of a corner. Play with the car and try to make it do what you want it to.

4. Stay in the wheel tracks. You always have to be thinking about grip and getting the most of it. This is a big part of good stage times especially in a 2 wheel drive.
Along with this as you are far down the order there will be a lot of loose gravel at the side of the road, Stay out of this at all costs!!! Once your outside wheels go into the loose stuff at any speed you usually will be heading for the scenery. I went off the road on my second rally because of this.

5. Stop listening to me and see what Pentti has to say!

6. have a blast!


Sound advice there I think, interesting point (1) about doing things a little slower than you think you need to, guess that equates to being smooth and avoiding overdriving the car.




Thanks Duff.. and the rest of you!

Noel, yep.. Im very lucky and I know it, the car is due to be re-shelled after the event with extensive work going into the new shell for a larger transmission tunnel and arch work to run on 15's which is the reason he's offered.. He's said it doesnt matter if I have an off just as long as its not a big one.. Gulp.. bad idea to aproach the event with this in mind all the same... :D

Keep em coming....

[pino]

I am happy for you mate :up: If I were living in UK I would come to this event and give you my support...Good Luck ! :D

[Magnus]

Hmm... a bit yealous of you Zico, but never the less: Good Luck!
..and stay calm... :D

[Koppomsbo]

I think you should go for Maximum Attack, Compleeeeeetly sideways... And see what happends from that :)

[Fleur]

If you haven't alrteady organised it, try to get an experienced codriver, one who you respect and that you will listen to if they tell you to slow up a bit, or tidy up, or whatever!
Have fun.
Don't worry bout your times, just get the experience.
Good luck!

[Maui J.]

Pedal to the Metal. No prisoners!!!

Good luck and have fun.

[shurik]

Congrats, mate. Got some tips for you from my experience:
1) Have fun as if you're on vacation, 'cuz it won't go well if you get mental because of nerves
2) Don't think of times & positions, it will distract you
3) Don't show off on purpose in front of photograhpers or women with big tits
4) Don't freak out on your co-driver
5) While writing the pace-notes do as many runs as possible, because it's quite hard to make a good trustworthy steady pace-note without race experience. Also mind that during first races you gonna rely on your visual memory than on pace-notes, wich is not good, and you gotta eliminate this thing in some time

[shurik]

About pacenote, dunno if it helps, but I had a bad experience writing it without carefull thinking of how and what I have to tell my co-driver.
During the first run of writing the track I graded corners in six grades plus extra grade for each corner number lis '3+' or '2-' after couple of stages I realized that I can't freakin' understand what I'm saying and worse of all, what does those numbers mean, because in beginning one corner had a mark of 3-, and couple of hours later it was like 4 (faster than 3).
So after some re-thinking we ended up with simple pacenote that had 4 grades of a corner, than it went quite well. All because of lack of experience and untraned eye.
What I mean is, when you drive alone no matter where you are, try this exercise - loudly grade every corner, distance to the corner entry or a crest, how this corner should be passed, should you cut it or not, i.e. train your eye and get yourself used to pace you gonna use in race.

[COD]

Duff gave really good advice. But if you want to start making good stagetimes, one advice I got way back may help:

When your mind says brake, count to three and then brake!

[WRCfan]

The above advice from Duff is good advice!

I have co-driven and started from knowing nothing with a driver who was in the same shoes. We just started out steady and knew that going like a bat out of hell was going to get us nowhere but a wrecked car.

I can only second duff's advice as it is very good!

Best of luck and have a great time!


Look forward to some photos!

[Sami]

Not a bad car to start with ;)

3. Slow into the corner and fast out. Don’t try to test your late breaking too much (again this will come with experience) a lot of rally pace comes from the exit speed of a corner. Play with the car and try to make it do what you want it to.

4. Stay in the wheel tracks. You always have to be thinking about grip and getting the most of it. This is a big part of good stage times especially in a 2 wheel drive.
Along with this as you are far down the order there will be a lot of loose gravel at the side of the road, Stay out of this at all costs!!!



