Tom's enjoyable article reminded me that I *always* love
setting up rallies and tours, having learned a few tricks
that I should pass on. Maybe that's something I should
write up for BCMag...
Anyway, a couple of points:
1. You can't write and drive at the same time. This means
you either need a co-driver, a secretary/navigator, or --
what I've done when I had to go it alone for some reason --
a tape recorder. Set it up somewhere that you can hit the
Pause button at lights, etc., then leave it running and
make comments while you drive. (Some people always ask me,
"How can you just keep talking while you're driving by
yourself?" Funny, no one who actually KNOWS me has ever
asked me this question...)
We've got a recorder/player with a strap. I hook it over
the passenger's seatback, with the microphone toward me and
the pause button (as I said) within reach. I read the mileage
off the odometer every so often, the time (elapsed if you've
got a clock that'll do that), and of course describe the
scenery and the events in my own inimitable fashion.
It's *great* fun to listen to these tapes later, while you
write up the course notes for the rally. The last such
event I did this way was the Poker Rally through Santa
Maria for California Healey Week '87 (hmmmm, do Healey folks
just *do* more stuff? :-), and the car in which I did the
pre-run was my SVO Mustang. It was great fun to listen
to the turbo whine on the tape...
2. You're working -- take a working car. I *know* there's
nothing like driving the Britcar of choice over these roads,
but take something with a roof so that the wind noise won't
wipe out the recording (or blow your notes all over the
countryside). Take something with a working odometer so
that you can read off mileage (though why this matters when
nobody on the tour will have a working odometer makes this
something of a moot point). I've pre-run rallies in everything
from a Rabbit Diesel to a Mustang SVO, and if nothing else,
being in a less interesting car lets you concentrate on the
scenery and the clues instead of the fun (or aggravating) car.
3. Stop often, and don't be afraid to turn back for some
reason. This does bugger the mileage readings, of course,
unless you back up. But having essentially pre-run the
Day Before The Britcars Tour this past weekend (more later),
I made a point of stopping, turning around to see interesting
things, and generally taking my time. I'm glad I did; I found
one place that I'd never seen before that is one of the
most beautiful places on the California coast, and I took
a picture that I think will be the cover shot for the
article I'm doing for the Mercury-News Travel section on
this drive, both while making stops for which I had to
make a U-turn, retrace my steps, and find a safe place to
leave the car while I snapped the pictures.
4. Make sure at least one person on the route knows where he
or she is going. I have to admit it's fun to go out into the
wilderness and just get lost. I used to do that all the time;
funny how things like job, and family, and responsibilities
seem to have eaten into the time I can do that.
But since planning a rally is an Important Responsibility, you
really don't want to get lost more than about once or twice.
So have at least one person on the trip who knows the way to go.
It might be you; it might be a friend; you can be in different
cars or different vehicles -- I preran the Healey rally following
four guys on 1100cc Ninjas. They do the funniest things: when
Gary would move his right elbow down, the bike got reeeeeeal small
all of a sudden...
5. Remember the cardinal rule of the Austin-Healey Club, Pacific
Centre: "Meet and eat." Having the event start in the parking lot
of a restaurant really simplifies putting everyone in the same
place at the same time. If you have 30 people in 20 cars who are
all supposed to be somewhere at 10:15, it's been my experience that
5 carloads will have to wait about 10 minutes for 10 carloads,
and those 15 carloads will have to wait an additional 15 minutes
for the last carloads. Decide to have breakfast at 9:00 at a
restaurant near the jumping-off point, allow an hour to order,
eat the pancakes, and get rid of the coffee you drank earlier,
then assemble the whole group at 10:00 to leave.
6. Poker runs are GREAT for events like this. A poker run as
we interpreted them meant that you basically knew where you were
going, you had detailed instructions (of one kind or another),
so you would be unlikely to get lost. It also means that the
competition is removed from the cars, something that can help let
the people with big egos enjoy the rally even if they lose, yet
it still gives a chance for a prize. There are two kinds of poker
runs: one where you pull a card in a sealed envelope from an
unattended box, and one where you take a card from people at
each checkpoint. Both are fun; the former takes more organization,
the latter more volunteers.
You can also have a loop-type course or a point-to-point. In a
loop, you can count cars as they come in to see whether everyone
made it all the way home. In a point-to-point, have the starter
follow everyone up the hill so that he or she can look for stranded
cars along the way. Also, if you leave unattended boxes of sealed
cards at the checkpoints, the starter (who has to wait till the
last person in the run has left) can pick up the boxes while
traveling to the end of the run.
Well, I was originally thinking about a Top Ten list, but six
will do. (It's in kilometers, that's it... :-) I've had so much
fun with the rallies I've organized that one day I'll have to go on
one to see what they're like as a competitor.
--Scott
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