Bega Pace Notes

[ernysp76]

Oh and of course congrats to Glenn on winning the short event and paul on the long event. You guys were having a great fight out there and I wish I had of been able to be apart of it but right from the start I was off the pace. Maybe next time.

As far as we are concerned the short event was for the team and the long event was for the individual, hence I was there when Paul beat Glen!!!!

Paul and Craig drove a perfect tactical race to ensure the team victory in the short course, as did all members of the Victorian Team. Constant checks at the end of each stage and helpers at the end of each stage ensured we knew how each of us was going to keep the points up. It would have been good if the NSW cars had finished as a team but I think the comradeship between NSW and Victorian Teams was great as I would expect and had we had an alternator we certainly would have given it to you guys to use.

At the risk of opening a new can of worms I think that given the roads travelled are EXACTLY the same as have been travelled for the last couple of years, the organisers should give serious consideration to making this a pace noted event. I suspect that some of the top finishers this year who have done this rally for years would have a distinct advantage over new- comers especially on the snake stage. I know I was finding it very easy to go fast in some sections as I recognised combinations of corners this is not fair on others that haven't done the roads. Fiona for example was very close to us on the road in our last rally but in this one I beat her by heaps and I put it down to familiarity with the course rather than a new found talent for driving anyone else wish to comment?

[Glenn]

Yep. Paul and Craig definitely beat us on the long event. It was a great drive, no questions.

So you think that us pushing on SS6 and 7 wasn't a good tactical move? :)

Interesting comment about familiarity with the event. I don't necessarily disagree, but I had thought that you had definitely picked up the pace John. 4th is a good result! I've only ever run Snake Track once before in that direction, so I'm not sure that it was that much of an advantage.

[Whitey]

I don't disagree either,
Road familiarity has always been an issue as there are only so many roads available to organisers. For Pace notes to happen at Bega it would require the structure of the event to change significantly.

In fact road familiarity was one of the drivers to the NSW state championship having two Pace Noted events this year.

Don't know whether Pace notes are the go for the Excel series target audience.

[matt mead]

I would luv to try pace notes, there was afew time at bega i was like 3kms next call, 2kms next call... yeah its fun u get to sit there and enjoy the ride, but i would luv to be more invovled...but that might just be me


Don't know whether Pace notes are the go for the Excel series target audience.

i agree with that

[Whitey]

I would luv to try pace notes, there was afew time at bega i was like 3kms next call, 2kms next call... yeah its fun u get to sit there and enjoy the ride, but i would luv to be more invovled...but that might just be me

I always wanted to do notes when i was a Nav, and i don't think that's changed now i am driving. It takes the teamwork and trust between the crew to a whole new level.

[ae86trueno]

Dont worry Matt, when your navving for me at At the Safari you wont be just sitting there enjoying the ride, There are not many roads in canberra that require a call every couple of K's, its usually full on. :naughty:

[matt mead]

sounds good to me :hyper: , really looking forward to some sprinter luv :D

[ernysp76]

The Akademos here in Victoria is pace noted but also gives you a road book. We had a ball last year and are looking forward to this year, trust is the key, "the road really does go straight ahead over the crest" is probably one of the hardest things when you are flat out in third.

[Crazy Dave]

Bega is just too long an event spread out over too great a distance to be easily pace noted. I would like to see the road book there lengthened a bit as I thought it was a bit ordinary and found it hard to get used to a consistent call from it. It sounds like they are having trouble with tumut but if we could find a compact event somewhere in the south west of nsw somewhere, it might be a better replacement for Bega. We could then find an event that wanted to do pace notes, or we could include a rallysprint in as part of the excel series. They are pace noted and the good ones are up towards the 50km mark competetive plus recce plus practice runs. Imagine an event with only excels running up and down pace noting a road. Pace notes would be alright in a nice easy compact event where we could still travel down and do it in a reasonable time, and I think you would need more than a long weekend to pace note Bega as I think it was around 400km in total.

[TPRTEL]

From someone that only does pace noted events, if bega went to pace notes, then the event wont run at all. The biggest problem that you will have is the average speeds will be too great (120km/h +10%) simply as that. As much as its a great idea it will cause other issues.
PM me if you want to know more, we have these issues currently in SA and is causing many many problems

[ernysp76]

Well if thats the case then the course setters need to look at the courses they set, the point with Bega is that they have run the same course (exactly including typos) for the last how many years. There is nothing stopping anyone going up there now and driving the course several times over and over, there are some drivers in the top 10 of the outright results that are also rans in other events. Given we all put our hard earned cash down to play it is a bit unfair for those that are new to the event. With some comments around that some crews used pace notes anyway (with one joke to that affect when a person went up to get their prize) I just think it would level out the field. In relation to speed our tell tale tripped at over 145kph a couple of times on the last stage so it was always going to be a quick rally pace notes or not.

[Glenn]

John,

If it's Claude you're talking about (being a local and all), I think you're underestimating his talent. He's a regular top ten finisher in NSW State no matter where they are (8th at Lithgow a month ago in just as strong a field). He's on another planet :hail:

........actually re-reading your post, I'm not sure that it's Claude you're talking about......maybe it's others who regularly compete at Bega. Could you clarify if you believe that it's the locals or the regular competitors that are the issue?

Another aspect is that Bega is a long way from anywhere, so the number of "locals" that may have an advantage is small. If you think Bega is a problem, you should try competing in Canberra, where there's heaps of competitiors that live within 30km of the forests.....and in Canberra they don't have tree lines to read.....Oh and Claude and Stewy still brain them up there too.

I think the key with Bega is knowing that the roads are easy to read. Have a look at Paul's time on SS9. That's what's possible in an Excel on the roadbook on a road that he had never driven before. The rest of us were way off that time, so until we're close to that, we've got to look at ourselves and find the speed there. No use blaming a roadbook.

Don't get me wrong, I would like to run on pacenotes too in order to completely level everything out, but when it comes down to it, it's my belief that it's not a huge issue.

[John C]

John E I wouldn't get too worried about pace notes and road books, I reckon Bega is a great event. When I looked back on last years times I actually didn't do any better this year and the conditions were much better. There is no point going crook it is the way the Rosers run the event and we should all be glad that they continue to run an event 500 plus km's from home. The thing is we all need to improve and get closer to Glenn and Pauls times , but most of all enjoy what we are doing, and that I did.

[ernysp76]

Fair call.

[Crazy Dave]

There is going to be some advantage at any event, including pace noted ones, of having done the event before. I don't think most first timers at events are generally the ones that are going to win and if you are in your second year, hopefully you have a bit, albeit very small, advantage over
someone who hasn't. Even top WRC teams will go and do an event that isn't on their calendar if it might be next year so as to gain knowledge and experience.