12 Car Nav

by Jenny

This wasn't strictly an Impish adventure, but it was because of joining Woolbridge MC that we decided to try their 12 Car navigational rallies, but in our VW Golf.  That car rather than the Imp partly because we have at least a 1 1/2 hour drive to get to/from the start, and because it's winter!

These take place in the depths of Dorset/Devon/Somerset and involve tortuous routes down tiny lanes, about 50 miles which takes a couple of hours.  We had our first go at it last night, with me driving and Alex navigating, and succeeded in completing the whole thing without a single argument, which most people would think was an achievement in itself!  Not because we generally argue (we don't), but because it is the type of situation that could easily raise the blood pressure.

We were of course using the Beginner's instructions, and we also got 15 minutes before the start to look at them and start plotting them on the map.   They were good in that they involved lots of different types of instructions - spot heights, tulip diagrams, herringbones and directional. 

After all the rain we've had recently, and the fact that there is a lot of farmland around there, some of the roads were thick with mud and there were a couple of floods.  In one village we met some contractors with large tractors who seemed to be there solely to spread mud on the road, including one lump the size of a very large badger....  by the end of the route I was glad we'd done it in the Golf and not the Imp, it looked as though it had been offroading, and I'm not sure how well it would have fared in the couple of floods.

The route was designed for an average speed of 24 mph and part of the scoring takes into account how far away from this your speed is (faster or slower); there are time checks along the way as well as at the end.  Also there are code boards along the way with letters on which you have to record to show that you were there, these are normally placed in areas where you might easily cut off a corner or go the wrong way. 

Apparently we ended up 4th overall, but we're not sure yet whether that means out of everyone or just the beginners/novices; we will see when we get the full results.

So, all in all a good first go at navigational rallying!