by beowulf » Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:50 am
I don't know if it was this Tarmac Rally but I used to do emergency fencing on these rallies. I would follow through the special stages in a J1C2 Bedford light truck with a load of fencing gear, wire netting, standards, battens and so on. Enough to patch a fence and make it stock proof until the next day and the fencing gang turned up to make a more permanent repair. I would also note where the hole was and what was needed to fix it, and how the farmer was. Quite often they preferred to fix it themselves. That Bedford certainly new how to drink petrol, but it was a pretty reliable old girl, if bloody uncomfortable.
One hole still stands out. It was just out of Tirau, the road went under some pine trees, was damp with pine needles all over it plus a setting sun as you came around a corner. There was about 200 yards (this was before metres came in) of fencing gone. Posts, battens, wire just a mess in the paddock, lots of skid marks and no cars. The farmer was milking when I caught up with him. Happy as a sand boy, reckoned he hadn't had so much fun since his honeymoon. He had spent most of the afternoon helping get the cars out. Don't worry about the fence it was rooted anyway, he would put up a new one. Great guy, I recomended that he got a letter of thanks.
There was a lot of damage in those tarmac rallies, drivers didn't seem to realise how much quicker they were going on tarseal in cars that were set up for gravel.
I don't know if it was this Tarmac Rally but I used to do emergency fencing on these rallies. I would follow through the special stages in a J1C2 Bedford light truck with a load of fencing gear, wire netting, standards, battens and so on. Enough to patch a fence and make it stock proof until the next day and the fencing gang turned up to make a more permanent repair. I would also note where the hole was and what was needed to fix it, and how the farmer was. Quite often they preferred to fix it themselves. That Bedford certainly new how to drink petrol, but it was a pretty reliable old girl, if bloody uncomfortable.
One hole still stands out. It was just out of Tirau, the road went under some pine trees, was damp with pine needles all over it plus a setting sun as you came around a corner. There was about 200 yards (this was before metres came in) of fencing gone. Posts, battens, wire just a mess in the paddock, lots of skid marks and no cars. The farmer was milking when I caught up with him. Happy as a sand boy, reckoned he hadn't had so much fun since his honeymoon. He had spent most of the afternoon helping get the cars out. Don't worry about the fence it was rooted anyway, he would put up a new one. Great guy, I recomended that he got a letter of thanks.
There was a lot of damage in those tarmac rallies, drivers didn't seem to realise how much quicker they were going on tarseal in cars that were set up for gravel.