Gongratulations, you have the perfect car to have fun with.

I totally agree with point #3. Especially now that you have a RWD car to begin with. With that kind of a car you are able to drive enjoyably and spectacularly even though you enter the corner quite safe. Just nail it when you see the end of the corner and you'll have a nice spectacular opposite lock slide! Fun and totally risk free!

About point #4 I don't agree totally, cause there's some risks. If you concentrate too much on keeping the car on clean line, you'll end up driving front end first, which has its risks. That way you'll loose first the front end of the car and even though you are driving an agile car, you will have difficulties to turn the car in that case.

In first rally you will make mistakes, you will enter corners too fast and in a wrong line, that is a fact, so with that fact in mind you should minimize the consequences of the mistakes and risks.

I personnally like to drive so that I throw the car's rear end a bit in order to quarantee the turning, no matter the rear end sometimes ends up on the loose momentarily. With that powerful rwd car, let the gravel fly!

If you concentrate too much in safe driving, clean lines and carefulness you won't enjoy and you will be slow and unsafe. You can't scare and drive rally, rally is a risky sport, risking your financial health by destroying the car and risking your personal health, that is a starting point. There's no such a think as safe rallying!

So don't concentrate on that, you have a chance to rally, so enjoy the speed. If you don't find the natural joy and rhythm, it won't be good.

Concentrate on having fun, with that approach you will find a good rhythm, you will enjoy and get the best result. In my own experience, if you driving is forced and you don't find the rhythm, you will end up upside down.

[Zico]

About pacenote, dunno if it helps, but I had a bad experience writing it without carefull thinking of how and what I have to tell my co-driver.
During the first run of writing the track I graded corners in six grades plus extra grade for each corner number lis '3+' or '2-' after couple of stages I realized that I can't freakin' understand what I'm saying and worse of all, what does those numbers mean, because in beginning one corner had a mark of 3-, and couple of hours later it was like 4 (faster than 3).
So after some re-thinking we ended up with simple pacenote that had 4 grades of a corner, than it went quite well. All because of lack of experience and untraned eye.
What I mean is, when you drive alone no matter where you are, try this exercise - loudly grade every corner, distance to the corner entry or a crest, how this corner should be passed, should you cut it or not, i.e. train your eye and get yourself used to pace you gonna use in race.

Thanks Shurik, The pacenotes for the event will be the standard 1-6 in severity to 90 deg, 6 being 90deg, as released by the event organisers.. so no recce for this event.
My brothers advice to try and avoid information overload was to drive visually for numbers 1-3 and concentrate on the higher numbers which is what he did until experience meant info overload wasnt an issue.
In the forthcoming test I'll ask my bro to take Alan the navigator out to take notes for the course then cross reference my idea of corner severity and my idea of the distances with the trip-meter. Visually judging distances isnt a strong point of mine so this should help.

Thanks again..

[Zico]

Duff gave really good advice. But if you want to start making good stagetimes, one advice I got way back may help:

When your mind says brake, count to three and then brake!


Thanks, but Im not experienced enough to begin to think about posting good times on what is really going to be a tricky event. I believe that slow in/fast out and hitting the apex, getting a good exit is by far the safer and quicker option for someone with my limited experience. My number 1 rule is to get to the end in 1 piece, to have fun and totally forget about setting a good time.
Im quite a late braker naturally so if I followed that advice Im afraid I'd wipe out at the 1st corner.. :D

Thanks anyway..

[Zico]

Gongratulations, you have the perfect car to have fun with.

I totally agree with point #3. Especially now that you have a RWD car to begin with. With that kind of a car you are able to drive enjoyably and spectacularly even though you enter the corner quite safe. Just nail it when you see the end of the corner and you'll have a nice spectacular opposite lock slide! Fun and totally risk free!

