Monday, September 25, 2006
RAIN, HAIL AND SHINE.......AND WIND........AND THUNDER........AND SNOW.........
The weekend is over and it's time to put the toys away again.
There were two ( that I know of ) championship deciding rallies on this weekend.
I was fortunate enough to go out to the hills and forests around Yarra Glen to the Rally of Melbourne, in nothing less than Keli's "Duchess", along with his son and Cam.
And what a sentimental experience it was too.
It very much reminded me of my rally days back in Tassie where you would get rain, thunder, hail, wind, sun and snow all in the same day.
Throw in some recalcitrant officials, lots of waiting, stage cancellations, a flat tyre and you've got yourself a jen-you-wahn rallying experience.
The Duchess
Firstly, the road we planned to go down was blocked off this year and we were forced to go to an official spectator point and pay our $20 for the privilege of watching the cars go around a fairly dull corner.
It's amazing how when you flash some crutches and a wheelchair you are suddenly allowed to park you car where only the officials, rally teams and vip's do ( ie. nice and close to the action).
So a word of advice: if you're going to an event and parking is going to be a problem, take some crutches or a wheelchair if you can get one.
On our way back we noticed that the road we wanted to go down was not closed with bunting, but more chicaned off.
So we went and had a chat with the chap in the S.E.S. 4WD about going through there.
Got the usual:
"No, the road is closed unless you have a media, official or team pass"
"But it's not actually closed to the public though is it? I mean there's a gap in the bunting and it's not an officially closed road. Give us a break, I've got a wheelchair and it's very hard to get decent viewing at the official spectator point."
"My instructions from above are not to let anyone through unless they have a pass. I had someone else in a wheelchair asking before and had to turn them away."
This was an obvious lie, I mean what are the chances of two cripples attempting to get down that road?
Then I pulled my ace out:
"But you can't actually stop us from going through can you now? Just tell your supervisor you were in the bush relieving yourself as we went through."
"You're right I can't stop you."
He was a nice enough chap really, but when we came back for the second time, he had an accomplice with him.
This chap was a bit more forceful in his discouragement, as a matter of fact, short of actually chaining himself to the chrome bumper bar of the Duchess, he tried everything from the "This is closed for today." to the "This road is red flagged and if you get bogged you're on your own" lines.
To which I replied:
"I know that this road is in fact in very good condition as we were here last year. I know you can't stop us going through. Who can stop us driving on?"
"Well, only the police."
"Right, and are there any police here?"
"No."
"Ok then, thank you for doing your job. See you later."
Gino and Melissa were following behind us, but got caught by the "you'll get bogged" routine.
I can understand the need to keep spectators to in designated areas due to safety and insurance issues, but to me this really goes against the whole idea of rally speculating.
You know, finding yourself a good spot, lighting a fire, cooking some food and watching the rally from your masterfully selected and most choice viewing location, whilst speculating how much faster you could go through there.
That last one generally gets more and more outrageous as the beer consumption increases.
Once we'd arrived at our spot, we found out form the road closure officials that the previous stage ( the one where it was snowing ) was cancelled due to trees on the road and as a result, so was the one we were hoping to see.
So we packed up and went to Yarra Glen to visit the Service Park ( where the service crews are set up ) to catch up with my mates from Tassie Simon Jansen, his navigator Elisia Kruper and their crew Tim and Mark.
At that stage Simon had the possibility of taking out the BP Ultimate Challenge series in the last two stages.
The BP Challenge, a series within the Australian Rally Championship, is for privateers running on pump fuel as opposed to the racing fuel, which last year cost about $7 per litre.
In the end, after two nerve wracking stages ( on one they were 20 seconds slower than in the morning due to the torrential downpour ) they clinched the series title.
Down in Tassie, David Waldon with Ross Ferguson navigating took out the Tasmanian Rally Championship at the last rally for the year!!!
After breaking a drive shaft in the first stage and suddenly turning the 4WD Subaru into a 2WD, the boys replaced it in service and David and Ross drove on to get the required points to take title.
My best mate Scotty McGrath and I used to service for David when I used to live in Tassie, and they and the rest of the service crew did an amazing job of reshelling the car after it was transformed into metal ball, in just 4 weeks.
In their own time, they sourced another Subaru, stripped both cars, repainted the new one, fitted all the drive train, suspension, cross members, seats, harnesses and various other bits and pieces from the old one into the new one.
I, knowing the futility of trying to get motorsport shots with my 17-85mm lens, went and bought a telephoto zoom lens on Saturday.
As the shop didn't have the one I wanted, I bought the cheapest and nastiest Sigma 70-300mm for $219.
It's not going to be completely useless later though as it is also a macro lens, which I can use for close up photos of things like insects and stuff.
Boy, it certainly performed like all the $219 I paid for it.
The motor drive was almost as loud as the rally cars and for the time it took to actually focus, I would have been gleefully unwrapping Christmas presents.
So to overcome the impotent old man performance, I set the lens to manual focus and hoped for the best.
It took a little while to get used to it as I'd never shot with such a contraption before, but I did manage to get some decent shots.
So congratulation to David, Ross, Scottie and the rest of their crew, as well as Simon, Elisia, Tim and Mark on their wins.
It caps off a lot of hard work for these guys and they should bask in the glory because it is well deserved.
These crews are now honorary recipients of the Moomins Golden Sack ( Of Pine Needles ) Award, for their adventurous, persistent and tenacious spirit displayed in the many years leading up to this momentous occasion.
