Is motorcycling allowed?

[Andymann]

[Andymann]

And the two I will cherish the most - My Dad and I at the bottom of Bains Kloof Pass after I had to chase him down - still a teenager at 86 and then the start of Day 2.

[RocknRolla]

Lekker Pics Andy, And super special memories with your dad!!!

[IceCreamMan]

2 hours ago, Andymann said:

That Yamaha is super sweet. 

[IceCreamMan]

Limited edition Ducati

 

https://www.cycleworld.com/bikes/ducati-panigale-v4-sp2-30th-anniversario-916-first-look/

[Andymann]

10 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

That Yamaha is super sweet. 

I did get a bit of admin from the older crowd about it not being a real classic etc, etc, but the rules state the bike needs to be older than 26 years and the Tenere is 29 years so it's perfectly fine.

There were two guys rallying a 1990's era Toyota Corolla - the original 16v one and no-one was too critical of them so tough - I had fun and I only had to fill it up once!

[IceCreamMan]

7 minutes ago, Andymann said:

I did get a bit of admin from the older crowd about it not being a real classic etc, etc, but the rules state the bike needs to be older than 26 years and the Tenere is 29 years so it's perfectly fine.

There were two guys rallying a 1990's era Toyota Corolla - the original 16v one and no-one was too critical of them so tough - I had fun and I only had to fill it up once!

AAMOI, the vintage Japanese motorcycle club here see everything older than 15 years as vintage. Boggles the mind that a K5 gsxr ( as an example) is considered vintage when the motor is still used in current models. But is what it is. 
 

[i24]

That looks like fun 😃

• What event was it?
• I notice the "nav stacks" seem to block the instruments (rev counter, speedo etc), is this an issue?

 

[IceCreamMan]

When I am 86, I still want to be riding motorcycles. 

[Andymann]

15 hours ago, i24 said:

That looks like fun 😃

• What event was it?
• I notice the "nav stacks" seem to block the instruments (rev counter, speedo etc), is this an issue?

 

Yup - it's a regularity run so you aren't allowed to use any form of speed or distance measuring device - you get a route schedule that is put inside the Rally box and then you are allowed to use stopwatches.  On the more modern bikes you need to tape up the clocks.

The first pic is the route schedule - the blocks marked in blue are the regularity sections - there you have to ride as accurately as possible - there are marshall points in those areas and they check to see if you are arriving early - (positive) or late (negative)

The second pic is of my results on day on - I really screwed up at the first marshal - I was 96 seconds late - still getting used to the bike!

It got better as the day went on!

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Andymann

[Hairy]

22 hours ago, Andymann said:

I did get a bit of admin from the older crowd about it not being a real classic etc, etc, but the rules state the bike needs to be older than 26 years and the Tenere is 29 years so it's perfectly fine.

There were two guys rallying a 1990's era Toyota Corolla - the original 16v one and no-one was too critical of them so tough - I had fun and I only had to fill it up once!

15 more years and I can enter on my Fat Bob

[i24]

22 hours ago, Andymann said:

Yup - it's a regularity run so you aren't allowed to use any form of speed or distance measuring device - you get a route schedule that is put inside the Rally box and then you are allowed to use stopwatches.  On the more modern bikes you need to tape up the clocks.

The first pic is the route schedule - the blocks marked in blue are the regularity sections - there you have to ride as accurately as possible - there are marshall points in those areas and they check to see if you are arriving early - (positive) or late (negative)

The second pic is of my results on day on - I really screwed up at the first marshal - I was 96 seconds late - still getting used to the bike!

It got better as the day went on!

 

That looks like a nice route to ride 😁

If I may, a couple more questions:

• Is the rev counter taped up as well as the speedo? (It is the only instrument that works really well on my Guzzi.)
• Do you need to START the regularity sections on time. Ie arrive early and wait till the stopwatch says it is time to go.
• I assume if you break down your buddies cant stop to help. So for the back markers it might be more of a reliability event instead of a regularity one 😏

[Andymann]

5 minutes ago, i24 said:

That looks like a nice route to ride 😁

If I may, a couple more questions:

• Is the rev counter taped up as well as the speedo? (It is the only instrument that works really well on my Guzzi.)
• Do you need to START the regularity sections on time. Ie arrive early and wait till the stopwatch says it is time to go.
• I assume if you break down your buddies cant stop to help. So for the back markers it might be more of a reliability event instead of a regularity one 😏

Yup - you need to tape up all the instruments - nothing is allowed on the bike that can give you any indication on how fast or how far you have gone. 

