It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I’m joined by Joe Mallinson, the new Clerk of the Course for the Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally, to discover just what goes into organising one of Britain’s much-loved historic road rallies.

Joe takes me behind the scenes of the event, explaining the enormous amount of planning required long before the first car crosses the start line. We talk about plotting the route, organising officials and marshals, keeping competitors and spectators safe, and the responsibilities that come with taking on the role of Clerk of the Course.

We also look ahead to this year’s two-day rally, including the atmosphere of the start in Otley Market Square, the route through the surrounding countryside and the collection of historic cars expected to take part.

Joe explains the vital role played by volunteer marshals and local car clubs in keeping events like this alive, as well as the camaraderie that brings competitors, officials and enthusiasts back year after year.

It’s a fascinating look behind the scenes of historic rallying and a reminder that while the cars and drivers might get most of the attention, an extraordinary amount of work goes into making an event like the Ilkley Jubilee happen.

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Every year the Iltland District Car Club put on some great events.

They're known for it.

They're probably one of the most active local area regional clubs in the country and it's clubs like this were the backbone of British motorsport, especially rallying.

And every year they put on the Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally, which is a fantastic event.

It runs for a couple of days and attracts some fantastic, fantastic coys and vast quantities of onlookers.

So I'm delighted to say I'm joined by Joe Mallinson to chat about the rally, the fact that they're after Marshalls and everything else that goes with it.

Joe, welcome to the backseat driver.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for having me.

Right, tell us about the Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally, because it's been going for a while.

It certainly has, yeah.

It's been going for many, many years and this is my first year as clerk of the course on the event.

And he's a clerk of the course, so I suppose we'll get back to the rally.

But what's the clerk of the course responsible for the.

The event?

Yeah, Making sure that we've got the route.

Everyone in place who should be in place.

Yeah.

And having a good team behind you, looking after you.

Getting everything in place before entries opening, such as getting the permits regulations.

Yeah.

And making sure that we.

We have entries open on time.

Yeah.

Plotting the route, finding where we're going to go, securing venues, many, many different aspects is being a clerk and overall the safety of the event.

Yeah.

So how long has this rally been running?

I'm not 100 certain when the Ilka Jubilee did start, but it has, it's been going for years and years and years.

Previously to.

To myself, Ian Mitchell were clerk of the course, I believe, for five years.

Yeah.

And before that it was Henry Carr who was clerk, of course, I think for around 20 years during this event.

So it's been going for a very, very long time.

I couldn't tell you when it started, to be honest.

I mean, it's like I was saying before we started, I've actually done it twice and I can't remember when.

It was a long while ago, but I remember it being a good event.

So what is the format of the rally?

So this year we're sticking with the same format as last year's event.

So it's going to be over the two days.

Yeah.

Starting on Saturday night on the 24th of October, starting in Otley.

Yeah.

Going down to the Market Square and crews will be able to enjoy the atmosphere it's going to be plenty of people around because it's a nice.

It's a nice town.

Centuries.

Awfully.

It is absolutely gorgeous and really, really welcoming people.

Last year, even though we didn't do much publicity, we didn't know how many people were going to turn up the marketplace.

It were packed.

Plenty of people around, getting to walk between the cars, having a look inside them, the drivers and navigators talking to absolutely everybody.

Yeah, it was just such a great atmosphere last year.

I was chief marshal, so I were gone early.

I didn't get to see what was going on.

The reports that I had after the event, everyone just loved that atmosphere.

Fantastic.

The.

That the town may come.

Come down and wave the cars away.

It would just.

It looked fantastic.

Yeah.

So we're doing the exact same this year, giving them plenty of time to plot before they get there.

So again, the crews get time to be in the market square, get to see people, then from there they're going to head to the first regularity.

And I think there's three in total on the Saturday night.

Yeah.

Before arriving to Brummond park, which is one massive, really mixed stately home.

Indeed.

It's gorgeous.

Yeah, it's really, really nice.

Yeah.

And by the time they get there, it'll be nice and dark.

There's plenty of little tricky roads in between trees and through gates and everything.

So we've kept the format very, very similar.

It's a time control section on the Saturday night.

It should be.

Should be really, really good for them.

We.

I've got plenty of marshals out in Bramham.

People have signed up, which is absolutely fantastic.

And then from Bramham they'll leave there and head to a place called Kalsa, which is in Collingham for some pie and peas.

Yeah.

And a drink.

And I'm sure they'll all get to have a good chat and a laugh about where they've hopefully gone.

Right.

On the.

On the event Sunday.

Sunday morning, the restart from Weatherby services this year, the same as.

Same as last year, but actually in the services, where do you spend the.

Night, out of interest?

Do they sort their own accommodation?

Yeah, so they.

They plan their own accommodation where you tell them where they're starting from.

