First, a bit about the team and the pre-event plans.

For some reason the very hospitable Ulstermen run their rallies on Friday nights, so some of us opted to go over on the Thursday, as we had been invited to stay with Paddy and a neighbour. That neighbour would be competing too. More of him later.
Our team comprised myself and Iain Craven (doing his first I-A) in the Accord Aerodeck, Monty Pearson and Ewan Leeming in the VR6 Golf, and Euan Brodie with Oly McCollum in the 1.4 205, which proved to be no slouch.

Monty Pearson and Ewan Leeming were to due to arrive on the day of the event, but the rest of us were supposed to sail on the 19.35 service on the Thursday. I say ‘supposed to’ because it didn’t go to plan. Iain had decided to cycle to Stranraer, by way of the A70 and the A77. Oly was going to do this too, but chickened out a week or two before. So the final arrangement was for me to meet Oly and Euan at 15.30 for a relaxed convoy trip down the same route, to pick Iain up if he had problems. Well, 16.00 came and they were still about 10 minutes away, so I opted to head off on my own, by the M8.

I hadn’t moved far before I had an idea that the M8 might be rather busy in Glasgow at 17.00, so I changed my mind and decided to take the A71. Why not the A70? Because Oly had reported second-hand from Iain that there was a major hold-up on the A70. I should have phoned Iain to get details, because my choice of route was not a good one. The A71 was full of villages and slaisters, and I achieved an average of about 30 mph from Edinburgh to Kilmarnock. Oly and Euan had even less joy on the motorway, but they were no quicker than I was.

Why did I not phone Iain? He has a mobile number that he doesn’t like to give out, because it is a work-related one. I should have asked Oly for the number, but I was more concerned to get a move on. Wrong decision! Often happens in a panic situation. I don’t like to be in panic situations. My main concern was that there might not be a later sailing, if we missed the 19.35. As it happens there was, but that was stress I could do without.

Eventually Iain phoned me, when I was still about 15 miles short of Kilmarnock, to say he had reached Kirkoswald and had given up, due to weather, fatigue, loneliness, darkness, etc. I picked him up there about 45 minutes later. That’s one advantage of a big car, space for a bike!

We got to Stranraer at about 19.15, and got on the ferry with a little time to spare. Oly and Euan didn’t make it. They had left Edinburgh even later than 10 minutes after me, and the M8 had been an even worse choice than mine. Not only the anticipated Glasgow hold-up, but the whole length of it was chocka. So they lost even more time than I did. A lesson learned, I hope. Always leave in plenty of time. It’s much less stressful.

Paddy came to meet us at the ferry. He spotted my car long before I saw him. He stays at the southern outskirts of Belfast, but at that time of night it was a very easy trip of about 15 minutes to his house.

I knew Iain and I were to stay with a John Lindsay, but no more. It turns out he is a few doors away from Paddy, but he and his wife were out for the night, and due back at 02.00. They would also be away out to work at 08.00, so we might not even meet them, but should see John at the event. Well, to my annoyance and embarrassment I didn’t, but Iain did. So to my host that I have never met I offer my sincere thanks. [Paddy, please pass this on to him.]

We spent the Friday messing about, with Oly rigging a borrowed trip-meter of Paddy’s, Euan fitting his spots, me worrying about the lack of maps, etc. We went to visit a friend of Oly’s, Noel Cochrane, east of Newtownards, where we had a great lunch and a look at his collection of autotest specials and historic (and even vintage) MGs.
Then it was back into Belfast, stopping at various shops and filling stations to try and get maps. Eventually we went to the OSNI office and got them there. It’s not far from Paddy’s, had we only known earlier!

Then it was up to the McCollum Seniors’ at Glengormley for more hospitality. I’ve met Oly’s mum and dad before, so I knew this would be an enjoyable couple of hours or so. Ann showed us up to the computer room, where there was a desk to mark the maps. Then it was into the dining room at 17.30 for another terrific meal. Around this point it became clear that Monty and Ewan would not be joining us, because the HSS was out of service due to wind – an Achilles heel, I believe – so they were on the slow ferry and would arrive too late and would go straight to Armagh.

Paddy had been remarkably relaxed throughout all this palaver. He played host to us until we went round to John’s. He was still awake when Oly and Euan arrived at 02.30. He was away to work when we went round there in the morning, and we didn’t see him again until we got to Armagh. He seemed to have all the paperwork finished long before the day, which is always a good sign. No last minute panics for him.
Right, now a bit about the event.