About point #4 I don't agree totally, cause there's some risks. If you concentrate too much on keeping the car on clean line, you'll end up driving front end first, which has its risks. That way you'll loose first the front end of the car and even though you are driving an agile car, you will have difficulties to turn the car in that case.

In first rally you will make mistakes, you will enter corners too fast and in a wrong line, that is a fact, so with that fact in mind you should minimize the consequences of the mistakes and risks.

I personnally like to drive so that I throw the car's rear end a bit in order to quarantee the turning, no matter the rear end sometimes ends up on the loose momentarily. With that powerful rwd car, let the gravel fly!

If you concentrate too much in safe driving, clean lines and carefulness you won't enjoy and you will be slow and unsafe. You can't scare and drive rally, rally is a risky sport, risking your financial health by destroying the car and risking your personal health, that is a starting point. There's no such a think as safe rallying!

So don't concentrate on that, you have a chance to rally, so enjoy the speed. If you don't find the natural joy and rhythm, it won't be good.

Concentrate on having fun, with that approach you will find a good rhythm, you will enjoy and get the best result. In my own experience, if you driving is forced and you don't find the rhythm, you will end up upside down.

Again.. sound advice there.. and good point Re- #4.. I guess its about finding a compromise. I also like to throw the car about a bit..

On the last test I had.. I soon gained enough confidence to push quite hard due to knowing the course after 2 runs. On my 4th run I was really making the car dance, braking very late, throwing the car in sideways and having a great time... but I nearly had a serious off when I didnt take into account something I wasnt aware off...the 2-way diff (The last Escort I'd driven was 1-way) This one also tightens on de-acceleration although to a lesser degree than on acceleration.
It was a 2 right followed by another 2 right within 10 yards effectively making it a long 2 right.. from hard on the throttle I let off throttle abrupt to throw more weight to the front and clip the 2nd apex.. This action made the car spin and I narrowly missed a tree due to the diff locking/tightening on the abrupt de-accelation, whipping the car right round totally against the logic from my brain.. which was thinking in 1-way diff language. I lost a bit of confidence and sat down to understand why it had happened.. Reason.. 2-way diff that I didnt even know the car had.. (beamer smiley)
I studied and researched about this type of diff so I could regain my confidence in the car and its handling and changed my driving style from let-off for weight transfer to left foot braking which was difficult to master but soon made the car far more predictable and stable than before.

Lots to learn.. and always learning, there are lessons though that only personal experience will teach me. Thanks again..

[shurik]

Thanks Shurik, The pacenotes for the event will be the standard 1-6 in severity to 90 deg, 6 being 90deg, as released by the event organisers.. so no recce for this event.
My brothers advice to try and avoid information overload was to drive visually for numbers 1-3 and concentrate on the higher numbers which is what he did until experience meant info overload wasnt an issue.
In the forthcoming test I'll ask my bro to take Alan the navigator out to take notes for the course then cross reference my idea of corner severity and my idea of the distances with the trip-meter. Visually judging distances isnt a strong point of mine so this should help.

Thanks again..
Your brother's right, cuz imo at the begining, no one can capitalize on those small details well enough, but those small details will bother and distract for sure.
BTW, the rally you goin to take part, is it sort of blind rally or is it ordinary rally only you just being provided with standard pacenotes? Do you still allowed to do recce? Just curious, because I never heard of similar events here in Russia

[GruppoB]

As a codriver I have this bit of advice.

DONT TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY!

My first event was a pretty big national event over here. It was my drivers first event as well. Im not here to bash the person but to tell you we had set out before hand, if mistakes were made ON EITHER END "dont sweat it!"

Needless to say the mistakes my driver made I took in stride and mattered not to me. The mistakes I made were made clear and yelling was common. (not fun to be in an hour long transit with no conversating) Treating your codriver like trash will only get you a bad rep for other codrivers. The same works in reverse I try to push drivers when I feel they could push harder and slow them down when they start to get erratic, but Ive never gotten out of hand.