And then there is a hotel at the.

At the service station.

So it's.

It's ideal place just to.

To restart.

And this year we've got the HRCR beginners class involved, so they're just doing the Sunday event.

Right.

It's a little bit more simpler, by the way.

HRC or that's the historic rally car register, is it not?

That's correct.

It is.

So they're just going to be on a road book.

Yeah, simple, no plotting.

And then hopefully they can get used to the timing aspect and concentrate on.

On that rather than having a plot and.

Yeah, multitasking the car all day long.

And then from there they've got a regularity in the morning or a couple of regularities.

Heading up towards Dishworth Airfield.

Yeah.

Where they'll undertake three tests there.

And then from there they get to go to Tancred Farm shop which is doing lunch for us.

All right.

Absolute sandwich, cake and a drink.

Yeah, it's gonna, you know, the food is really good quality.

Yeah, really nice.

And then after lunch go back up to Dishwuff, do some more tests around there.

Yeah.

So heading then towards Pateley Bridge with a few more regularities.

Yeah.

They've got a test down at Pateley Bridge and at the show ground at the showground there.

Well, that's big enough, isn't it?

It is.

It's a nice.

It's a good little test.

Yeah.

There's not much you can do with it because of the way that it's laid out.

Yeah.

But you know, we've done what we can.

Yeah.

Then from there the they'll climb up the hill to the quarry at Coldstones.

Yeah.

Last year were really wet, just pouring down with rain, fog.

I don't think anyone really see where they were going.

But they get to run that twice and then head up back towards the Otley direction.

Yeah.

And do another regularity before finishing at Otley Golf Club.

Yeah.

Where there'll be trip with a nice cavalry and hopefully get warmed up.

If it is a cold day I have book sunshine, but you never know.

Now the actual tests are they, are they speed orientated tests?

So the tests, the maximum Average speed is 30 miles an hour.

Yeah.

And we have got maneuvers throughout the test so they change direction, do 360s slaloms just to bring that speed down.

I tried to keep them flowing as possible so all the cars get to, you know, enjoy a little bit of both.

A bit of technical driving, bit of foot down driving.

Yeah.

Dish of Fairfield is massive.

It's such a vast area.

I competed there myself on the Cleveronium.

Oh yeah.

Tiger Rally.

It were fantastic.

And then when I went to go recce it for the jubilee, I was shocked at how much space were left.

It was just like I was going to do a couple of little tests here and there, but then it's like well, I've got all that I can use, all this I can use.

So, yeah, we.

I've planned the test to use as much as it.

Of the airfield as I possibly can.

Yeah.

But also keeping in mind that 30 miles per hour average speed, so they've got to get from A to B as fast as they possibly can.

Yeah.

And get in the right route.

If they get the wrong route, it's a.

It's a wrong test and then they get penalized for that.

So, yeah, they have got to just take the time, get it right.

But hopefully there's, you know, enough in there just to keep that speed down at the same time.

Now, the other thing you were talking about, and I've done this on a lot of the events that I've done in Europe.

Regularity.

And regularity is.

Well, you explain it.

It had to be explained to me because it took me ages to get into this.

You're not the only one.

I come from a tiger background.

Yeah.

I'm not really an expert on.

On historic events or regularities.

Yeah.

I was supposed to be coach this year on Clerk of the Car, Clerk of the Course, but unfortunately, Ian Mitchell did pass away.

Yeah.

In January.

I have got a great team and people who are very experienced, so they're teaching me as I go along.

Yeah.

But basically it's all about sticking to the correct speed.

Yeah.

So you'll get to a control, you'll check in with your Marshall at your due time and off you go and you'll be told what speed to set off at.

So it might be 27 miles an hour and then your instruction might say, when you get to the national speed limit sign, drop your speed to 22 miles an hour.

Yeah.

And then you might get to a gate post and it'll say, up your speed to 29.

Yeah.

So you've got to average speed on.

On the correct route.

Yeah.

And you'll then get to a control that you don't know where it is.

It's a secret control, basically.

And you've got to use your speed tables, your trip, your clocks, absolutely everything.

Multitasking.

Well, plotting how the navigators do it.

I honestly don't know because I'm all right and navigated, but I'm not the best.

I know when I. I mean, when I did a lot of the big European events with a late friend of mine, Ian, who had a collection of ex works 911s, we used to alternate the driving and he used to leave me to the circuits a lot and various other bits.

And pieces.

But the regularity.

He used to say, you're lousy at this.

I said, I know.

And when I tried.

You're trying to drive or I was trying to drive an ex works car at 20 odd mile an hour or kilometers an hour because we were abroad and you're trying to drive and keep an eye on your speedo and everything else and listen through your headsets.

Slow down, slow down.

