Far North Rally

Prologue and Epilog

We have been associated with this event (formerly Rally Of the North) for well nigh 10 years.

This year we were to provide ONE finish crew, now that I am 'fully retired' - yeah right - I have had to 'pull my head in' somewhat and stop organising everyone!!.

So we had our crew, Jesy, Jamie, Fabian, Zane and myself, all organised. Then a month or so beforehand Jesy had to pull out for family commitments (a month before hand is fine - a day beforehand is not).

In chasing the organisers for stage allocations a few days before the event though I learnt that they could not do them as yet as they were still short of a finish crew. I have no doubt you can easily guess what comes next!!!

Yep a LOT of people got leaned upon, Facebook friends, emails, phone calls etc, etc,

My thanks to Darryl who came up from Rotorua, Johann, from Tairua, Josh from Tuakau and Andy and Sean from Auckland.

This meant we could have one crew with me as Post Chief, and the other with Jamie as post chief.

Darryl, Johann, Josh and myself arrived in Paihia 'before dark',on Friday 20th and then collected all the gear etc. the others drove up from Auckland after work so at our meeting later that night we reallocated personnel with my crew consisting of Andy, Sean, Johann, Josh and myself (yes 5) and Jamie had Fabian, Zane, Darryl and himself.

Both crews had a morning stage and an afternoon stage but thankfully out the gate times of between 7 and 8 am were much better than 4am starts which 'have been known'. However with our morning stages being some 100km away, there was still some driving to do.

Jamie's car misbehaved on the way to their first stage and they survived with one car (Darryl's thirsty Ford).

Meanwhile our crew with Josh, Johann and myself in trusty old Chalkie - the Estima, with Andy and Sean in his car proceeded to Kaitaia where Andy used his magic FF training skills then joined us at Finish Control and did Road Cards. I should mention at this stage that Ralllysafe are back to having a Surface Pro Tablet at the FC instead of a silly little 3 line display. Although we still had our inverter to allow charging between stages it is no longer necessary. The battery life has improved dramatically. Rallysafe certainly makes life a lot easier.

The rally did run a little late, caused partly by a taping problem on SS2 and Jamie's crew being a bit late because of their vehicle problems. Lunch break enabled some regrouping. For our part we stopped at Kaitaia and had a few words with an old friend Brendon Morrisey.

A pie etc whilst heading another 100 km for our afternoon stage SS8 (the final stage of the event) then arriving in plenty of time. There was however a typo in the road closure time (1450 somehow became 1540). Bugger.

Never mind, all went well eventually, that night (after returning all the gear; Rallysafe etc) we had a small gathering in my room for the 9 of us, then Andy and Sean took Jamie, Fabian and Zane back to Auckland, so Jamie could arrange to rescue his vehicle, the rest of us stayed Sat night, headed home Sunday morning. I shouted Josh and Johann lunch at Happy Days, took Josh home then Johann and I back home!!

Tired but happy again.

The Crews Warwick's Crew Jamie's Crew Warwick Post Chief Jamie Post Chief Andy Cards Darryl Josh Log Writer Zane Johann Road Fabian Sean Flying Finish

Our next event is Main Targa in about a months time. More then.

Thanks everyone. Warwick (Wazza)

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End of page - Copyright ©2019 Simply Better Team - Author: W.B.S. Edited: P.M.J.