Thanks to all of you who participated in the Chilhowee Mountain Double Cross. If you followed the directions you crossed the mountain twice and you doubled back on your tracks, viewing (or confusing) other MINI contestants twice. The results are below:

The Pack Mule class had one contestant. The original pack mule from last year who began the class.....Morgan (Doby_Element) and Crissy in the Toaster....ah, ermm Honda Element. With time and question points they scored 120 for 1st Place.

Phil (Philty) toured in his classic Mini with no navigator and still managed to answer half the questions correctly and scored 85 for 1st Place.

The bulk of the contestants were in the new MINI class.
Matt (Miniwildcat, I think) and his navigator Greg (aka Snoopy from Australia) took 1st Place by doing equally good on time and answers with score of 205.
2nd Place went to Jim(GAMini) and Kelly from Atlanta with 200 points.
3rd Place went to Chad and Sarah, from MI? with 190.

We also ran a small class with those using NAV or GPS. I don't really know if it helps to use it but I assume it can't hurt. 1st Place went to Loren and Eric from MI for the second year in a row with 215 points, the overall high score. Their time was 13 seconds off. If you are curious as to what it takes to win 2 years in a row, I stole a picture from their dragon photo album. See below.
I am now too scared of them to write another rally next year.



2nd Place went to James and Scott.
3rd Place was Steve (stever) and Patty
Sorry guys, I forgot to get where you were from.

Several people asked me about their scores. If I didn't have my clipboard and wasn't able to answer you, just email or PM and I will be glad to give you your results. Thanks again for playing.

Donna

 

Wow, Donna....this piccie is awesome! Way to go, guys!!!


Clover

 

Woah! So thats what those stop watches were for! I got a glance of them on the Caravan down there, but didn't know why they were there.

 

I was going to do an un-timed rally so people could do it whenever they wanted within a certain time frame. I am really glad I didn't as I would have had two unhappy customers.

 

Thanks QueenBee We had a great time.
Patty & I are from West Chester, PA

Representing PhillyMini

 

Ok, how do the stop watches help, when you don't know how long it's supposed to take?

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. Somehow I think that those with stopwatches must have had "inside information" on the target time.

Not to mention that I and several others SWEAR that we were driving at the speed limit constantly (with very minor "speed up" adjustments where necessary), and we came in 10 or 11 minutes late? I'm sorry, I feel there's just no way that someone could complete the course in the correct time and never break the speed limit.

I'm not upset, I had a great weekend... I just felt like somehow, in some way, something wasn't right. I didn't think my team would win anyway because we missed a couple of the clues.

 

My car didn't do the "Rally", we drove the Cherolla drive, and I can tell you the best race we saw all weekend was between two ladies running up the steep, grassy slope to the restrooms. No stopwatches were used in this event, so I don't have the final time results.

 

And a couple of cookies!

But I'm sure that only accounted for a couple of our +11 minutes late... I too think you had to be breaking the speed limit to get in with 11 minutes to spare. We used cruise control nearly the whole time!

Win or lose, the rally was a ton of fun!

 

I just had to mention that several of us were unable to finish the rally because we stopped to stay with cooperphile & his wife after the accident they had during the rally. Gary & I had the only working cell phone & were able to call MINI USA & arrange for the flat bed. They fortunately were not injured. So a big to the other people who stopped or stayed to help.

Lois

 

It is very scientific. Say for instance for a stage you were to do 30mph for 10 miles. You know that 10miles at 30mph is 20min, so at the end of 10miles if your stopwatch says 18min, then you have 2min to spare somewhere else on the course.

I would also bet they had at least one calculator.

Search the web for TSD rallies, you will find all the info you need.

Steve

 

See, that explains a lot, the scientific way. But it's also contradictory to the statement that Donna made at the start, where she drove it three times and averaged the times. Because calculating it scientific is in no way a "real world" measurement, and if coming in with the perfect scientific time was the goal, then the "averaged actual times" thing sounds pretty bogus.

Case in point: There were several very windy parts where the limit was 30 or 35. Around those very tight hairpin bends, it was near impossible to maintain the speed limit throughout the turn without risking crossing lanes or even running off the road. Real world measurement... slower than the limit. Scientific, no account for that.

