The Perthshire, 2011

We had our meeting (well - five of us had a meeting & two emailed comments.... and perhaps that is partially indicitive of the problem) to discuss the where-we've-been and what-to-do of a Cross Country event in July.

We know that there are major issues with competitor numbers over the years. Just looking at the raw numbers we can see that: 42 in '07; 36 in '08; 24 in '09; and just 10 entries in 2010!

There are two (maybe three) reasons for this: road legality, VOSA & cars have moved on; its the same old stuff every year & boring now; and maybe one could lay some blame at other events crowding out the space.

1. Road Legality is a big issue: it takes time, effort & money to get a car sorted for an MOT/SVI (the Borders wins from this to a certain extent, in that cars can bypass all that expense and still have some of that "Hill Rally" experience). A lot of the current crop of "Road Legal" cars would get pulled over (it claims its a white 1972 range rover, but it looks nothing like a range rover, and is definitely not white), with the fear of being impounded/crushed by an overly zealous beaurocracy.
   There are road-legal cars, but are they as tough as the old-school vehicles? (and an extra £20K is a lot to spend on a toy!) - not with just one event in the year requiring the toy to be road-legal, there will not be many people who are prepared to go that route.
   
2. The Perthshire hasn't changed in 15 years. Well, yes & no.... and re-read that sentance again: "15 years." That's a long time for an event to run! Yes, one could say that the event hasn't changed, in that we are still using the same core sites that we used five years ago, however one could say the similar things about the Scottish Comps, NORC, AWDC, & even the BCCC (there's very little new ground out there to be had, and unless you have an "in" with the land-owner, most are not interested in a bunch of hooligans ripping their ground to shreds).
   Like any events, the "Perthshire" has been loosing ground: as farms are split-up & sold off; as Land Owners grow weary of the small return for the amount of hassle it puts them through; as farming practices change; etc.
   I have a 2006 Hill Rally mug in front of me - here are the sites that have gone in the last five years: Athron Hall, Candy, Clow, Dollar, Law Hill, Glen Tarkie, Heatheryleys, Knockhill, Lochelbank, Montalt, Rossie Ochil, Struie, Tillyrie. We have been getting new ground - not enough open hill-side for my preference (the clue is in the name HILL rally club), however new ground will rarely be in the same locality as the exisitng sites (not a problem for the comps, but a big factor for a multi-venue event!)
   
3. Being crowded out by other events is another issue: there are, I think, something like 27 "national" comp safari events in the UK. The BCCC is an obvious one, and then NORC, AWDC & the SCCC all cater for competitors from a wide geographical area... and we are all competing for the same 'customers.'
   Competitors need time between events, both to service (and repair) vehicles, and to gather the money to enter the next event. Two weekends is a minumum, three weekends is good, and four if it has been an arduous event. Organisers, therefore, need to plan when they hold events to maximise the number of competitors they can get, whilst also providing the greatest opportunity for competitors to take part in the "major" events.
   Competitors will, obviously, choose which series they prefer, and if there is a dates clash, they will need a lot on incentive to miss an event from their own series.

So where does this leave us for 2011?

Well, there will definitely be no Multi-venue cross-country rally (the classic Hill Rally) in 2011.

I am unsure if there is merit for a Single-venue, multi-stage rally (the sort of event we do at the "Borders") in 2011 - particularly as we share competitors with the BCCC, and there is just one weekend between a BCCC round and the "Perthshire."

We, the Scottish Hill Rally Club, will run something - we need to as history is littered with events that have taken a year or two off, and then lost the date as another organisation has appropriated it.

I think the future for the "Perthshire" needs looked at - we need to go "Bigger" and "Better": We need to go National A; move to be three days; have more competitive milage.... and accept that the cost of the event will go up.
This will require major sponsorship (£1,000 here, £200 there is not enough.... we need to look at £5000+), and a LOT of work!

..... but we (I) need to talk to competitors, to see what will interest them -- Roll on the "Borders"

Three down, one to go....

The final Borders Hill Rally Organisers meeting was a Telecon on Monday evening. Everything is going sweetly: the printing is printing; the stages are sorted; and we have a good set-up crew ready to go. The Response crews are sorted & the fundamental marshal points are covered (but we can always do with more marshals!)

Tuesday evening was a Scottish Hill Rally Club committee meeting - a good turnout of the usual faces, and a useful meeting for us all to get an overview of what is happening with the various events we are running.

Last night was a Scottish Land Rover Owners Club committee meeting, where we had a review of past & future events; discussed the glossy Annual Review and the news-fliers (notice I avoid using the term newsletter in both cases :chuckle: )
Alan proposed a superb idea for linking lots of the club events together... I'm going to say no more on that, other than to say "watch for information on that" - it's a belter of an idea!

Tonight is a meeting to discuss what we do in July... the "Perthshire"

A busy week ahead

Looks like its going to be a busy week:

• The last Borders Hill Rally organisers meeting (a telecon) tonight
• Hill Rally club committee meeting Tuesday evening
  
• Scottish Land Rover Owners Club meeting on Wednesday evening
• Perthshire organisers meeting on Thursday evening
• It looks like I'll need to go to Dundee on Friday evening to work through the service area details with Campbell
• Saturday some of us meet up to load trailers with stakes, arrows & stuff to take down to the Borders

.... and I head down the following Tuesday, to start Setup on Wednesday!

Dunbar trial

An excellent 10 sections - All sections were cleared by someone, and everyone cleared at least one section, yet nobody ended on zero points.

I came second-last on 25, beating Jumplead Jonny by a single point, and a full 21 points behind the winner!

A great day, and it was fun to be on the competitive side for a change :grin:

Setting up a CCV Trial

Just back from Alex's, where we were setting out the sections for tomorrows CCV.

Alex & I did some, and Sharon & Big Eck did some.... and Andrew & Peter set out 10 tyro sections.

Some of the Sections require grunt, some require finesse, and most require you to think three gates ahead.

It's gonna be a good day tomorrow :)

The old 80/20 rule.....

It's always the last 20% of the organising that seems to take 80% of the time!

Tonights task is to review Campbells notes for the course builders (I know this years routes better than Campbell, however if he writes the notes it means he understands the various twists & turns), and to review the Road Book.

I'm reckoning there's about 4 hours work here, which is not a patch on the work Campbell has put in to get them to this state for us!

SACC 2/11/2010

I'm just in from the Scottish Association of Car Clubs meeting.

Not a lot to report, really.... however the Scottish GoMotorsport man came along, so we can hope things improve there.

I'm going to try to get the AutoTest co-ordinator to pop along the the SLROC Boxing Day Bash, and we can see if there's a way to get Cross Country involved in AutoTests (we'd not be interested in the tarmac stuff, but the grass-stuff could be interesting...)