You might think me a little premature to be thinking about next summer when winter hasn’t yet started, but there are many things that need to be put in place by January 2025 and now isn’t too early to start planning.
I would like to seek early indications of interest from probable event participants for what will likely be called the GoldRiver ‘25.
The event format will be as for previous events.
There will be three classes of participation, Gaia, Roadbook and Roadbook plus Richta gps timing.
Navigation will be by Gaia or roadbook, displayed as a pdf on Rally Roadbook Reader (RRR).
Timing will be by Richta Rally Timing (RRT).
The event will be for road legal dualsport and adventure bikes and riders.
The routes will be over the gravel roads of the north of Vancouver Island that are designated as public highways.
Your ICBC insurance and driving licences will be in operation.
OHV and non-registered bikes and 4x4’s WILL NOT be eligible for participation.
I have given a great deal of consideration to the proposal that VIME should adopt Terra Pirata (TP) as the event information system.
Terra Pirata is a thoroughly developed, well designed and thought out system that has been proven on many high profile motorsport events. It fits well into it’s market position between high-end professional event technologies and straightforward gps timing systems.
After much thought and trial of the system it became clear to me that while TP has greater functionality than RRR+RRT and it very closely resembles the FIA rallysport methodology, it also requires a much deeper understanding of the details of how Rallysport works on a moment-by-moment basis.
The vision I began with was to offer an accessible motorsport participation genre that could either stand on its own merits or provide a gateway to higher levels of competition for those who wanted to take their rallysport more seriously. To have an event IT system that requires a fairly comprehensive grasp of the technical details of the sport to begin with would be to raise the bar to participation to an unreasonable level and may well serve to dissuade casual participation.
The routes will continue to be written as roadbooks, using Rally Navigator with straightforward, self-explanatory and intuitive iconography that can be printed and assembled into paper scrolls or displayed as PDFs in Rally Roadbook Reader with the added functions of gps speedo, odo and compass readings.
Regularity Rally timekeeping will continue to be provided using Richta Rally Timing. The functionality of Richta is more limited than Terra Pirata, but for the purposes required for backcountry navigation events it is “fit for purpose”, those that operate it are familiar with how it works and it is easy to understand.
Above all else, these systems run well on low-cost hardware. Secondhand smartphones without SIM cards. Keeping the bar to participation low.
Event dates.
It is anticipated that the coming winter will be a snowy one in the mountains. Therefore there will not be a spring event for 2025.
The summer event is proposed to run over the weekend leading up to Canada Day, Tuesday 1st July.
The event will open on the Friday evening of 27th June.
Routes will be run on Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th and Monday 30th June. 3 days.
The event will close on the evening of Monday 30th June allowing people to return home on Canada Day 1st July.
You can appreciate the amount of work that goes into producing these events and a good-sized field makes the effort worthwhile.
I would therefore appreciate your early indications of intended participation.
Event location.
I am looking at two possible alternative locations. Back to the north island again, to the mountains, lakes, rivers and forests, or to the BC desert of the Thompson River plain to the west and east of Cache Creek/Ashcroft.
The Thompson River plain is about as far from Vancouver as Gold River is from Nanaimo, but of course without a ferry crossing for lower mainlanders.
No decisions have yet been made but I would like to know what you, the potential participants have to say about your preferred venue.
Replied please either to my email address jonathan@gr200.com , as a comment to this blog post or by social media.
So the format is
Road legal dualsport and adventure bikes
Gaia
Roadbook
Roadbook plus Richta
Three days over the Canada Day weekend
North Island or Thompson high plain? Please indicate your preference.
Jonathan
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