There were only four other Associations represented, in addition to the host Association. We were there under ESACC’s banner, of course.
A large hotel had been found in Armagh, which turned out to be a terrific start and finish venue. Lots of space, inside and out. Even an enclosed ‘garage’ for scrutineeering. Everything went smoothly, despite the scrutineer being a tad late.
The weather was dry but there were damp patches on some roads. These were, however, nothing compared to some of the muddy stretches.

The roads of Co. Armagh are incredible. Imagine the trickiest roads around you, and double it. Both number and difficulty. Tremendous network of narrow yellows, tight bends every 100 metres, mud, potholes (not too severe, luckily), grass up the middle, hedges that look like walls, slots that are very hard to find, cheering spectators in the middle of nowhere, etc. Add the effect of mud to the odd unpredicted 90 that’s only just wide enough for a car, and you have a recipe for some ‘moments’. I even found my handbrake worked on a couple of them. It doesn’t usually work, so it must have been very slippy.

Then there is the navigation. It’s not hard, usually. It’s just time-consuming. And they never get clean sheets. They use a system that needs a lot of marshals. In fact they had 100 marshal posts that were all manned. Some of the guys did four posts! Cheers to you all!

In NI every section is a Regularity, with timing only to the minute, but every other aspect of the events is such that nobody can keep up to pace. Even the winners of this one had 20-odd penalties I think, and next was over 60. But there are always some very short relaxed sections designed to allow time make-up, so nobody goes OTL. As a result everybody goes away feeling challenged, satisfied, knackered and very happy.
Breakfast was a self-service affair, which meant you just took what you fancied. Results were quick. There were a couple of problems that were sorted out quickly, and the presentation was done and dusted in good time. We had about an hour to spare, plenty of time to go back to Paddy’s (without him), get a cup of tea and load up the gear, including Iain’s bike.

The results and afterthoughts

I almost forgot. Monty and Ewan came 5th. I think Euan and Oly were 6th. Iain and I managed 11th. But the best bit was the team result. Second only to the locals. That’s the best since I started doing the I-A events in 1996.

It was marred slightly by one of the English crews that showed the typically over-serious tendency of certain people to get too competitive. They were behind us and kept flashing for me to move over to let them past. Once would have been enough. There was nowhere to pull over, so what was the point of repeated flashing? A RWD Mk 3 Escort. What else would you expect? Lockhart and I had the same experience from an identical car in 2000. Probably the same driver.

I can thoroughly recommend a trip to NI to anybody that wants something different, with a challenge unmatched by anything that we normally see on this side of the water. But I also suggest that you should get the maps weeks before you go, to avoid the uncertainty.

OSNI, http://www.osni.gov.uk/order/order_mapsX.html will send by post.
So will The Stationery Office in Edinburgh, maps.Edinburgh@tso.co.uk. But take care, they don’t stock large numbers of Discoverers.

Other comments.

The HSS Stena Voyager is a very impressive craft. It cruises at 40 knots (although I believe it can do over 50), thereby halving the trip time of the normal ferry, despite being forced to idle in the lochs (loughs!) at either end of the journey because the wash at high speed can swamp smaller craft. It’s quiet and smooth too. Except in rough weather, apparently! You only hear a slight increase in sound level when it throttles up. The only other thing I spotted was that it seemed to go a few degrees bow-up for a wee while until they sorted out the trim, presumably with hydrofoils. We were told on arrival at the Belfast terminal for the return trip that she was running about 15 minutes late, but that this would be partly made up during the trip. This gave the impression that they occasionally exceed the normal cruising speed! I’ve just looked it up and I see she has four gas-turbines producing 68,000 kW total. In the past the two normal engine types were diesel or steam turbine. Gas turbine seems to be a logical way to go. Smooth and efficient. But they may be less flexible in their choice of fuels. I don’t know, but if I’m right it could explain why this type of engine is not more common. I seem to recall that 1kW = 0.7hp approx. Or is it the other way round? I can’t be bothered to look it up. Somebody may tell me if I’m wrong!
HSS stands for High-speed Sea Service. See www.stenaline.com if you want to read more.

 

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Updated 18th November 2004
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