One
Lane Miscellany -
May 4, 2008 Michael &
Pepi Brooks
Rallye Results
m.brooks6@verizon.net
Epilog: On Sunday May 4, 2008, the Motorsport Club of New Jersey presented “One Lane Miscellany”, its first rallye of the 2008 season. This was a 75-mile trap rallye through some of the most beautiful and challenging roads in northern New Jersey. Michael & Pepi Brooks served as rallyemasters, with John Groot serving as advisor (Peter Schneider also helped to review the course). Eleven cars participated on a beautiful sunny day. The rallye began by the Burger King in Denville, NJ, and ended at the Long Valley Pub & Brewery in Long Valley, NJ.
The first trap was a photo clue of an easy-to-see large rock sculpture (which we named Pinecone Rock) that had been erected near a house. The idea was to identify the address of the house. Seems simple, but only three teams got it right, and only one for the right reason. The problem was that the last action of the previous instruction indicated that the road turned to unpaved, and the sculpture was located just before the road turned to unpaved. Since questions are answerable after the last part of the prior instruction and before the first action of the next instruction, the correct answer was a “?”. Other traps on this leg were based on hard-to-spot photo clues.
The next leg had a simple trap based on a sign. The instruction called for a right turn at the second opportunity after a sign that read “Bonter Rd”. Since the sign was at the near side of Bonter Rd, the first opportunity to turn was actually at Bonter Rd. Eight teams failed to count that as the first opportunity to turn and took a modest detour (although some teams somehow found a way to take a more substantial detour) before being led back on-course.
The next trap caught seven teams and cost each of them up to 500 points. It used a “nested either/or” instruction. Teams looking for a right at the first opportunity came to a “T” intersection. About 15 feet before the “T” was a sign that said “No Left Turn.” Therefore teams had no choice—they were forced to turn right—which means this did not constitute an intersection under the rules and therefore was not the correct right turn. Teams who did it correctly, turned right at a signal a short distance away. Teams who did it incorrectly turned left at that same signal. They then went on a long off-course loop before returning to that same intersection where they went straight at the signal. Thus, at any given time, rallye cars could be going right, left or straight at the same intersection. The teams who did it correctly were not out of the woods yet, however. They were looking for either: a left at a “SIG”, or a left at Russia Rd. The first opportunity to execute the instruction was a left at a signal that had a yellow blinking light. Under the general instructions such a light is defined as a “Blinker” and not as a “SIG”; therefore it should have been ignored. Teams who incorrectly turned left at the “Blinker” went on an off-course loop. Eventually, all the teams were led back on-course.
A very simple “onto” trap in the next leg cost a surprisingly large number of teams about 150 points each. Teams were instructed to follow signs “onto” Route 181 North. When placed “onto” a road by name or number, the general instructions specify that teams must automatically turn if the road turns, and must continue to do this until they are directed off that road by the next numbered route instruction. At one point, Route 181 North turned right, and many unsuspecting teams ignored the “onto” rule and continued to drive straight. They then went on an off-course loop that eventually directed them back on-course.
There were two traps in the next leg. In the first, teams were told to either make a right after a sign that said “Narrow Road”, or to make a left at a “T”. Since the “Narrow Road” sign actually read “Narrow Road Keep Right”, and since the instruction did not specify “RIP” (read in part), that was not the correct sign and teams should have made the left at a “T”. The second trap was based on delta mileages which were provided for most instructions in this leg. A delta mileage indicates the mileage from the end of the previous instruction to the first action of the next instruction. Teams were looking for a right at “Old Four Bridges Rd (0.65)”, which meant the turn was 0.65 miles from the end of the previous instruction. The first “Old Four Bridges Rd” sign they reached was 0.40 miles from the end of the previous instruction, so the correct action was to continue straight until they reached the next “Old Four Bridges Rd” sign, which was 0.65 miles from the end of the previous instruction. Teams who did this incorrectly went around a short loop in the road in the wrong direction, which caused their mileage to be short by a quarter of a mile on this leg and another quarter of a mile on the next leg; it also caused them to miss two questions.
The last leg had a few traps. The simplest was a question about a sign attached to a tree that said “Critter XING”. Only four teams remembered that signs on trees do not count and correctly answered “?”. Another trap was based on the “straight ahead priority.” In the absence of the ability to execute a numbered route instruction or an “onto” instruction, teams are supposed to just drive as straight as possible. Only three teams realized that Black River Road was a straight ahead trap; the others went on a 3-mile off-course loop before being redirected on the beautiful and twisty Black River Road.
Teams turned in their scorecards at the Long Valley Pub & Brewery and enjoyed well-deserved food and drink while the scores were tabulated and trophies awarded. The winner had a total score of only 301 points, while the team awarded trophies for being “Dead Last But Finished” had a score of 2,337 points, and had traveled an astonishing 161 miles. Everyone had a great time and are looking forward to future rallyes presented by the Motorsport Club of New Jersey. Michael & Pepi Brooks