You think, well, I can't go any slower in this damn thing.

It's going to conquer.

It really is a fascinating thing.

And the other thing you used to see occasionally was it's like you said, the controls are secret.

You don't know where the little buggers have been put.

There'll be a queue of cars all crawling forward because on some of them in Europe you're not allowed to stop.

That's correct, yeah.

So wheels, providing the wheels are turning just.

And then all of a sudden they'll accelerate because they then get there on their time.

That's correct.

And is it the same thing on this event?

Yeah, it pretty much is, yeah.

The navigator's got a, a job to do.

And it's a table for these things, is there?

There is.

It's a speed table.

So down one side it'll have increments of mileages and next to it it'll have the time.

Yeah.

So one page will be for 26 miles an hour, next page 27 and so on.

So then what they do is they're looking at the trip and looking at the speed table and then looking at the time.

So.

But all them three things I've got to, got to match up.

And one of the things is, you know, you can't, you cannot stop in, in light inside line of sight of the control.

Yeah.

Because you get penalized for it.

So you will then if you don't know where these controls are, you might end up just being a bit too up to.

In front or a little bit behind.

So the last.

So when you see that control you're even going to speed up and get into it as quick as you can.

Yeah.

Or.

Or you're going to slow down and crawl into it and get, get the time that you need.

So it's a.

It, it's good, it's very skillful.

Is.

Is regularity.

I've only done a couple of events which have been incorporated to Tagas in Scotland with my wife and we were doing it and we did really, really poorly on the first couple of regularities.

It's first time I did it.

Yeah.

And after that I just stuck at an average, said put the speed about 30 and we're not going to worry about the speed changes.

Yeah, we're new to this.

Just stick at 30 and we're not going to go far.

We didn't.

Because when you stop for a carboard, you're not just losing that, you know, you're stopping, then you're resetting off and you've dropped, you know, maybe 20, 30 seconds on the clock.

So then you've got to build that time back up.

But I sort of worked out, well, we'll 20 here, 27 there, 20.

I said just stick at 30.

So with all the stops.

Yeah, we were actually getting within the control, within sort of 10, 12 seconds.

Yeah, it worked for us as beginners.

And it's just a case of trying your best to stay somewhere near where the timings, if that's what you're out for.

But if you're not on the right route, there's no point even looking at the clock.

So you need to make sure you go in the right direction to start with.

As soon as you know you're going on the right route, then look at the clocks and work, you know, work that way.

That's, I mean, I did try that, stick to a speed, all these various speeds.

And I used to say, well, if we stick, if I can drive this thing, let's say.

Because of course I was driving a Continental, a European car.

I saw me speedo was in kilometers.

But I say if I stick at 30 kilometers an hour.

Yeah, we have to slow down for certain cores.

Even at 30.

Yeah.

And everything else, if I stick at that, it's going to average itself out somewhere along the lines.

Absolutely.

And apart from the odd one where I used to get told just slow down just a little bit.

Yeah, you weren't far out.

No, that's, that's what I found as well.

Personally.

Yeah, I just, I feel like rather than being, trying to be too, too good at it.

Yeah.

As a complete novice, when I first started, we just average speed at 30 and it worked.

Yeah, we didn't win, but it got somewhere near.

And then it was, you know, the test in between that I were interested in.

I'm foot to the floor guy.

I absolutely love, you know, speed and, and drifting on gravel and all that kind of thing.

That's, that's my cup of tea.

But it's, it's technical, is regularities and the, the top navigators who drop no time or one or two seconds.

I often wonder how the hell they do it.

So do I, I really do.

I'd love someone to sit next to me who's got that capability and go out and show me what to do.

I mean, another member of the Ugly is.

Well, he's been on the show.

Ian Tully.

Yes.

And he's an absolute maestro at this.

I mean, when he enters an event, he expects to win.

Yes.

And most of the time he does.

Yeah.

I believe Ian's been doing it a very long time, doing various, you know, events and working for different companies and everything motorsport related.

So again, it comes with experience.

I believe the more you do it, the more and pick up tips and how to do things, make things easier.

Yeah.

But yeah, Ian, it is done really, you know, big events and regularities over three, four days.

Yeah.

Well, it's like a full time job now, isn't it?

I mean, he's all over the world doing these types of events.

Yes, I believe so, yeah.

All very nice.

It certainly is.

So what type of.

I mean, it's called the Historic Rally.

What type of cars do you get in and how many of them are there?

So this year, originally The Jubilee had 90 entries.

Yeah.

Then Ian took over and I think it went down to 60.

Yeah.

So I thought this year I'm gonna.

No reflection on either.

Absolutely not.

No, I think it was more to the, the time constraints that.

Yeah.

Ian had on certain parts of the route.

But this year I thought, you know what, it's my first time, I'm gonna go for it.