.
There were two ( that I know of ) championship deciding rallies on this weekend.
I was fortunate enough to go out to the hills and forests around Yarra Glen to the Rally of Melbourne, in nothing less than Keli's "Duchess", along with his son and Cam.
And what a sentimental experience it was too.
It very much reminded me of my rally days back in Tassie where you would get rain, thunder, hail, wind, sun and snow all in the same day.
Throw in some recalcitrant officials, lots of waiting, stage cancellations, a flat tyre and you've got yourself a jen-you-wahn rallying experience.
The Duchess
Firstly, the road we planned to go down was blocked off this year and we were forced to go to an official spectator point and pay our $20 for the privilege of watching the cars go around a fairly dull corner.
It's amazing how when you flash some crutches and a wheelchair you are suddenly allowed to park you car where only the officials, rally teams and vip's do ( ie. nice and close to the action).
So a word of advice: if you're going to an event and parking is going to be a problem, take some crutches or a wheelchair if you can get one.
On our way back we noticed that the road we wanted to go down was not closed with bunting, but more chicaned off.
So we went and had a chat with the chap in the S.E.S. 4WD about going through there.
Got the usual:
"No, the road is closed unless you have a media, official or team pass"
"But it's not actually closed to the public though is it? I mean there's a gap in the bunting and it's not an officially closed road. Give us a break, I've got a wheelchair and it's very hard to get decent viewing at the official spectator point."
"My instructions from above are not to let anyone through unless they have a pass. I had someone else in a wheelchair asking before and had to turn them away."
This was an obvious lie, I mean what are the chances of two cripples attempting to get down that road?
Then I pulled my ace out:
"But you can't actually stop us from going through can you now? Just tell your supervisor you were in the bush relieving yourself as we went through."
"You're right I can't stop you."
He was a nice enough chap really, but when we came back for the second time, he had an accomplice with him.
This chap was a bit more forceful in his discouragement, as a matter of fact, short of actually chaining himself to the chrome bumper bar of the Duchess, he tried everything from the "This is closed for today." to the "This road is red flagged and if you get bogged you're on your own" lines.
To which I replied:
"I know that this road is in fact in very good condition as we were here last year. I know you can't stop us going through. Who can stop us driving on?"
"Well, only the police."
"Right, and are there any police here?"
"No."
"Ok then, thank you for doing your job. See you later."
Gino and Melissa were following behind us, but got caught by the "you'll get bogged" routine.
I can understand the need to keep spectators to in designated areas due to safety and insurance issues, but to me this really goes against the whole idea of rally speculating.
You know, finding yourself a good spot, lighting a fire, cooking some food and watching the rally from your masterfully selected and most choice viewing location, whilst speculating how much faster you could go through there.
That last one generally gets more and more outrageous as the beer consumption increases.
Once we'd arrived at our spot, we found out form the road closure officials that the previous stage ( the one where it was snowing ) was cancelled due to trees on the road and as a result, so was the one we were hoping to see.
So we packed up and went to Yarra Glen to visit the Service Park ( where the service crews are set up ) to catch up with my mates from Tassie Simon Jansen, his navigator Elisia Kruper and their crew Tim and Mark.
At that stage Simon had the possibility of taking out the BP Ultimate Challenge series in the last two stages.
The BP Challenge, a series within the Australian Rally Championship, is for privateers running on pump fuel as opposed to the racing fuel, which last year cost about $7 per litre.
In the end, after two nerve wracking stages ( on one they were 20 seconds slower than in the morning due to the torrential downpour ) they clinched the series title.
Down in Tassie, David Waldon with Ross Ferguson navigating took out the Tasmanian Rally Championship at the last rally for the year!!!
After breaking a drive shaft in the first stage and suddenly turning the 4WD Subaru into a 2WD, the boys replaced it in service and David and Ross drove on to get the required points to take title.
My best mate Scotty McGrath and I used to service for David when I used to live in Tassie, and they and the rest of the service crew did an amazing job of reshelling the car after it was transformed into metal ball, in just 4 weeks.
From this......
to this in 4 weeks.
In their own time, they sourced another Subaru, stripped both cars, repainted the new one, fitted all the drive train, suspension, cross members, seats, harnesses and various other bits and pieces from the old one into the new one.
I, knowing the futility of trying to get motorsport shots with my 17-85mm lens, went and bought a telephoto zoom lens on Saturday.
As the shop didn't have the one I wanted, I bought the cheapest and nastiest Sigma 70-300mm for $219.
It's not going to be completely useless later though as it is also a macro lens, which I can use for close up photos of things like insects and stuff.
Boy, it certainly performed like all the $219 I paid for it.
The motor drive was almost as loud as the rally cars and for the time it took to actually focus, I would have been gleefully unwrapping Christmas presents.
So to overcome the impotent old man performance, I set the lens to manual focus and hoped for the best.
It took a little while to get used to it as I'd never shot with such a contraption before, but I did manage to get some decent shots.
So congratulation to David, Ross, Scottie and the rest of their crew, as well as Simon, Elisia, Tim and Mark on their wins.
It caps off a lot of hard work for these guys and they should bask in the glory because it is well deserved.
These crews are now honorary recipients of the Moomins Golden Sack ( Of Pine Needles ) Award, for their adventurous, persistent and tenacious spirit displayed in the many years leading up to this momentous occasion.
.
