Rally DRivers And Navigators

[HOCOLITE]

Seeing as the Times says Helen Winskills Dad was a rally navigator, and my other half was a driver and navigator(when he wasn't sick). Is this a precursor to O. I suspect that O is cheaper, and a reasonably challenging alternative when the kids come along, the mortgage rises and the money generally runs out. Are there any more out there?

[Doug T]

Yeh my dad (john tullie) was a rally navigator back in the day.but he also went back to orienteering.i think probably becausse it is a more family friendly sport.

or maybe it was my mum who made him quit!

[gross2004]

Ah..... the good old days with JT razzing his little mini along...... sure there was always a sheep in the back

[JT]

I read that Gross!!! More likely to be yourself in the back in some advanced state of inebriation after one too many Glenmorangies. I certainly wouldn't have relied on you to navigate.

On a more seriuos note. I went from orienteering to rallying then back to orienteering after a 10 year break (missed most of my M21 years). Stage rallying is certainly very expensive and that was one of the reasons for going back to O (no pressure from the wee woman, honest). However there were (and possibly still are) other forms of rallying which were far cheaper and navigationally far more challenging than stages. The main one I enjoyed competing in was Navigational Road Rallying, on public roads (not closed), during the hours of darkness, with any old car, using OS 1:50,00 scale maps and with clues to define the route. It was the navigators job to first work out the route from the clues, which could be fiendishly difficult, and then navigate that section of the route to the next time control where a new set of clues were handed out, and so on. The event could be anything from 25 to 150 miles in length, divided into sections from 2 to 15 miles long. Each section had a target time base on an average speed of 30 mph (all that is legally alloweed for any event on public roads). However as part of this time was taken up working out the clues it was usually necessary to drive at slightly more than 30 to not drop time (worked out as whole minutes over the target time). Most events had a maximum lateness of 30 mins over target time, so the navigator had a very demanding job working out the clues, navigating the route, keeping a note of the time , looking out for "code boards"(a bit like O controls) and trying not to be sick! It was mentally very challenging, possibly even more so than orinteering. The clues were all based on something which appeared on the OS map; road junctions, spot heights, grid lines, contours, the list is endless and were only limited by the imagination of the planner. It is possible to do this as a table top exercise, as I have done at an RR AGM to relieve the boredom!

[Braddie]

My 76 year old granny used to be a rally naviagtor

Blue rinse in a helmet - what a wicked image.

[rob f]

dad used to rally, and famously crashed into a bail elevator!