Not interested...

[Mike Cherry]

I just love rallying - whether it's competing, organising, or officiating - and I'll keep doing it until they prise my Romer from my cold, dead hands

And I'll bet its a black metal one.

JME - get over yourself

Exactly.

[Glen]

Originally Posted by Jme

I'm just not interested anymore. Anyone else feel the same... vent your spleen here.

This thread reminds me a bit of Capt. Ahab from Moby Dick

". . . from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

[DaveTrees]

Originally Posted by Mike Cherry

And I'll bet its a black metal one

I'm not quite that old Mike

It's the white plastic "Rally Romer MkV" .... borrowed it off someone (and a mapboard) before my first event ... never did get around to returning them

[fro]

Originally Posted by Glen

This thread reminds me a bit of Capt. Ahab from Moby Dick

I must get around to reading that someday...

[Mark]

You know the deal but it's easy to forget if you're in the context at the time, but it is emotional cyclical sport. The ups and downs are now just part of what I consider rallying. It's motorsport also so its hardly a fair sport as well.

I sure as hell know that when rallying is getting me down i.e. shiny toy won't work properly or sickening thought at the amount of money spent on rallying in total, then it - emotionally- affects every aspect of my life and also vice versa. Maybe there's something else driving you down in another part of life, or not?

Just got to ride out the lows with the highs, of the sport and stick in it for the long run - as I guess you have. If you think you've got to retire from it, you've got to do it. Don't look back in anger and move onto the next game.

Mark

[Kagan]

Tell you what after the start to the year I have had I am certainly in the down faze... 3 rallies, 2 DNF's and lost nearly 4 mins in the other.

Lets just hope that it can start to turn around come Bega and I can get a decent finish under my belt!!!

[Mike Cherry]

Well that must make me.....because I've got a metal one and I used it BEFORE the plastic ones were even made, but please note that, that doesn't make me an ace navigator.


As for JME, I've always utilised this bloody great sport and the fantastic people in it as a pressure relief valve from the things that get me down in day to day life, its my tonic, that, and a little drinky.
Forums like this serve the same purpose, a brief diversion ( yeah right ) from workaday pressures.
As Kam suggested, build a bridge, but build it to the sport, not away from it.
If the sport doesn't cut the mustard any more, then its time to walk away & leave all of the fun, comraderie & enjoyment to us.

[Dirty Deeds Rally]

Originally Posted by Ausrally

The sports never been better.

????????? Did I miss something?

[bob moore]

Originally Posted by Mark

The ups and downs are now just part of what I consider rallying.

Amen, brother.

Originally Posted by Mark

If you think you've got to retire from it, you've got to do it.

Absolutely. I think I may have definitely retired from rallying four times. And it always costs more to come back ...........

Originally Posted by Dirty Deeds Rally

????????? Did I miss something?

Yep! 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 .................................. 1979. But you've got to get over it

[Jme]

As a kid all I ever wanted to do was rally... got into karting before the age of 10 etc, the usual story. Not much changed as I got older...

The sport is just getting me down lately. I used to use rallying as a motivation for work, life etc- it made me strive to be better... but sometimes you just look around you and think "What am I doing!... this is madness!" All themoney, all the time away, the risk etc

It's a bloody hard sport to get away from... it's a drug, a curse- all rolled into one.

I want to do pacenoted events- I don't like/wanna do secret rallies for a variety of reasons. There's not much doing for privateers at ARC level, and locally pacenoted events are almost non-existant. Some of my family and close friends are talented drivers... and the opportunities are extremely limited. Craig, Mark T and Davo have all hung up the boots in the mid 20's.

You can make comments like "get over yourself" or imply that my opinion is not wanted... but the not to subtle implication in my negative "rant" was that our sport can and should offer so much more.

Just tonight I've made a few phonecalls regarding a "pacenoted" series in NSW, some smaller clubman style events combining to join a series. There's some backing out there as well. I might even have to put my hand up to direct one or two of them.

Personally, that style of event would work for me. No time off work (minimal), noted, relatively cheap, and it should attract quality competitors who can compete on equal and fair terms.

Comments?

[Damo]

I'm trying hard not to be negative again.....but isnt this the third or fourth time we've been over this topic?

From memory, I thought the general consensus was that whilst pacenotes are interesting, it suits the great majority of competitors to keep events roadbooked (maily a time & cost thing?).
What was the result of the big poll that was on here a while back?

Again, it seems that what your after is attractive to only a small percentage of cometitors, most of who are at the pointy end.....the majority of us are happy to have a drive, talk some crap and enjoy ourselves.

[Jme]

You may be right Damo.

18 entries at Shakedown Rally.

[Jme]

Ok... run the series by invitation only and cater for the minority... 30 or so of the "pointy end competitors". Maybe 20 4wd's and 10 2wds.

We are talking 4 events... it's not like we are taking over the entire rally calender.

We MUST get more pacenotes events happening in this state. That to me, is very obvious.

[Jme]

Interesting.... can't say I disagree.

Ford’s Michael Guest has called on the organisers of the NEC Computers Australian Rally Championship to provide drivers and fans with longer, more tactical events as the trend for rallies worldwide continues to produce more compact events. Guest has suggested that the current format doesn’t provide the opportunity to up and coming rookies or even established Privateers.

“If you look at the effort that goes into doing less than one hundred kilometres a day it’s all pretty disappointing,” said Guest. “When I started in the ARC events were 300+ kilometres and they were about tactics and skill rather than just flat out driving.”

In recent years rallying as whole, both locally and Internationally, has seen a dramatic step towards lower competitive kilometre events. In a lot of cases event organisers have elected to re-use stages multiple times over a weekend, in some instances three or four times, in order to further minimise the logistics and man power required to stage a rally.

However Guest believes that the trend is sapping the soul out of rallying, which has evolved from a tactical game of man and machine versus the elements to a flat out sprint where, he suggests, luck plays too large a role.

“If you have the money to build an incredibly fast and reliable car, and you have the resources in terms of parts and mechanics to keep your car going, then of course you’re going to do well in the current format of events,” Guest commented.

“But I really feel that it’s disadvantaging young drivers and their potential progression in the sport and for the drivers that are in the sport already the adventure has gone,” added the Ford driver.

[fro]

Originally Posted by Jme

Ok... run the series by invitation only and cater for the minority... 30 or so of the "pointy end competitors". Maybe 20 4wd's and 10 2wds.

Why? Why not have it open. As you pointed out above, a good quality pacenote event, close to Sydney, only attracted 18 entries?

Originally Posted by Jme

We MUST get more pacenotes events happening in this state. That to me, is very obvious.

Why? The two pace-noted rallies that I can think of in the last 12 months (Bathurst Clubman and Shakedown) hardly seemed to capture the interest of the masses? They didn't even capture the interest of the "pointy-end" competitors.

I'm anti-pacenote personally, but am genuinely interested in what the motivation is for pace-note at below ARC level. And the answer shouldn't just be "So you can gain experience in pace-noting"...