Yeah.

And I said, let's do 90 entries.

I didn't expect to get 90 entries.

Yeah.

Entries opened 24 hours later we had 90 entries.

I will gobsmacked.

The, the response was amazing.

Yeah, it was really, really good.

Well, I must put it in.

If an event is run by a known club, which the Oakley is, and it's known to be a good club and a good event, you will get your entries.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's what I need to try and do is, you know, make sure I've put on a good quality event that everyone enjoys.

Yeah, I think it is.

There's a good variety, you know, within the event.

There's some very simple bits and there's some a bit more tricky bits.

Yeah, it gets a result at the end of the day.

I think it's a very balanced event.

The.

So the Jubilee's got three events.

Basically.

We've got the Jubilee Historic, which is the main big event.

There's the Run, which does Saturday night and Sunday, but they get a road book yeah, they don't have to plot.

And then the beginners class that I've already mentioned on the Sunday so the entries filled up in no time.

Got the reserves.

Absolutely.

You know, great response.

Yeah.

The, the type of cars that were we've got on the entry list mainly are historic.

Yeah.

We haven't got many modern cars at all.

There's a very select few.

But there's a massive range of cars on there.

Plenty of Ford Escorts.

They're always alright.

Always.

Absolutely always is.

But it, it is such a, a crazy entry when you go through it and look at the different type of cars and people who's entered.

I think it's a really, really good mix.

Yeah.

And I wouldn't want to say I was going to win it this year because there is some really good names on there.

Yeah.

So besides the Escorts, what else do we have knocking about?

There's a bit of all sorts.

I'm.

I'm trying to think exactly what's on the.

The entry list.

I should have checked before I came but there's I believe a couple like MX5.

So the more modern, modern cars and then there's plenty of Mark ones and Mark 2 escorts on there.

Any of my favorites, the 911s.

I'm not 100 certain if you've seen one on there.

I'll be honest, you can't have an historic and not a 911.

I think there was last year.

I'm pretty sure there was.

So I've been that, that sort of busy and left the entry side to our amazing entry secretary.

I've not really like really gone into detail.

I've looked at names and the cars I've just sort of scanned down but not really taking it in to be honest.

Yeah.

But there is an absolute huge array of cars coming out over the weekend.

So how many miles will they cover in total?

So on the Saturday we're expecting to cover around 50 miles.

Yeah.

That's the night time, that's the nighttime bit.

I think nine of those is on Brahmin itself.

Yeah.

So they've got plenty of time in there.

Plenty of tricky little places to.

To find.

But if they follow the map to the tee.

Yeah, they can't go far wrong.

Yeah.

Then Sunday I used to get told.

That didn't always work.

I did it last year as chief Marshal and I'd never been to Brahman before the first time and we set off and I was reading the map saying, right, we're down here, we're turning a left and we got There the junction looked nothing like the map.

Yeah.

And we went wrong.

Yeah.

So we ended up getting lost as chief Marshall going around to check everything and eventually if I moved got going a little bit further and the next minute these spotlights are in the rear view mirror.

Yeah I think and that's.

There should be no one behind me just yet.

It were all the Car Zero managed to catch me up so luckily I pulled over and Car Zero went past and we just followed him.

Yeah, the venue.

So it is a tricky place and you know such a.

As long as you're counting the, the sort of tracks that you're passing.

Yeah that's the best way to do it.

And the again the top navigators they know how to measure the maps and they get a distance so that they're.

A lot of it's distance and timing isn't it?

I mean the oldest say.

I mean it was one of my favorite things to get wrong when I was sat in the co driver's seat which is why I said I spent most of my time behind a wheel.

Yeah.

Oh, there's a junction here, turn left.

Is it the right distance from the last one?

Well I don't know.

Well there's a great big red clock in front thing in front of you giving bright red numbers out.

What's that say?

Oh no it isn't.

Thank you.

Like I don't know how they do it.

You know on the Roma there's sort of a guide on there.

I think it's one and a half squares is approximately a mile on the map and I sort of use my, my thumb but if I'm doing it quickly and I use my thumb and it, that distance between my nail and the, the bend sort of tell me that I'm there.

So that's a mile and I try and sort of just give the driver an idea when I've navigated but yeah we do.

We cover 50 miles on the Saturday night and then Sunday we go to roughly 150 miles.

That's including the transports, the tests.

Yeah everything.

So over the weekend it's just sub 200 miles.

All right.

So quite, quite a big event.

Well 200 over split all I know it's not an even split but that's not too bad.

That's relatively easy going into it.

Yeah, I'd say so.

It should be difficult enough to keep them all entertained, shouldn't it?

Yes.

Fingers crossed.

I've driven the route now four or five times.

Yeah.