So you have two options for the start of regularity - ride to the the start as quickly as you can, and then leave on time like you suggested, or ride the entire rally as best as you can on time, so that you are always within a few seconds of where you need to be. My Dad was a top rallyist when he was younger - I think he still holds the record for the lowest error in the DJ - thin

k it was 98secs over two days if I recall and he taught me a few things - one of them was to try and ride the entire rally on time and then ride the regularity sections exactly on time - the reason being is that sometimes the start of regularity is at an undefined point - like a farm gate or overhead wires.  you get to a gate, start and then presto, there is another gate 500m down the road and you are stuffed for that section.

Kevin 81 409 -3   3 -77 -62 -53 -53 -15   60 -13 -9  19 18   8  -10 -6
Andy 82 306 -96 1 -25  -8    2   -15  13  -10  -2  24 18  63  -7 -1   21

Have a look above at my Dad's errors and mine - he was 3sec late at Marshall one, 3 sec early at Marshall 2 and then didn't practice what he taught me and raced to the the next start of regularity which just said "Farm Double Gate"- he started at the wrong one and carried the error over to the next 4 marshals - -77, -62, -53, -53

I knew I was badly out right from the start (-96) so I couldn't do that - I rode as best I could and actually got to the right gate only 25s late - then got back on time. -25, -8, 2, -15

So to answer - I prefer to ride the entire Rally as if I am riding regularity - it adds a bit more stress, but chances of cocking up are a lot less!

 

It depends on how good buddies you have!  The top guys will not stop - but those riding at the back will just do it for fun - I would have definitely stopped to help my Dad.

Last thing - have a look at the top 5 times -

Position Name                               Comp No     Day 1  Day 2 Final
1 Gush - Ron & Pam                             3          68       71    139
2 Walton - Gavin                                 52         104      47    151
3 Murphy - Andrew & Annelie             57         106     56     162
4 Ward - Mike & Glenda                      83         106     58     164
5 Greyvensteyn - Colin & Megan         80         80       87     167
6 Rupert - Mark                                   77         72      107    179
7 Metcalf - Harvey & Tess                    58        119      61     180
8 Van Blerck - Johann / Craig Molver   103      161      22     183

 

Johan van Blerk and Craig Molver were only 22secs error on day two - crazy stuff!

[The Ouzo]

I'm totally lost. With out instruments, how do you pace yourself ?

[Andymann]

1 hour ago, The Ouzo said:

I'm totally lost. With out instruments, how do you pace yourself ?

At the top of the Rally box you have a scroll of speeds - like the picture below.  At 70kph, 1km will take you 51s, 2km 1:43, 3km 2:34 and so on.  So you start, get yourself up to what you think is about 70kph and then find the nearest km stone and start timing - don't change your estimated speed.  If you find you are riding say at 50s per km then you know you are doing 71 and the next km needs to take you 1:46 - so you are then at 68kph - get on time and use the second stopwatch to time again.

If there are no km stones, at 70kph 21 white lines will take you 12.9s - counting white lines is tricky though.  And dangerous. 

Once you get to know the bike you actually can get pretty close - that's why on day 1 I thought I was doing 60kph, couldn't see any km stones, had a solid white line so rode on feel.  I was way too slow and lost 96s in 4.4km.

Day two I got much better - my total error was 135s - on day one it was 306

[The Ouzo]

21 minutes ago, Andymann said:

At the top of the Rally box you have a scroll of speeds - like the picture below.  At 70kph, 1km will take you 51s, 2km 1:43, 3km 2:34 and so on.  So you start, get yourself up to what you think is about 70kph and then find the nearest km stone and start timing - don't change your estimated speed.  If you find you are riding say at 50s per km then you know you are doing 71 and the next km needs to take you 1:46 - so you are then at 68kph - get on time and use the second stopwatch to time again.

If there are no km stones, at 70kph 21 white lines will take you 12.9s - counting white lines is tricky though.  And dangerous. 

Once you get to know the bike you actually can get pretty close - that's why on day 1 I thought I was doing 60kph, couldn't see any km stones, had a solid white line so rode on feel.  I was way too slow and lost 96s in 4.4km.

Day two I got much better - my total error was 135s - on day one it was 306

ok makes sense.

In this country though I would not trust counting white lines, my bet is that they dont really stick to a uniform length and distance apart.