VMR Summer Rally 2009

[Ian Grace]

An update on maps required for the Summer Rally. Rally HQ is Winchcombe, but this town sits at the convergence of three OS Landranger 1:50000 maps - 150, 151 and 163. I had posted maps 150 and 163 on the Rally website, but this precludes a number of great locations on 151, in areas we have explored on previous rallies in this area.

However, Ordnance Survey offers the OS Select facility (at http://leisure.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/lei ... Select.jsp) whereby you can order a 1:50,000 Landranger map centered on Icomb. The area of such a tailored map covers the entire Rally area in a single folded map, complete with customizable cover. The cost is GBP 15-95 compared with GBP 6-95 for each of the numbered maps. Also you can use the promotional code OSSO08 (OSSO zero eight) to save a further 20%. And you end up with a single map instead of three to fumble with in the close confines of a Minor!

Bottom line - if you order a 1:50000 Landranger OS Select map for the Rally based on Winchcombe, you will be fully covered!

Here is the area you will end up with:

[Simon]

Ian,
Are you going to try to negotiate a quantity discount with the OS !!!!!!!

[Ian Grace]

Simon,

Not sure if that is possible - although someone else (over here) also mentioned this to me. The problem, as always, would be that most rally entrants enter at the last moment (or just after!), and so numbers would not be known until too late. Also, the map isn't obligatory for tour entrants as they have a tour handbook containing explicit directions. But I will enquire with the OS and see if they would offer a price for, say, 20 or so.

I'll be getting the rally entry forms out as soon as I have a couple more details/prices arranged. Currently awaiting responses, and the fact that we are in the dead of winter and also the 8 hour time difference isn't helping! However, if plans come to fruition, we should all be in for a wonderful time.

[Ian Grace]

Today I made a slight tweak to plans for Saturday - I had planned a vintage picnic at the Stanway House tithe barn, but they have now taken a wedding booking for this day, so I am re-planning the nav rally route to take us further east to the Inn for All Seasons at Barrington, near Burford. We had lunch there during the 2005 nav rally and it was superb. The owners even provided a special 'fast' menu for us, so competitors could get through lunch quickly if they needed and they even provided copies printed on VMR-headed card. They have warmly invited us back again this year, so I guess we must have mostly behaved ourselves! There is also a convenient petrol station next door to quench your car's thirst.

I am now just waiting to finalize details of the Sunday morning GWR train run from Toddington before being able to publish the rally entry forms.

I also heard from Roger Burnett this week - he is planning to be there with his M Coupe (now fixed - again) and has booked his accommodation at Ashton Under Hill. Inka is staying in Spain this year, so Roger's navigator will be an old friend from Philadelphia.

Once again, if you have not booked your accommodation, you should do so ASAP - because of Prescott and VSCC 75, all options are going FAST.

[Ian Grace]

I receiced the final confirmations over the weekend, so the entry form is now available for download from the website.

Note that VSCC Prescott will be a THREE-day event this year (because of VSCC 75), with an additional day on Friday - probably given over to additional practice runs, but that decision has not been made yet. So if anyone is coming down Thursday evening (possibly for the VMR International Dinner), then you might like to spend some or all of Friday at Prescott. Advance tickets have been made available to the VMR for Sunday by the VSCC for the same discounted price offered to VSCC members, and the price for Friday will be GBP 5 - to avail yourself of these discounted Friday tickets at this price, please order through the VMR if you are not a VSCC member.

Any questions - please don't hesitate to ask.

[Ian Grace]

Just checked up on my vacation days for VMR/VSCC 75. Turns out I will only have 6 days (we get just 1.5 hours a week, or 80 hours a year, and I need 16 hours in october for something else), so if we fly over Wednesday night/Thursday morning, we'll have to fly back the following Wednesdaty so will only be around for the first two days of VSCC 75, and the only driving event would be the Homes & Gardens Tour on Tuesday - damn!

So I probably will NOT bring the Semi-sports as the cost of transporting it from Sevenoaks and back, plus insurance, MoT, getting tax disk, etc. isn't worth it - particularly as I need to be in the modern for the VMR Nav Rally on Saturday , and it would spend most of Sunday parked at Prescott!

Damn!

[Ian Grace]

Belay my last! Just negotiated two more days vacation, so I can be in the UK Thursday/Friday of VSCC 75 week, so no need to fly home Wednesday. We'll return Sunday as originally planned. So I WILL bring the Semi-sports!

So here is the provisional Roll Call for VMR 2009 as known so far:

Self/Jayne - Semi-sports
Ray McCrary and wife from Nashville - modern (tourer won't be ready and nhe has a tight schedule, so no time for MoT, etc.)
Fran van Voorst and Peter - in a rental car from Holland
Pam Knight and Max - 1929 tourer
Brian Maeers - 1929 tourer
Janie Maeers - 1929 tourer
Mike Jones and Australian friend - Semi-sports
Roger Burnett and friend from Philadelphia - M Type Sportsman's Coupe
Eric Mouser - Minor saloon
Clive Hamilton-Gould - possible, but on a tight schedule, so may only do VSCC 75 in his tourer

If you are planning to come, add your name to the list and re-post below.

[Ronald]

Self/Jayne - Semi-sports
Ray McCrary and wife from Nashville - modern (tourer won't be ready and nhe has a tight schedule, so no time for MoT, etc.)
Fran van Voorst and Peter - in a rental car from Holland
Pam Knight and Max - 1929 tourer
Brian Maeers - 1929 tourer
Janie Maeers - 1929 tourer
Mike Jones and Australian friend - Semi-sports
Roger Burnett and friend from Philadelphia - M Type Sportsman's Coupe
Eric Mouser - Minor saloon
Clive Hamilton-Gould - possible, but on a tight schedule, so may only do VSCC 75 in his tourer
Ronald/Heather Hogg. 29 tourer, all being well with the charging system...LOL!! not sure what elements of the weekend yet though,.....