Being out double checking things and as I mentioned it's Got such a different array of things in there.

So some of it is, oh, this is a little bit boring, you know, the, the roads, there's nothing special about it.

Yeah.

And then you get to a bit and, oh, this is really fantastic.

Yeah.

And I've tried to just do the balance.

So the beginners get a good chance, the experts get a good chance, everyone gets to enjoy it.

Yeah.

With the way that the, you know, the venues that we've got, so Bramham, Dishworth, Pateley, there's only certain ways that you can go on roads.

Yeah.

You've got to avoid as many villages you can.

Some you've got to go through.

There's no choice, you know, you, you've got to get where you need to be.

So we've, I've tried to plan it where, you know, we bring the speed right back when we're going through villages.

Yeah.

And when they're out the other side, you know, the average speed goes up again.

So, yeah, there's plenty to keep them on the toes.

Yeah.

And all the locals are quite happy about this, aren't they?

So the PR work is literally starting this, this next week.

Yeah.

From the previous events, we've had a fantastic response.

We do get the occasional sort of people, you know, a little bit worried.

Yeah.

You say.

Well, I think the thing is, it's like ear the word rally and everybody thinks it's Sebastian lobbing a WRC car airborne at 140 mile an hour.

That's it.

No, as soon as he's kind of explained to them, you know, you're gonna have these amazing historic cars coming past your house and they're gonna probably doing 20 miles an hour.

They're on a regularity event.

It's not a closed road, you know, the public are still coming down the roads.

Yeah.

Everything is set, you know, according to what, what the roads like.

You've got to be sensible.

If it's an open marlin road, then you know the average speed will be 30 miles an hour.

Yeah.

If it's going through a village, it's going to be 15.

Yeah, it's been sensible.

But you need to explain to the residents on the route, they're coming past your house at 20.

Yeah.

But there's going to be 90 cars, so it's an hour and a half.

And the response we usually get, fantastic.

What time, we tell them what time they've come out in the wave, all the cruise past and they enjoy it, they get involved with the event Sometimes, you know, people that are not happy and we do as best to either reroute or reassure them what's going on.

We might even put a marshall outside their house.

Yeah.

And some visibility that, you know, the cars are not going to be coming past you at silly speeds and there's nothing to worry about.

But overall, I would say it's 99 positive from all the PR work that we do.

Well, I know on some of the navigation rallies, I do, you get told it'll be in the notes.

Please know, 20 miles per hour.

Yes.

If your car is noisy, do not rev it up.

Yeah.

And just basically just tootle through the village.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We.

We do put plenty of stuff in the.

The final instructions and in the route, the road books and the plotting.

And it'll basically tell the crews about quiet zones, which.

A quiet zone starts usually before a PR sensitive area.

Yeah.

It might be, you know, a farmyard and they've got children or a village.

Yeah.

And it's just slow down, don't be revving your engines.

Code through as quietly and as smoothly as possible.

We use a highway code and we relax, give way junctions.

So on rallies, you normally stop at a giveaway, but, you know, just treat it as a highway code.

Yeah.

If it's clear, pull out, avoid that stopping and starting.

Yeah.

Sometimes, you know, rallies can be an inconvenience to, to residents on the route.

Yeah.

And we, we don't want to disrupt their day and we want, you know, the relative flow nicely as possible.

Yeah.

But, yeah, nine times out of ten, we, we, we have a very good response and a lot of the residents on route are very supportive of the event.

Yeah.

We also do a very, you know, donate quite a bit to charities.

Yeah.

This year it's the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Yeah.

A couple of the test venues, they just ask us to make a donation to them on their behalf.

Yeah.

And we have like the Marshall Fund involved, so the marshals get goodie bags on the, on the night and we do like a prize draw after the event.

So we try and, you know, do everything right.

Carbon offsetting is one of them.

We do.

We do his best to please everybody and keep everyone on the right side and show rallying in the good light.

Yeah.

You know what it actually is now,.

It's the marshalling that brought this interview about.

Have you got the number of marshals you want?

So we're looking approximately about 80 teams of marshals.

We say teams because we like a minimum of two home controls.

Yeah.

One doing the check sheet and one doing the clock.

Yeah.

But it's not just about clocks.

We've got gates that need covering on Broman park and it's just a case of stood at a gate making sure that the life sock is going nowhere near it or.

Yeah.

There's sort of the.

The town square winning marshals there to just make sure the public safe.

Yeah.

Direct traffic car park marshals looking at a corner on a test.

Make sure the cars go to the right side or the left side, whichever you know, the room tells them to do.

And don't touch it.

Yeah, that is one.

So there's so many different roles as a marshal and you don't need experience.

We've got such a good team of experienced marshals.

We compare people up.

Yeah.

This event is a non spectator event.

All right.

Apart from the market square.

