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Astra Stages 1st April
2006: The view from SS1 Arrival and Start
Friday 31st March – Set up day
Clwyd Vale had been asked to run the first stage of the event, Alwyn
South, which had not been used for 9 years and promised to be a cracking
3.7 miler with some very fast straights and notoriously tricky bends. As
with all rallies, the success or failure of the event depends upon the
preparation beforehand so Richard Marshall, Guy Woodcock and me met at
the stage start on Friday to do the set up. I was the first to arrive
and on making my way to the start and was faced with an alarming half
mile ‘road’ section up the side of a field which was badly rutted. I
feared for the ability of the marshals and 2 wheel drive competitors to
gain access to the stage. My first task was to find the stage furniture;
control boards and arrows etc., which Alan Hickson, the Deputy Clerk of
the Course, had cunningly hidden in the undergrowth. Rich was the next
to arrive and his first words were “what the f*** was that all about?”
meaning the access track which he had struggled to negotiate. Guy
arrived and he also said an equally colourful “no way”. After a brief
discussion it was decided that the only solution was to do the marshal
signing on at the stage finish and bring them in WD as long as we could
get the stage cleared and ready to run by 8am. The three of us then
proceeded to go through the stage and set up the arrows, radio boards
and tape etc., which was no problem apart from the usual difference of
opinion about the angle of the arrows and was duly compromised in favour
of safety. We had a couple of runs through to double check the set up
and agreed it was all ok. One issue that had to be addressed was a
problem with post 3, which was a particularly nasty unsighted square
right after a crest and immediately after a long straight. Last time
this stage was run, dozens of cars had explored the ditch on this bend
and Guy had produced a very nice encapsulated warning sheet to show to
all the competitors at the arrival control, we also added more tape
before the bend to make it more visible. A problem that Alan Hickson had
made me aware of, a couple of days before the event, was a gate at the
bottom of the access track to the stage start that was going to have to
be manned due to ‘lambing’ issues. It was a relief to learn that Ian
Marshall had agreed to man the gate with suitable remuneration from the
organisers.
Saturday 1st April – Rally
day
I
arrived at the stage finish just after 6:30 in the morning and Rich was
already there, I grabbed a couple of signing on sheets and went WD into
the stage to the start area. As Rich was the stage commander, he was
going to stay at the finish until just before 8 o’clock and then make
his way to the start area leaving Guy to run the finish control with the
‘likely lads’; Gareth, John, Paul, Leroy and John Lee. Pat and Stu were
running the start and I was doing arrival with Rob Edwards.
Arrival: First car from the Historic event was due at arrival just before 9am
with the usual plethora of organiser’s cars and vans etc., needing to go
through the stage beforehand. It was a relief when course car 0 arrived
and we could get on with the job in hand because it was very cold, windy
and bleak at the arrival and start areas, in fact we were bombarded by
hailstones at one point. Our fears about the access track became a
reality when almost every competitor complained to me about it and in
fact one competitor, a mini, burnt his clutch out trying to get to
arrival and had to retire before turning a wheel in anger. Quite
rightly, he was not a happy chappy. As far as the arrival control went,
Rob and I had no problems at all with me putting the times on the
competitor’s time card and Rob completing the check sheets.
Start: Again the weather came into play here with Pat and Stu struggling to
keep the traffic light start apparatus from becoming airborne because of
the wind and rain. The ingenious solution of tape, rocks, hammers and
axes had to be seen to be believed. Rich had a good day as stage
commander with only one car ‘falling off’ and this did not cause any
delays because the car was well off and the crew were ok. There was one
issue that Rich had a problem with and that was the start radio man who
was using a hand held radio out of his car and insisted on running
around the start area with Rich trying to keep up with him!
After the final closer went in, we collapsed all the arrival and start
furniture and went into the stage to make sure all the junctions had
been tidied up. A good, successful day all round and the usual
professional effort put in by the members of Clwyd Vale Motor Club.
Pete White and Richard Marshall |