[Ian Grace]

Cool! Looking forward to seeing the new source of motive power.

When I had my first Minor as a student, I knew nothing about dynamos and had hell and all trouble with charging - or rather complete lack thereof. I resigned myself to running on the battery and found I could do about 300 miles (in daylight) on a charge, which was more than adequate - even though it was my only car, and it took me all over the country. But I do remember coming back from the VSCC pub meet at the Phoenix to Finchampstead late one night and the lights began to give out just past Eversley Cross, so I completed the last few miles upo over the Ridges on sidelights and moonlight. Happy days.

Can anyone recommend a good transport company to get the Bed-Pan from Sevenaoks to Cirencester for August? We'll be staying with friends there initially, then possibly moving on to a cottage in Upton-on-Severn. The car is currently at Terry Synnott's place in Sevenoaks.

[Ian Grace]

I have arranged to take Thursday 6th August off from VSCC 75 to spend the day at Gaydon to further progress the Genome project.

Objectives for the day will include:

Complete the OHC Genome by including the LWB chassis (M34700 to M39199 - 4,499 chassis)
Obtain full build data for surviving OHC chassis whose chassis numbers have been logged in the Register since Gaydon stopped providing this information free of charge last year - about 40 in number
Ditto for all known surviving SV chassis - about 150 in number to date - this exercise has not been carried out before
Make a start on a SV Genome - recording at least all the driving chassis and key production dates (seasons, years, etc.), plus record any interesting entries in the 'Notes' column
If time permits, record, for the OHC chassis, the first chassis laid down each production day during the 3-year production span. This data will enable me to enter the chassis erection date for every OHC chassis in the OHC Genome.
I'll also be carrying out a bit of a survey of their tourer RD 1169 with the curator to check what would be required to get it roadworthy. (Incredibly, the museum has absolutely no history of this vehicle - not even the name of the donor!)

[Ian Grace]

Brief update. The VSCC is still finalizing the info packs - so that is why they have not been distributed yet. Watch this space.

Also, I have booked the Farmers Arms, Birtsmorton, Worcs. for Thursday night of VSCC 75 for a Morris amd MG evening - good food, well-kept ales, 15th century half-timbered village inn with lovely views over the Malverns.

[Toby]

Self/Jayne - Semi-sports
Ray McCrary and wife from Nashville - modern (tourer won't be ready and nhe has a tight schedule, so no time for MoT, etc.)
Fran van Voorst and Peter - in a rental car from Holland
Pam Knight and Max - 1929 tourer
Brian Maeers - 1929 tourer
Janie Maeers - 1929 tourer
Mike Jones and Australian friend - Semi-sports
Roger Burnett and friend from Philadelphia - M Type Sportsman's Coupe
Eric Mouser - Minor saloon
Clive Hamilton-Gould - possible, but on a tight schedule, so may only do VSCC 75 in his tourer
Ronald/Heather Hogg. 29 tourer, all being well with the charging system...LOL!! not sure what elements of the weekend yet though,.....Ronald
Toby & Linda Sears, plus maybe dog Riz, 33 model Saloon. Or something else!!!!

[Ian Grace]

Entries are now open for VSCC 75 - online entries are now being accepted and the info pack should be with all UK members by now. Don't delay in entering!

[Ian Grace]

This just in from Brian Maeers. Includes an offer of accommodation:

Very sorry to tell you that for personal reasons Heidi and I and also daughter Janie and her husband will not be able to attend the Summer Rally. We have canceled our excellent B and B, so convenient to Prescott with space for a couple of trailers. Please will you make members aware of this facility. Mrs. Sue Parry,12 Church road, Alderton, GL20 8NR, tel. 01242/620343. Two double rooms for 3 nights - 31July, 1 Aug 2 Aug. This is just a service to members - I have not paid a deposit. Very sorry about this. With warmest greetings, Brian.

[Ian Grace]

Quick update on the Summer Rally. Entries are beginning to roll in, but it is interesting to see that although we have several entries for the scenic tour and plenty of offers to marshal, there are NO entries for the navigation rally so far. The trend has been the same in the past, and I put this down to the fact that the tour was cheaper than the nav rally! But this year, the entry fee is the same, and the trend continues unchanged. Mounting a nav rally is a monumental task, involving the RAC MSA, local Police and countless hours creating the route, clues, marshaling points, marshal roster, etc. For anything less than about 20 cars, the workload simply cannot be justified. It would be a great pity if VMR nav rallies became a thing of the past, as we have had some superb ones in years gone by, and our premier award - the Roy Hogg Trophy is awarded annually to the nav rally winner. It would also be a pity to ditch the Lewis & Nicholson bit of fun with our Austin 7 friends. With membership at an all-time high, one would have thought that this would be reflected in rally entries, but the reverse seems to be the case - the more members we have, the fewer rally entries we get! Is this because the majority of new members these days are SV Minor owners, and they, unlike their vintage Minor counterparts, are unfamiliar with nav rallies - the vintage Minor owners typically also being VSCC members who are used to competitive nav rallies?

So I am looking for feedback from anyone who is intending to enter the weekend but has not yet sent in their entry - should we hold a nav rally this year or not? Maybe the burden of navigation is just too much bother for many members who might prefer a relaxing summer's day lazily roaming the countryside. Maybe there is a way to add a mildly competitive element to the tour, but without it being a specifically navigational challenge?

I need to make the decision fairly soon, as the MSA requires tracings of the route, if we run a nav rally, at least 60 days prior to the event, so there is time for the approval process to take place - and that deadline is approaching fast. Maybe the solution in future is not to offer a parallel tour - nav rally or nothing!