Yeah.

Where you know, people go down, see the cars etc, so we don't really give out information where the, the routes go in.

Apart from to, you know, the residents on the Roots.

Yeah.

So it is non spectator.

So if you want to come and see cars sliding around cones and doing 360s, sign up as a marshall, go to a test site and you get to see all the action.

Right.

You know, you can get your Motorsport UK Marshall license online.

Is really straightforward.

Yeah.

And we compare you up with people, if you're not quite sure what you're doing, you don't have to have a critical, you know, clocks and sort of intricate marshalling job.

So yeah, approximately 80, 80 sort of sets of marshals we need.

I believe we're on 60 at the moment, so.

So we're almost there.

Yeah.

And Jonathan, who's our chief marshal this year, has done an absolute amazing job and I believe there's a big push coming out over social media over the next sort of week or so.

Sort of from doing it myself.

Chief Marshall, all your numbers come in a month before the event and then two weeks before.

That's when everyone starts firing your emails.

Cuz people are busy.

Yeah.

And we understand that you might be committed to something else.

Something might, you know, we have had competitors withdraw from the event because of problems and they're offered to Marshall.

Yeah.

So I understand people, you know, they've got commitments or they can't commit till last minute, but as soon as you know they are available, get in touch and we'll find you somewhere to be.

And you get a free orange vest.

Not anymore, I don't believe.

I think you can request one from Motorsport uk but it doesn't come as standard anymore as far as what I've been told.

Yeah.

So they need a suggestion that needs to wear a bright colored jacket.

Yeah.

Most marshals are dressed in orange or something quite jazzy.

That's it.

Something nice and bright.

Yeah.

Especially for Saturday night when you know the cars are coming at you in the dark.

They can see you, they know where you are.

We do have a massive supply of high visors available.

Yeah.

I'll be carried in the Chief Marshall car.

Yeah.

So if you don't have one, we'll give you one.

It's not a problem.

And it'll have Hilton back of it, won't it?

I think most of them have got some.

Some form of branding on there that I believe there's all sorts of, you know, they've just been accumulated over the years.

This Pirelli Rally I've seen in the box and all sorts.

There's all sorts of branding on the high visas now.

No spectators.

I conclude that's in many ways due to insurance more than anything else.

Cuz pulling an event on the insurance, even something quite mild, it's quite expensive these days, isn't it?

So it's all handled through Motorsport uk is the insurance through the permits and various ways.

Yeah.

And I believe it's more due to the time and the planning of spectator plans.

Yeah.

And where.

Where can we send them?

So such as using dish for fits.

It's mod.

Yeah.

They don't want spectators all over their venue.

Yeah.

For obvious reasons.

But such as Bramham, you know, they're used to big public events and I thought about this on the way down here today.

Yeah.

And I'm.

I'm offering to do the event again here next year.

I really did want to.

If you're listening, Sheena, to.

You've got.

He's back on.

Next year I would look at possibly doing some spectators at Bramham.

Yeah.

It's not confirmed.

I need to speak to them and speak to the team but I think it will be great for people to be able to go in and watch.

And I think, you know my idea.

What a fiver a car in.

Yeah.

It all gets donated to the auction.

Ambulance.

Yeah, something like that.

And I suppose you could put.

You could choose the actual test and put all the spectators in one place basically.

Yeah.

I know it's a bit horrible being corralled in, but it's a case of, well, if you don't do it that way you ain't going to get to watch.

That's it.

Yes, absolutely.

And Brahman's got like really nice big fields in the middle which we could easily tape off and they could go in the middle.

So, yeah, you know, there's a big four road all the way around it on the field.

They can stand in either corner and they'll get to see, you know, cars coming from different angles, etc.

It was just an idea I've had.

My team might just say, absolutely not, it's too much work.

But it was just a thought that I had on the way down here because I love going to watch rallies personally.

You know, going to watch the track rod on Dolby in the dark.

Yeah, it's, it's what an experience.

The noise, the smell, the, you know, the cars, the lights.

And I think, you know, being a bit more local to where we're based in, in ole Bramham's only 20, 30 minute drive and people might want to come and watch, bring the kids, etc.

So I think it's just an idea for, for the future and hopefully we can do something to, to allow that.

I mean, to go back to the marshalling.

The beauty of marshalling is you get to be actively involved in motorsport without the inherent cost of motorsport, don't you?

Abso.

Yeah.

You come out, you marshall, you normally get a goodie bag.

I know we're doing them this year.

And then on the Sunday the marshals are invited back to the golf club for a carver a meal.

Yeah.

So, you know, we'll try and keep your fed and water as much as we can.

Yeah.

While seeing these amazing cars close up.

Yeah, you can see, you know, speak to the navigators.

If you're doing secret checks and stuff.

