Scatter Rallies
Discussion
There is a competitive element to scatter rallies, but they are not competitive. Scatter rallies are generally seen as a bit of fun and normal cars are the norm. In fact lots of scatter rallies are regarded as family nights out They are as much about reading clues and navigation, as driving. As a step to road rallies and rallying they are a good stepping stone, mainly on the navigation front though.
This is going to depend on the club and how serious they are taken. I can assure you that our Scatters in Ilkley motor club are pretty competitive.
To give you a feel,
You will be given about forty locations to plot on your OS maps as 6 or 8 figure map references, each location has a value, generally the harder to get a location, the higher the score. You can visit as many as 30 points. You will be given two and a quarter hours to plot them and drive your chosen route (2 hours for experts). If you take more time you are penalised by the minute.
A good crew will have the plots on the map in about 10 minutes and be on their way, I'm not going to elaborate too much about the pace, but a good driver will be relying on his nav to plot the quickest route, get every junction spot on and know iwithin 100 yards where each point is. Plus he will be calling the bends.
It's not unusual for the experts in our events to have visited twice as many points as some of the novices and in the process have driven a hell of a lot further in quarter of an hour less time. Most people use fairly standard cars, some use road rally prepped ones. It certainly helps to have a quick car, but it's better to have something small, nimble and easy to thread through the country lanes than a mega powered super saloon.
We run six scatters a year ( and two 12 car rallies) which form a club championship. It's very competitive and excellent training and practice. It may be a coincidence, it may not, but we have some of the best road rally navigators in the country in IDMC, plus one of the current WRC co drivers.
A properly organised scatter will be an MSA sanctioned event with insurance, permits, etc run within the rules outlined in the blue book.... Interpreted a little!.
To give you a feel,
You will be given about forty locations to plot on your OS maps as 6 or 8 figure map references, each location has a value, generally the harder to get a location, the higher the score. You can visit as many as 30 points. You will be given two and a quarter hours to plot them and drive your chosen route (2 hours for experts). If you take more time you are penalised by the minute.
A good crew will have the plots on the map in about 10 minutes and be on their way, I'm not going to elaborate too much about the pace, but a good driver will be relying on his nav to plot the quickest route, get every junction spot on and know iwithin 100 yards where each point is. Plus he will be calling the bends.
It's not unusual for the experts in our events to have visited twice as many points as some of the novices and in the process have driven a hell of a lot further in quarter of an hour less time. Most people use fairly standard cars, some use road rally prepped ones. It certainly helps to have a quick car, but it's better to have something small, nimble and easy to thread through the country lanes than a mega powered super saloon.
We run six scatters a year ( and two 12 car rallies) which form a club championship. It's very competitive and excellent training and practice. It may be a coincidence, it may not, but we have some of the best road rally navigators in the country in IDMC, plus one of the current WRC co drivers.
A properly organised scatter will be an MSA sanctioned event with insurance, permits, etc run within the rules outlined in the blue book.... Interpreted a little!.
Good to see that the scatter rally is alive and well in Yorkshire!
Many years ago (1970s) a group of us was convened by Les Needham, then at the RAC Comps Dept., to see if we could define an event that complied with section 5(b) of the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations which he could include in the RAC Blue Book. We were all organisers of night navigation rallies and some had already been running section 5(b) events and what we came up with is pretty much the same as R 16.5 is today.
The Clubs we represented were Hants & Berks MC, Hampton & District, Herts County A&AEC, Verulam AC and Les himself also spoke for Harrow CC.
Many years ago (1970s) a group of us was convened by Les Needham, then at the RAC Comps Dept., to see if we could define an event that complied with section 5(b) of the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations which he could include in the RAC Blue Book. We were all organisers of night navigation rallies and some had already been running section 5(b) events and what we came up with is pretty much the same as R 16.5 is today.
The Clubs we represented were Hants & Berks MC, Hampton & District, Herts County A&AEC, Verulam AC and Les himself also spoke for Harrow CC.
Interesting to read that about the origins.
As far as I know at least three Yorkshire clubs run scatters in the format I've described. Not too sure about other regions they may well run them in a more relaxed manner more like a treasure hunt.
Of course like any club level motorsport you can take it as seriously as you like. Many people just treat it as a good excuse to drive around some interesting lanes, knowing they have no real chance of winning.
As far as I know at least three Yorkshire clubs run scatters in the format I've described. Not too sure about other regions they may well run them in a more relaxed manner more like a treasure hunt.
Of course like any club level motorsport you can take it as seriously as you like. Many people just treat it as a good excuse to drive around some interesting lanes, knowing they have no real chance of winning.
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