Exmoor Targa Rally - Sat 7th October 2017
A brief bit of history...
I joined Tavern Motor Club in July 2008 but only got involved in November 2008 when Martin and George Clark organised a 12 car which started 2 miles from my house - I went along and marshalled and started going to the club nights. At the AGM in April 2009, Martin asked for a volunteer to help with the Exmoor Endurance Rally, specifically the night route, so I stuck my hand up. In 2010 I was invited onto the committee and took over as Chairman in 2013 and I'm still Chairman today.
Endurance rallies had been invented in 2004 by Phillip Young as a low cost formula for standardish cars of up to 1400cc. I'd never taken much notice of them as I didn't have a suitable car, so it was something I was happy to help out on. Martin started the Exmoor in 2008 and Tavern ran it with help from Burnham on Sea and Minehead Motor Clubs.
Martin and George organised the whole route with forest and tarmac tests during the day and a 60 mile road rally at night. My job was to sort out the marshals for the night route and go round in Fly to make sure they were all in place. I did this in 2009, 2010 and 2012, the 2011 event being cancelled due to lack of entries.
After Martin suffered a stroke in September 2012, George continued to organise the event with help from various people, running it in 2012 and 2014, the 2013 event being cancelled due to tree disease!
But the Endurance formula was dying out - it proved to be quite expensive to run a competitive car, the top crews using adjustable suspension and 6 new tyres per event, together with frequent rebuilds due to some rather rough events, the entry levels were dropping year by year and the Endurance Road Rally Championship finished at the end of 2014 with George winning the Navigator Championship.
George stepped down from organising the Exmoor after a successful 2014 event so I took over in 2015 with everyone on the organising team agreeing to turn the event into a Targa Rally, thus allowing Road Rally cars to run alongside Endurance cars in an effort to boost entries.
In 2015 and 2016 we had just over 40 entries but this year things improved with an entry of 60, although only 53 started.
The organisation starts in April with a route being submitted to the MSA, followed by meetings with the Forestry Commission for the forest tests and Porlock Manor Estate for the tarmac tests, dealing with the Rights of Way dept at the council for any footpaths or bridleways on the Tests, and PR'ing any properties on the minor roads used on the link sections.
This year we had 38 miles of tests with 100 miles of link sections for £175 which included a hot meal at the finish.
The most enjoyable aspect of organising the event is driving Fly as Car 0 on the day "waking up the marshals"
We use the MSA Radios as on Stage Rallies, so once the Chief Marshal and Set Up crews have been through, I get the all clear and drive round at a competitive speed. On reaching the Finish, I radio in and the Start marshals send in the first car. Everything ran like clockwork with no hold ups - all the tests started within 1 minute of the time schedule
Overnight rain had made it very slippery on the early Tests but the sun came out later so it was a bit quicker in the afternoon.
Here are some pics from Andy Manston
Croydon Forest in the morning
Kennisham Forest in the morning
Catching up with the marshals at the start of Croydon after lunch
Croydon again, enjoying the sunshine
Exiting one of the many chicances used to slow the cars down to a 30mph average
And the final Kennisham Test before returning to the Finish
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