It's not, you know, having to worry about working a clock.

They are simple to work at the clocks.

Yeah.

But if you just don't want that pressure or you, you're brand new to it and you just, you know, want to take someone coming past you.

You can do it, but you're next to the car, you know, side of the road.

Yeah, it's, it's really good experience.

Yeah.

And it's giving up your time to something you love and yeah, you get to see it and you don't have to pay any money.

You know, you've got a little bit of petrol money to travel to where you need to be.

Yeah, but that's it.

Yeah, you get to see the cars literally next year.

Yeah, well, the time controls, I mean, in many ways it's a matter of making a note on an official form of what time the car has arrived.

That's it.

Yeah.

It's not rocket science.

No.

So the cars pull up and there's a button on the clock which the Marshall press once and that's the time that the car's stopped at the control.

Yeah.

Marshall, take the clipboard off the navigator, write down their time on the time card.

Yeah.

We're using liege clock.

So it's got like a little chip.

Yeah.

And you just literally chip it to the clock and it stores all the data on the chips.

Yeah.

And then the results team get all that data a lot faster.

Competitors don't have to wait six, seven hours for results.

Yeah, they're pretty much instant.

You know, we're using rally routes this year, you know, producers, the results really, really quickly.

Although you did mention them.

Are you using core boards?

Core boards will be used on Bramham and on some of the tests, not particularly on the road sections.

There might be one or two.

Yeah, but.

But my plan, I'm hoping we get enough marshals and to put a Marshall there instead.

All right.

And it'll be just a squiggly in a box.

Yeah.

And it's just so I know they've gone the right way around the triangles.

Yeah.

So that's a clue for the.

For the navigators there.

There's a few not as maps and it's just, you know, going the long way around and it's just.

I want to make sure they've gone the right way.

Yeah.

I believe that core boards are getting less, you know, used less and less and less on these type of events or being told.

So there's not hundreds, you know, they don't need to be looking for them.

They're not going to be hidden.

Yeah.

They're going to be in plain sight.

They've got to have an advanced board now so they know that something's coming up.

It's all right.

I think it's 100 meters before they get to that board.

There's got to be something to say.

There's one around this corner.

Yeah.

So that's why I'm trying to put a Marshall there instead.

Because when they come around the corner, they see an advanced board, they know something around that the next corner there's going to be something here.

And it might be just a little sort of come off the main road, back onto the main road, lay by.

Yeah.

And it gives away the route a little bit.

Even though they get rid in the route instructions, you don't know what you're expecting until.

But if you get an advance, it's a notice.

It's like around this corner, there's going to be something Here.

So we're avoiding.

Trying to avoid core boards as much as possible.

If there is going to be any used, there's going to be probably a maximum of five on the road sections.

Yeah.

But there will be plenty in Bramham just again to.

Well, they have to write them down.

Just write them down.

Yes.

So the time card, it's just one time card and the boxes will be there so they don't have to flip over to a cardboard page like.

Yeah.

On night rallies when there's 60, 70 cobars, it's quite straightforward.

Just jot down it's going to be a registration plate.

Nothing, you know, difficult to read, I hope.

So what time does it all start?

If somebody wants to go and watch this event, as we say it again, it takes place on Saturday the 24th and Sunday the 25th of October.

But what time does it start?

What time can people go to Offley to actually start watching it all get together?

So they will be arriving at the market square from half past five.

Right.

And the first car leaves at six o'.

Clock.

So the cars get roughly half an hour in the market square just to again get out, speak to people, get some atmosphere going.

Yeah, we're open for like, you know, a really nice buzz, everyone to enjoy it prior to that.

So they will collect the route.

I think it's about halfast four.

Yeah.

So they get a good hour to plot the Saturday night route before they get to the market square.

So then they get to enjoy it.

Yeah, I know some navigators will.

I.

We're going to set drivers with not a navigators walk.

There's still Sapphic Cor trying to plott it all out.

They will, I think so will be still sat in the car.

Even if they've plotted it, they'll be checking it, double checking it and making their.

Their night as easy as possible, I would have thought.

Yeah.

But again, I've tried to plan it in that way so they can enjoy it if they want to.

If the plotting, it's fairly straightforward, there's no tricks in there.

It's herringbones crossing grid lines, that kind of thing.

Yeah.

Grid references, avoiding black spots.

So it should be.

How many maps do they carry?

Four maps this year.

All right, so it's 99, 100, 104, 105.

Yeah.

Some of the maps you use a tiny little bit, it's barely worth having in the car.

But you do need it if you want to go the right way.

Because some of it's, you know, plot and bash.

You'll get to the control, get your instructions, off you go.

And then some of it is sort of pre plotted but you need the maps, the historic guys need the maps.

Yeah.

To be able to plot.

