Trail Blazers Rally
June 24th, 2007

Sunday morning most assembled next to the doubles man opposite Medford Gas station having breakfast and the various teams pasting on their stickers and ‘dogs’!

After it was a quick drive up the assembly point, Caroni Bird Sanctuary car park, where we registered and got scrutineered by the marshals for everything from valid DP to front seat bolts! Some even resorted to superglueing their seatbelts in place!

By then all team members had arrived,

Team Stray Dogs 

Shane & Raymond
Sheldon & Sabrina
Ram & Vivek

Team Purina Mud Dogs

Carlvin & Tara
Frankie & Shawn
Paul & Andy

Two members pulled out at the last min so Trevor & Leemoy went as an individual entrant. Gary, Shiv and Raff also stopped by to see us off and wish us well.

After the briefing we were off and the first section saw us through the Caroni cane fields. I got lost within ten minutes of start and was elated to see Carlvin up ahead and just tried to keep up with him.

At the end of this section we had to complete the fun section which involved shooting three balloons in five attempts.

The second section went through central and Indian trail where a lot of us got lost (again!) due to a misinterpretation of the directions on the map. When the rains came down most of us were in Indian Trail and I’m sure we all had a blast in the slippery conditions. I got lost deep inside and had to ‘mash down’ some cane to get out!  After a quick briefing from President Harry we were on our way again back into Indian Trail. At the end of this section the fun event was a Sing & Wine Watermelon eating contest. Folks, if ya ever want to see a spectacle ya have to see some of our members sing and wine…..however,  some of us could turn ya off watermelon for life!

Third stage was all road, taking us to the finish at Woodford Lodge were the final fun stage was a balloon competition. Driver & navigator had to press themselves close together to hold a balloon on their chests. Funny stuff….Raymond somehow got a practice run in with the all girls team….lucky guy!

Then it was a lengthy wait for the results which resulted in an excellent performance from most of The TTORC competitors with the exception of Trev and myself…..we should not be trusted with maps!

Final results as listed by Sheldons’ excellent report below.

The team of Frankie & son Shawn dominated the 4x4 offroad class in yesterday's Trailblasers rally, emerging overall class winners. Frankie who pulled number 1 was also 1st to make navigational errors but excelled in the special stages for the 4x4 (fully equipped) group, surviving a heavy downpour just as he entered a deep 'Indian Trail' valley. Frankie also won the challenge trophy (now he would turn the table on his kids who laughed at his medal last year).

Congratulations also to Calvin and his wife who placed 2nd in the 4x4 fully equipped class and also to the team of Shane and Raymond who placed 3rd. Calvin have been chewing up a lot of difficult trails lately and is now certainly one to look at for competition. Shane jeep sporting a fresh green paint job have been absent from trails since the start of this year, also showed its class.

Team 'stray dogs' with Shane, Ram and myself took 3rd prize in the team group. Congrats also to Trevor and Paul who also did well in all of the stages. Thanks to the TTORC family who came together to make this event a whole lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

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More pictures can be seen at Trini Tuners web site http://www.trinituner.com/drags/2007/trailblazers.php  

(NOTES OF RALLYING USING BRC)
References are to places in Barbados

In an effort to help people understand BRC navigation a bit more. Here is one hint that will help you to know which turn to make on the road as compared to the map.

First thing you need to do is drive the new 10km run, which starts near Neils Plantation and finishes near Kendal Plantation. If you are coming from Bussa roundabout heading west to Norman Niles roundabout, turn right at Norman Niles. Shortly after this roundabout, there is a layby on the left, where you will see a red mark (BRC). Pull over here, and zero your odometer. Once you have done this, travel along this road, past Bulkely, Ellerton, The Mount, Drax Hall, and Woodland. After exiting the left 90 by Kendal Pond, you should see another red mark on one of the trees on your left (also saying BRC). Stop at this mark, and note the distance on your odometer. The actual distance of this run is 10km.

Speedometer calibration (average speed) Let's say the correct distance 10 kilometers, and the reading on your speedometer at the distance is 10.6 kilometers. The error factor for your speedometer is then 10.6 divided by 10.00, which is 1.06. To allow for this error you need to use a corrected speed table. That is a speed table, which is modified by this factor.

If the average speed for part of a route is 30kph, the table you would use (in the above example) would be 30 times 1.06, which is 31.8 kph. If the speedometer in the above example read 9.8, then the error factor would be 9.8 divided by 10.00 which gives an error factor of 0.98. The speed table to use would then be 29.4 kph.   As you can see, if your mileage is out by just a little bit, it can have tremendous effect on your average speed, making you early or late and possibly missing controls.  

Speedometer calibration (distance)
Another way calibrating your odometer will help in BRC is by assisting you in "scaling". The maps used in the safaris have a scale in the top right corner, showing you the scale used to make the map. (ie: 1" = 1km for example). When driving BRC, you should always measure the distance from one corner to another on the route. (best to use a piece of string or a twist tie which you have marked the scale from the map onto.) For example, the traffic lights at BET, heading East to Freer Pilgrim. Take your string and place it on the map at these points. Let's say the distance is 3", and the scale is 1" = 1km. 

Therefore the distance from the BET lights, to Freer Pilgrim is 3km. (this is just an example, as I do not have a map to hand to give the correct measurements or scale.) So now you know you must travel 3km from the BET lights to your next turn. You get to the Lights at BET, and zero your odometer. (which you have already calibrated and discovered your error factor is 1.06) So you must drive until your odometer reads 3km X 1.06 = 3.18 ( as most odometers don't have two decimal places, it would read 3.1 and the 1 is about to change to 2.) 

At this distance you should come across the road you are to turn onto. Once you have made this turn, you zero your odometer and repeat the measuring process etc.    

 

Hope this helps to explain BRC a bit more.

 

 

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