i have good news and bad news.
first the bad news: there really is no bad news.
so, let’s skip to the good news.
i’ve been neglecting my rally directorial duties because my long-missing (you don’t want to hear the long, ugly story. trust me!) daughter recently found me and we have been catching up with time missing since 1978, when she was hurried-away at the age of 11-months.
i’m also a grandfather x 2 and growing prouder and more excited with that by the day.
my life has changed tremendously in the past 3-weeks!
so, now the bad news:
the original date for the end of the early bird entry fee was set to elapse tuesday.
well, since i was too busy doing other things, i’m going to extend the early bird entry fee until july 15, 2009.
you see: there is no bad news!
registration fees for the nevada rally are as follows:
2-person teams = $130
3-person teams = $195
4-person teams = $260
after july 15, 2009 the fees increase by $10 per person as follows:
2-person teams = $150
3-person teams = $225
4-person teams = $300
make checks payable to: the nevada rally
send to:
monty wolf
c/o gillette
5499 casey rd.
fallon, nv 89406
the good news continues:
the revisions to the rule book are complete; you can see just the changes here and you can download the entire rule book doc here and the entire rule book pdf here.
the compilation of changes explain what changes took place and why and has the new rule in its entirety.
except for a couple of typos and a few clarifications, most of the changes have to do with how the rally will be scored: instead of starting with 0-points, each team begins with a perfect score for that particular course; it is up to each team to retain as many points as possible.
the same thing only backwards.
and even more good news:
the rally course for this october is set in stone. providing that stone doesn’t wash away. i am joking, but we did get an amazing amount of rain in june and a lot of it came with torrential flashfloods that washed-out many sections of roads for this october and at least 2 future rally courses. nothing that is too rough to overcome, mind you. but, when you’re dealing with 150+ miles of dirt road, those slow sections can really make the day and night long.
how long, you ask?
well, we’re going to find that out this weekend: betsy and robert (buggy bunch) are coming all the way from campbell, ca to join me and rick on a timed run of the rally course.
in case you’re wondering how we set the speed averages, this is how it’s done:
rick and i will leave the starting line, with the odometer set to zero, and record our exact time of departure.
five minutes later, using the same interval you will during the rally, betsy and robert will leave the starting line.
the speed average is based on running the rally without making any navigational errors. so, each pre-runner is given every turn encountered along the route with a brief explanation of the maneuver required at that waypoint.
the stagger is so one vehicle doesn’t pace the other.
at the end of each segment we record our times of arrival and mileage and get ready for the next segment.
i also use the tracklogs to verify times and mileage.
willybee is working this weekend and can’t make it. but, we may make a separate pre-run late in july.
i then average the times between each pre-runner within each segment.
later, after we place all of the caches, i will adjust the average time of each segment to the difficulty of each cache hidden in that leg: +3:00 for an average hide; +4 to +5 for a more difficult; up to +15 for a multi.
the pre-run is also good to verify all of the waypoints and to give betsy and robert a chance to preview the course. since they will be your sweep crew, i’m sure you appreciate that.
ok. with all this good news i have to end this with a little bad news:
only 15 teams will be accepted in this october’s rally!
how’s that for putting the fear of monty in you?
happy birthday u.s.a.
monty