Same goes for traffic, etc. I do realize how incredibly difficult it is to organize a "fair" rally while still maintaining the speed limit as the goal... because in a perfect world, the roads would have been closed off, with safety barriers to prevent serious accidents, and we could have gone as fast as we wanted, with shorter times being the goal. :smile:

This, however, is not a perfect world, and I realize that. Thanks for the clarity though Steve, because my strategy just changed (drastically!) for next year's rally!

 

Those were lucky stopwatches

The real world element is why I did the average of three trips. Those trips were done at approximately the same time of day the rally was scheduled so I also had to deal with traffic. I DID get one perfectly clear run. It had an impact on the time. I also used the avg mph computer on the car but the terrain does sometimes make it difficult to make up enough time if you got behind something slow.

Last year I calculated mathematically and someone could just sit by the side of the road and wait on a perfect time. The correct time was worth 125 pts, the questions 100 and the bonus points 50. A more serious rally would have check points along the way with scoring adjustments for the time you arrive at the check point.

Thanks to those who stayed behind to help the Rogersons with their car. The MINI community is full of wonderful people.

 

It was so nice talking to you (wish it was under better circumstances). We had totally LOST the rally before we stopped to help! Even with the Onboard computer and my nav being a computer genius, I'm afraid we were toast!

 

It was nice meeting and talking with you, and your husband, Minimom, and her husband too! I just wish it was under better circumstances.

And I think we had lost the rally long before we stopped, too.

 

You three couples are winners in my book. Thanks for staying behind and helping out.

 

Same here We had missed a few signs & our time was all off because we had got behind some slow moving locals. In fact, I think that's how we all got bunched together. BTW, my hubby is from Columbus, Ohio. Hope to see you next year

Lois

 

Hi everyone,

(NOTE: Prepare for a long post!:smile: )

I was surprised to stumble across this thread tonight because I didn't think there would be an official post for the rally results. First off, and I apologize to you Donna (Queen B) for not being able to find you after the Chili Cookoff, but I wanted to personally thank you for your hard work and dedication in making this years rally a success. I know we mentioned this to you already, but Eric and I love taking part in events like this. The MOTD Rally has for the last two years been an unconventional mix of navigation, intuition, back roads, MINI motoring and of course, a good keen eye. I know that a lot of your own time went in to making this event possible and I think everyone that took part would agree that your deserve a round of applause.

About three weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. This doesn't happen that often as I usually sleep through the night, but when I opened my eyes, I had a strange vision. What I saw was exactly what you see posted above; a trio of stop watches. I had been thinking about the dragon A LOT! I mean, who that went hadn't been? It's practically my second Christmas. Well, I had been monitoring the registration for the Rally and was getting nervous about all the cars entering. I knew we would need an advantage.

A few days later, I bought the materials and began construction. This is what I had in mind for the use of the watches (from Left to Right).

1. Total Elapsed Run Time. This watch would be started when we left and untouched until the end of the event.
2. Leg time. This watch would be started for the longer legs in the event to gage speed and distance accordingly.
3. Lag Time. This watch would be used to track all unnecessary time (stops, slow traffic, photo ops, cows in the road, etc.)

Eventually, we used the watches a little differently, but that was my initial vision. We had my laptop in the car too and were originally discussing on the drive down from MI (10+ hours) that we could write a small program to keep track of our times, but then we decided against that. I mean, how geeky can 2 guys get anyway?

Now, I must say that we were rattled to see Cooperation in distress at the top of the hill. We spent over two minutes (clocked using the "Lag Watch") talking with MINImom. In that time, we found out that a) everyone was okay b) someone had a functional cell phone and had made the appropriate calls and c) there was virtually nothing else we could do. Under any other circumstance, we would've stayed, no questions asked.