Everyone else have a road book and a marked map.

So they, they're a bit more, I.

Mean that's the one thing.

OS maps used to be easy to get.

I don't know where you buy them now.

I mean I have a cupboard full of them upstairs.

That's it.

Yeah.

I mean where do you get an OS map from?

Now I conclude it's something you have to buy online.

I get mine from online.

Yeah.

A company called Dash for it is who I use.

Yeah.

And I literally, I have got a cupboard full as well.

They've got that many scribbles on from my mistakes from navigating up and down roads and try to figure out where I'm going.

But I ordered some brand new ones.

There were a couple of bits on the plotting because I use the online core plotting software to, to do the route which is fantastic.

It's really easy to use.

But when you come to do the navigation the competitors are going to have physical maps in front of them.

You've got to make sure it matches.

Yeah.

So I bought all brand new up to date maps and check the plotting against that.

So yeah, you basically use websites to buy them nowadays.

I think wh may still do buy them but yeah, the price difference is it's quite, quite a bit.

Especially when you're buying a few.

There's something nice about a map.

There is.

Yeah.

I spend a lot of time sort of preparing mine, you know coloring all the.

Yeah the spot eyes and the grid lines and adding extra lines here and there.

A lot of people, they do, they spend hours sort of preparing the maps when they're replaced them and when you get plot and bash navigation.

Yeah.

It's so much easier to pick out if you've highlighted all your spot heights.

Yeah.

You can find them easier.

Yeah.

If it's a fresh clean brand new map and you try and find something, it's near enough impossible.

Well the trouble is the time as well.

You're moving, aren't you?

Yes.

Yeah.

Anything you can do for the left hand seat in that car?

Well, the navigator seat.

Yeah.

Anything you can do to help you on the event, do it.

Yeah.

The more preparation you do for yourself, the easier it becomes.

Yeah.

I've learned that after the road valley on a brand new map, nothing colored in and it's like I can't find this spot and it was so simple and normal, you know, since then.

I've highlighted everything on my maps.

I'm able to pull in any sponsors we have.

We've got plenty of sponsors this year.

So Crossley Evans, who's supported the event for the last four or five years.

Yeah, it been fantastic.

It drives the Clock.

Clock car every year.

So continued to part there.

Absolutely amazing.

We've got rally results on board this year, which is my company, so I've sponsored it as well this year.

Yeah, we've used it for the Marshall, signed it up.

Etc.

We've got Strasse, which is Porsche in Leeds.

All right.

So they're sponsoring us this year and they're doing a surprise gift.

No, the, the Chief Marshal has secured this but they're not telling us what it is.

Yeah.

So that's going to be very interesting coming from them.

Yeah.

And they're also supplying all of the Marshall goodie bags.

Right.

So, you know, very nice from them.

So Porsche are involving strata.

I believe so, yeah.

I'm hoping I've got that right.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have got it right.

And then we've got Andrew Fish, very well known competitor.

Yeah.

Also, you know, looked after the event, sponsored the event for many, many years.

Yeah.

We've got Paul Wild, who's Otley Jetting.

He's supplying the scrutiny of an area.

Yeah.

And sort of where the cars will be parking up, etc.

It's going to be out on the.

On the days, you know, sweeping the venues for us.

Yeah.

Which is, you know, fantastic.

Holland Hill cars.

They've again been with the event three, four years now.

Yeah.

Sponsoring us.

So loads of people, you know, getting involved, which is fantastic.

Yeah.

It's amazing how many people support events.

And well, I conclude a lot of them will be at the start, so the public can go and actually have a look at what they do, type of thing.

Hopefully.

Yes.

This coming week we have got some sort of posts for social media and it's who our sponsors are.

Yeah.

And it'll show the logo, the website and who they are and what to do.

Yeah.

So that's coming out this week.

You know, we have got other sponsors.

Oh, I haven't mentioned.

Absolutely.

You know, great response.

Year on year coming back and saying, you know, yes, I'll, I'll sponsor the event and we've got their logos on our website.

So, you know, you can bob on to oakland motorclub.org.uk click on the Jubilee section and everything's on there.

You get to know about the event, the timing, the time schedule, Marshall links are on there, the regs, you know, entry lists go on the website, everything is on there.

If you want to know anything about the, you know, the event and the sponsors that we have got.

But we, we do plan this week to send you know a post a week leading up to event.

This is us sponsor.

This is what they do.

Yeah, give them a, a follow, you know, get on the website and have a look and see what they do and if you need to use them please do so.

The thing to do is if you're not competing and not marshalling is get yourself to otley Marketplace for 5:30 on Saturday 24th October.

That's correct.

And enjoy yourself.

Joe Balinson, it's been a pleasure chatting to you.

Thanks very much for joining me on the back seat.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Much.