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth but since then Ive codriven for much more experienced(calm and fast) drivers and had fun without the prima donna dramatics from a relative unknown.

[Zico]

I am happy for you mate :up: If I were living in UK I would come to this event and give you my support...Good Luck ! :D

Thanks for the moral support Pino. ;)



BTW, the rally you goin to take part, is it sort of blind rally or is it ordinary rally only you just being provided with standard pacenotes? Do you still allowed to do recce? Just curious, because I never heard of similar events here in Russia

Yes, I suppose it is a blind event unless you've done it before... I thought all national events worldwide used this format?
Stage mile hire from the forrestry commision is so high here that recce ommision I suppose, is a way to reduce the event costs to keep the sport alive.
Im sure I heard recently of someone in Ireland severly punished for illegal recceing with event expulsion and fines iirc..

[Zico]

As a codriver I have this bit of advice.

DONT TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY!

My first event was a pretty big national event over here. It was my drivers first event as well. Im not here to bash the person but to tell you we had set out before hand, if mistakes were made ON EITHER END "dont sweat it!"

Needless to say the mistakes my driver made I took in stride and mattered not to me. The mistakes I made were made clear and yelling was common. (not fun to be in an hour long transit with no conversating) Treating your codriver like trash will only get you a bad rep for other codrivers. The same works in reverse I try to push drivers when I feel they could push harder and slow them down when they start to get erratic, but Ive never gotten out of hand.

The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth but since then Ive codriven for much more experienced(calm and fast) drivers and had fun without the prima donna dramatics from a relative unknown.


Thanks GruppoB, my Co-driver Alan is 15 years my senior, has quite a lot of experience and has a good track record. He has done 8 events so far this year, is a very laid back person, very calm, which hopefully will rub-off onto me. Also.. Im not one to lose the plot with people easily unless severely provoked.
He's been told Im pretty wild and a little bit nuts by someone who hasn't even sat in the car with me ?!?!? :D :D :D .
From what other drivers have said about him I trust him and I've instructed him to reign me in..or speed me up as he feels neccesary. The forthcoming pre-event test will also allow us to familiarise ourselves with each other.


Thanks bud..

[Zico]

Didnt quite go as planned... :(

I was going reasonably well for my 1st event.. despite 1 or 2 moments I'd been having a great time until....

I rolled it 2-3 times (I think) on Stage 5 at the same corner which Im led to believe claimed 20 other victims... PLUS the course car which also rolled!!!.... basically a 3rd of the remaining cars still running at that stage in the rally hit that rock and game over. The notes said rock on outside which was correct but didnt say "No cut" OR "rock on inside" which is what I hit also following the line of the other 20 victims. No-one... Organisers pre-start nor drivers or spectators before the corner warned us despite the Stage being closed for half an hour while they cleared the wreckage of the 1st ten cars.

We are both fine. The car needs re-shelled but it was due to be re-shelled in the spring anyhow so not as major a blow as it could have been.

Its part of rallying and I dont want to play the blame game as ultimately its my responsibility to keep it shiny side up but am I being unreasonable in expecting accurate pace notes?

[Josti]

Accurate notes is the art of Rallying somehow, so I don't think you're being unreasonable. Then again, if no one was aware of this, it was something unavoidable I guess.

I'm glad you enjoyed it for how long it lasted. Crashes are a part of Rallying and something to learn from. Good luck for rebuilding the car and thanks for sharing your experiences :)

[Daniel]

Well at least you're OK. Cars can be reshelled and so on. People can't be :)

That's really bad on part of the marshals and spectators not to tell you to slow down or to move the rock from the inside. It's almost as if they were happy to see people rolling :rolleyes:

[Zico]

Well at least you're OK. Cars can be reshelled and so on. People can't be :)

That's really bad on part of the marshals and spectators not to tell you to slow down or to move the rock from the inside. It's almost as if they were happy to see people rolling :rolleyes:

The rock was quite a big one and was stuck firmly in the ground but yeah.. I did feel a bit p1ssed towards the spectators.. There was probably about 30-40 people congregated just on this one series of twisties.. obviously happy to be entertained by watching all 20 of us crash. They dont seem to care about people potentially hurting themselves..