As for the clues on the trip, Donna, you should post our handout. We missed the first 3 or 4 right up front and that really put us in a bummed out mood. But ultimately we knew we that the clues were secondhand to the finish time, so we focussed on that as our number one priority. We certainly didn't cheat! We would never do that, or better yet, COULD never do that! How would we possibly know the finish time? I had no idea we were so close to the actual "Queen B" time until tonight and I justify our total elapsed time with one word: Intuition. There were several unplanned stops on this rally. Here are some I can think of now:

• Talking to the Crowder's neighbors (who were a little freaked out, I think)
• Two wrong turns
• One MINI accident
• One slow pickup truck...unpassable
• Two photo sessions (1 inside the car, 1 out)

Near the end of the run, we were left with only 2 feelings; a) Our total time was in the ballpark and b) Anyone driving this route 3 times would be tired of driving it and speed a little, thus lowering the average time. So we sped up quite often to keep our average time quick. Keep in mind, we ran a similar rally last year hosted by the same person and we thought we were dead on timewise. As it turned out (from memory) we were one of the only teams that finished near (a little over) the total time. What does that tell you.......Queen B runs a fast hive! Yes, we hypothesize that she is a casual speeder, and not shy of it.

Now, as a change of pace. Since Donna isn't interested in setting up this evert next year, we have been thinking about volunteering for the position. Yes, we have the disadvatage of not living locally, but I think with prior planning, we can do most of it using GPS software. Then we would run the route early next year, make additional changes/modifications, if any, and print the handouts at the cabin. This event is just too fun to not continue!

Thanks to anyone who read this far down (I told you it was going to be a long post!) and thanks again Donna for stepping up to the challenge of planning this event. The rally is certainly more difficult than most of the other events, in my opinion.

My Best Regards,
-Loren

 

Wow Loren!! Thanks for your compliments. They mean a lot to me!! :smile: Especially after losing one of my little bees this year.

I think you would do a fantastic job setting up a rally and I would be glad to do some pre-runs to give you assistance. I debated about doing another one as everyone who does it seems to enjoy it. I guess I have reached the "been there, done that" stage and would like to do something else. My biggest concern is that the roads with the best scenery coming in to TN have been done the last two years. Going in to NC you are running between mountains and sometimes it is hard to loop around without some mileage. I do have one idea though and I will email you with it.

I'm passing the rally torch!!! The rest of you had best build your dashboard stop watch trios.!!

 

This was again the run that Michael and I enjoyed most. Thanks for the hard work putting it on. Please PM me our (probably very poor) results. But I did hear we did not place last like last year so that it a little heartwarming.

We felt very helpless coming upon the accident but very proud to see that EVERY MINI that came over the hill stopped to check and be sure no one was hurt and offer assistance. I had cell phone reception earlier in the day, but not at that point, so seeing that the situation was well at hand and we were doing nothing more than being in the way, we moved on.

I will look forward to taking part in next year's....I guess I need to buy a stopwatch.

 

Jen, If Loren and Eric are to be rally masters, you might need 3 stopwatches.

 

By the way....the answers to the classic Mini related bonus questions are:

1) How many Minis were manufactured?
5 Million. There is an exact number but that was close enough.

2) What size engine was in the original production Mini?
850 cc
3) How many cupholders in the original Mini?
None

4) What Formula 1 driver and performance tuner turned the original Mini
into a world champ?
John Cooper

5) Who was the stunt driver of the red Mini in the original Italian Job?
Phil Wicks

If the answers to any of the route questions are keeping you up at night, let me know and I will tell you what they were. :smile:

 

I debating doing the rally but wasn't sure if my passenger would be up for it. I'm really regretting not doing it! Sounds like everyone had a fabulous time.

Oh well... shoulda, coulda, woulda... just sign me up for next year!

 

Howdy, folks. Thought I'd just check in and tell you the story as I know it so far.

The car is not totalled. So far it's listed at $4700 in damages with the caveat that "VEHICLE MAY HAVE POSSIBLE SUSPENSION DAMAGE." Duh I'd say it's bent all to hell but they say it needs an alignment.

Mad-Eye's on a carrier, on his way to Houston where I've sent him to MINI of the Woodlands for repairs.

A gigantic THANKS! again to all y'all who stayed behind, forfeiting those fabulous rally prizes, and helping Mrs. Cooperphile and me get back to civilization. We'd still be out there without y'all.

 

Thanks for the report Mark. I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that it isn't totaled. Let us know how it goes.