After many kilometres and weeks of work Clerk of Course Bruce Hamilton put together a challenging but enjoyable Touring Road Event (TRE) the South Eastern Automobile Club have as a replacement to the old school rally that is much more difficult to put together and restrictive for people to enter.
Working from a central location north of Tarpeena, a small field of 10 eager and willing crews fronted up for what proposed to be an enjoyable evening touring the district roads, following a lengthy mapping exercise to work out where vital information boards would be found to confirm they were on the right track to get to a control set up to get a road card signed off.
Following instructions, supplied pre-event start, they then made their way to another control location, to be booked in and sent on their way to a further location.
In total the event had seven competitive stages, four before a service break, then three to finish the activity for the night.
Kangaroos were plentiful in the area and all behaved well, making room in the tracks for the cars to get through.
Conditions were fresh early in the evening and caused a little fog in some areas to hamper vision, essential to negotiate the tricky forest area at night.
Some of the crews made it look easy, others struggled to locate where that correct track entry was and covered quite a bit of ground looking for it, or retracing to a known corner and then having another go.
By service, Upton/Laidlay had mechanical issues and withdrawn, Poel/Mildwaters withdrew with an engine misfire and Becker/Evans found a piece of branch poking through the radiator so had to limp back to the service area, but could not repair the radiator, so withdrew.
Another crew showing promise on their first rally outing, Telford/Eder had a drive line failure and had to be towed out by the recovery crew.
Geographically challenged is a term used when you are unable to find that correct corner and not lucky enough to see another car or car tracks to give you some idea of where to go.
That is how the Pearson/Kirby team ended the night, with the lights of the vehicle giving the sweep car a guide to find them and bring them home.
Mark Jennings/Connor Cooper were another crew to retire, with a broken exhaust causing engine problems, along with fog both inside and outside the vehicle making it difficult to see.
Kyle and Ian Johnson made it through the first stages and left service to do the last three but could not complete the final stage due to late running time.
That left three crews to fight it out and all three were similar in times.
Final results ended up being decided by missed information, with the Becker/Becker crew in third spot, Sims/Sims in second spot and Pratt/Wilson getting all info boards and the lowest penalty points score.
Stuart Pratt was extremely happy to just finish the event, but over the moon when advised they had won the night.
After many, many years of rally participation, he stated that this was the first time he had actually won an event.
May there be many more for the popular “Doctor”.
Thanks must go to all the officials who endured the chilly evening to allow these competitors to enjoy a drive.