The roll was a forward diagonal then 2.5 times rolled its side.. ending up on its roof, the rear left wheel flew off (halfshaft snapped) and front left strut sits at a 45% angle. Fortunately the car had a weld-in cage.. if it had only had a bolt in cage Im not so sure we'd both have walked away injury free. Maybe its time for some of the spectators to have a good look at themselves and realise that they are risking the lives of people by their actions or lack off.. on occasions like this.

I wonder if there will be anything in MN about it.

[Zico]

Accurate notes is the art of Rallying somehow, so I don't think you're being unreasonable. Then again, if no one was aware of this, it was something unavoidable I guess.

Im not so sure it was unavoidable.. we heard the stage was cancelled and we saw an ambulance go in... then they re-oppened it. A notes amendment at very least would have been the responsible thing to do..

Anyway.. no point in crying about it.. Whats done is done, at least we are both ok. :)

[Daniel]

The rock was quite a big one and was stuck firmly in the ground but yeah.. I did feel a bit p1ssed towards the spectators.. There was probably about 30-40 people congregated just on this one series of twisties.. obviously happy to be entertained by watching all 20 of us crash. They dont seem to care about people potentially hurting themselves..

The roll was a forward diagonal then 2.5 times rolled its side.. ending up on its roof, the rear left wheel flew off (halfshaft snapped) and front left strut sits at a 45% angle. Fortunately the car had a weld-in cage.. if it had only had a bolt in cage Im not so sure we'd both have walked away injury free. Maybe its time for some of the spectators to have a good look at themselves and realise that they are risking the lives of people by their actions or lack off.. on occasions like this.

I wonder if there will be anything in MN about it.
Shocking.

I consider it part of my duty as a (responsible) speccie to alert oncoming cars to potential danger or minimise the danger to them. That's really really bad.....

[Magnus]

On the other hand: I think it is a little bit difficult to ask from the publich to generally(NB) warn the drivers. If this where to be the accepted way, many would missuse it in order to disturb the rythm for some. For myself, as a driver, I would also wonder: where is the problem. it is difficult to wave: "Don´t cut". I think this question only comes down to one serious question: if the notes are provided from the organiser, they must be of very high quality.

[Zico]

Shocking.

I consider it part of my duty as a (responsible) speccie to alert oncoming cars to potential danger or minimise the danger to them. That's really really bad.....

Yep, me too.. Ultimately as the driver its my responsibility to get through the stage in one piece and I guess Im just trying to learn from it.. what went wrong and where, which is why Im talking about it on here. I just feel a bit hard done by..

[Zico]

On the other hand: I think it is a little bit difficult to ask from the publich to generally(NB) warn the drivers. If this where to be the accepted way, many would missuse it in order to disturb the rythm for some. For myself, as a driver, I would also wonder: where is the problem. it is difficult to wave: "Don´t cut". I think this question only comes down to one serious question: if the notes are provided from the organiser, they must be of very high quality.

I think consistant high quality is what we look for and should expect, yesterday had neither.. the difference in interpretation of corner severity between the 1st and 2nd stages was so unbelievably different it was as though 2 different people had written the notes (Which wasnt the case) My Co-driver was swearing his head off convinced he'd lost his place in the notes.. he hadn't.
When they announced the stage was cancelled after the 1st ten cars went off on that corner and someone was taken away in an ambulance they must have known there was a problem with the notes.. before they decided to re-open the stage for its next ten victims with no warning.. nothing.

Noel pointed out to me..
Moot point I know but did the notes say "cut"? It's easy with hindsight but I always thought stay on the road unless instructed otherwise and with "rock on outside" that would generally indicate to take some care through the corner rather than simply use the inside verge of the corner. Better luck next time.

