Event Descriptions

What do we do in Motorsport?

We promote a variety of motor sport competitions to enable our members to enjoy well organised competitive events under the rules of Motorsport UK [formerly the MSA] of which Cranleigh Motor Club is a Recognised Motor Club .

This page contains useful information for anyone who is interested in taking up motor sport for the first time.

These pages are biased towards road events using Ordinance Survey Maps.

To take Part in motorsport UK sanctioned events you will need to be a member of a MSUK recognised Motor Club, and for most of the events we organise you will need a Free of Charge Competition licence from MSUK, speak to any committee member to advise you or assist you with your application.

Example navigation can be downloaded Here

Nailly

The Anatomy of A Nailly,

A nailly is when a number of fully grown adults drive around the countryside in the hope of finding a

plot worth points. Well that is the basis of a nailly but it involves a little more than this brief but

accurate description.

A nailly is a navigational scatter rally; this means that it is an event based on the Ordnance Survey

landranger series of maps, with clues to the plot locations given as standard longitude and latitude

references or variations on that theme.

It is an event that can be contested in any standard road vehicle from a Rolls Royce to a Reliant

Robin, although we have never seen either compete yet. The idea of the event is to encourage the

skills of a driver navigator team rather than the performance capabilities of the man behind the

wheel.

The event normally starts in a car park or lay-by that will accommodate the 10 to 20 cars

participating. You will normally arrive at the start by 7.30p.m. for the winter series & 8.30 for the

summer series to sign on where you will sign an indemnification form and pay your entry fee. £10.00

per crew plus £1.00 for each passenger.

At 8.00p.m. you will receive the clues, there are 16 clues coming in many shapes and forms. Four

main groups, Red 6 points, Blue 5 points, Green 4 points and Yellow 3 points, each group has four

plots, you may visit 75% of these, i.e. 12 out of the 16 in any order and any colour, collecting one

answer from each plot plus a bonus plot this is worth 12 points. The bigger the points the more

difficult the clue is to crack.

The event runs for three hours, the crews returning with the greater amount of points are deemed

the winners, those crews not back at the finish time. will have 1 point deducted from their score for

each minute late up to 10 minutes after which time they will be excluded.

The event usually runs for approximately 90 miles, you will require a map or maps, pencil, rubber,

roamer, compass, protractor, tracing paper, torch and sometimes wellies.

Excellent fun ask any competitor.

12 Car Rallies

More properly called 12 car navigational rallies to give them their full title, these are road events

using O.S. maps with a fixed route and time schedule that all competitors must aim to follow. They

are of a "Plot & Bash" nature meaning that you get your route instructions at the start of each

section and then the navigation bit comes in. The route is usually given in some cryptic or time

consuming way so you generally have to push on a bit to stay within the time schedule. All vehicles

must be scrutineered before signing on to the same standard for autotests plus no advertising of

sponsors.

Along the route there will generally be code boards these you will write down in your road book to

prove that you took the right route but these code boards, unlike those on scatter events will be

very obvious and you certainly wont need to stop and get out of the car or even slow down - indeed

you wont be given any indication as to where they are - you either see them and record them if you

are on the right route or you don't if you are not! These events are limited by MSA rules to a

maximum of 12 cars and must be run on a weekday evening.

Normal car insurance wont cover you and most clubs operate a insurance scheme. Once you have

completed a proposal form you are covered by the insurers for that event, the premium costs are

depending on type of event (typical costs are 12 Cars £15.00) and you have 3rd party cover for the

duration of the event. Entry fee is normally around £10.00 a total cost of around £25.00 for a night

of motorsport, Standard road cars with no more than 4 forward facing lights are needed; indeed

modified cars are discouraged to try to keep a low profile.

Stage Rallies

Stage Rallies take place on closed roads (forestry commission or army usually) or airfields and test

tracks and can be split into loose tarmac or a mixture of both. A specially prepared car will be needed

with: Roll cage, plumbed in fire extinguisher, hand held extinguisher, crash helmets, fire proof overalls,

a few safety modifications, lots of bottle and even more cash! A service crew is also a great bonus

(saves the driver from getting his nice overalls dirty) and although road tyres are perfectly legal you will

need slicks or proper forest tyres if you want to be competitive.

Entry fees start at around £185 for a small scale (perhaps 45 competitive miles) tarmac event up to

£2000 + for a private entry on the bigger events. A clubman’s forest rally of say 50 miles will cost

about £450 to enter.

The basic aim is to cover the distance between stage start and stage finish as

quickly as possible and to give encouragement to any one in smaller operates, typically:

Class A upto 1300cc

Class B 1301 - 1600cc

Class C 1601 - 2000cc

Class D 2001 - and over

4 wheel drive cars are usually in a special class and turbo charged cars must add 70% to their

capacity to determine their class.

Autotests

Autotests are run on either Grass or Tarmac. Traffic cones are placed on the Grass/Tarmac at precise

locations to conform to a pre-set course. A start box is at the beginning and a finish box at the end.

The object of the event is to drive along the pre-set test in the direction indicated without hitting

any of the cones. The course is short but can vary in difficulty so as to test the brain as well as driving

skills.

To give it a competitive edge the event is timed and the driver completing the course in the quickest

time is the winner. Penalties are incurred for wrong tests and hitting cones.

At each event a set of 8 tests are run, each driver has two attempts at each of the tests his fastest

time on each test counts toward the daily totals. Points are awarded for overall positions and are

accumulated in a championship.

Very competitive but also good fun ask any of the competitors.

All cars taking part have to be scrutineered prior to signing on, The car must be "street legal" ie, have

sound tyres and lights and due to the nature of the event have its wheel trims removed and all items

within the car including the boot must be firmly secured.

Typical cost for the event is £8.00 up wards depending on level of event

Gymkhana

In case you were wondering, "Gymkhana" is an old Anglo-Indian word meaning, amongst other

things, "A meeting for competition between horse riders, vehicle drivers etc." It is a light-hearted

social event, great fun and only mildly competitive, held in a field courtesy of a friendly farmer.

The Cranleigh format is to divide competitors into two or more teams which then compete in a

series of games. Some are car based e.g. balancing buckets of water on bonnets while negotiating an

obstacle course and some are run on foot. All are very silly and extremely good fun.

The results somehow always seem to be a draw; the afternoon finishes off with a Barbecue followed

by a cricket or rounder’s match.

Gymkhanas are subject to M.S.A. permit regulations provided in the Blue book

The Navigational Scatter or Night Trial

These events are of 4 or 5hrs duration and are either closed to club, ie only members of the

organising club taking part, or open invitation which is members of several clubs taking part.

Competitors are divided into three classes, Novice, Semi-Expert or Experts, based on previous

experience.

At the start competitors are given information by way of different navigational problems, to enable

them to go to a number of 'Route checks' (RC). These are small boards attached to gate posts, stiles

etc. The words, numbers etc written on the boards are entered into a roadbook, also issued at the

start. The RC's are of different points values, depending on the difficulty of the navigational problem.

Information will also be issued to enable competitors to locate and visit a number of manned

controls, where they will be given a timed navigational problem to solve for more points.

The whole meaning of the night trial is to gain as many points as you can and to have an enjoyable

evening.

Typical cost for the evening is around £15.00