To which my reply was..


Fair point.. All the other carnage corner victims said exact same thing tho.. some were even talking of sueing the guy who wrote the notes!
It said neither "cut", "dont cut" nor "rock on inside" which was unusual.
The fact that the rock on the inside was closer to the road than the noted one on the outside was very poor. and makes it a sore one to take.
The fact that even the course car rolled plus the 20 competitors also points to dodgy notes Imo.. Anyway.. no point in getting upset about it, you just examine what went wrong and where and try and learn from it.

As I said.. Im not looking for a scapegoat.. or am I?.. am I right in feeling agrieved.. or is it just sour grapes? What would you expect from your notes and/or the organisers in my situation?
Just seeking to work out what went wrong, hear a few opinions on what happened on here.. and learn from it. Life goes on. The highs and lows of rallying I guess..

[SubaruNorway]

The pacenotes in Norway made by Bruno Berglund are to good so no one realy goes off anymore it seems, atleast not 20 cars in one place. Did you get to do recce? When i look bak at the crash my dad's roadcar i think it was actualy quite cool, probably watch to much rally :D

[Zico]

The pacenotes in Norway made by Bruno Berglund are to good so no one realy goes off anymore it seems, atleast not 20 cars in one place. Did you get to do recce? When i look bak at the crash my dad's roadcar i think it was actualy quite cool, probably watch to much rally :D

No, we dont have recce's on clubman events over here.. its actually illegal, if you get caught.. event expulsion and big fine.

I believe its to keep the costs down to keep the sport alive... all the more reason to have high quality and consistant notes provided by the organisers Imo..

[duff]

Sorry to hear it Zico... but thats rallying!
Hope you can get the car back in one peice soon and that your brother isnt too p1ssed off!
Try and not let it dent your confidence too much it happens to everyone sooner or later. its a fine line between a bit of a moment and your car being a ball of scrap. Even Loeb crashed his car three rallies in a row when he was younger...

[Sami]

That is rallying.

Always expect the unexpected.

Risk is taken by the competitors and enjoyed by the spectators. I love both the roles.

[Buzz Lightyear]

My very 1st event.. any tips?

flat out.... dont even think of lifting your foot of the gas.....

... beat the millionaire gentleman subaru wrc driver by 4 minutes in your talbot sunbeam.. get his attention.. and he sponsors you the whole way to the top.

Otherwise, its a money pit.

[shurik]

Cheer up Zico, s##t happens, anyway you earned some new experience and something to remember.
Hope to see "My second event" topic from you soon ;)

[Donney]

I'm very sorry to hear Zico, I understand you're pissed off and I am sure the guy who wrote the notes won't be feeling very well, I'd like to think he just made a mistake, a costly one, but nothing more than that.

I really hope you are both Ok (which seems to be the case ) and the car is not that bad.

As shurik I am waiting for the "My second event, what will be the problem now :D " thread.

[Zico]

Yep, I've come realise that its not really the note takers fault despite the number of victims it claimed.. When I came over the crest I saw it as the line everyone else was taking.. and that the "danger" was for the noted rock on the outside and as there wasnt a "No Cut" or "Rock inside" in the notes for this corner I followed them... probably compounded by the fact that the bushes and trees which had been ripped up made the corner appear wider than it was previously when the notes were 1st published.
You make decisions based on the notes and what you see... then you are on it only to find that the scenary has been re-arranged... by then its too late

My brother has been unbelievably brilliant about it and doesnt blame me for what happened at all and maintains that its just part of rallying.. for which Im extremely greatfull.
The car was due to be fully stripped down to the bare metal and have extensive work done to it or reshelled anyhow... now its definately the latter as he wants to get it back on the go after the Spring, keep the damaged one as a spare while he repairs it at his leisure. I've just got to help source a good replacement shell and help him in any way I can.
Cheers for the supportive comments guys.. you are a sound bunch.