So who wants to do a rally? (big bike rally challenge)

[Mike54]

Mike, look on the rally moto forum, there's going to be a roadbooks event

Don't know the answer re facilities. The nature of the venues means that it's not often possible to have full facilities there. At the beacons most camped at the rugby club - showers, even a bar there. I guess with most of the venues there are option to camp at a local campsite and then just go upto the venue each day.

[michaelmy]

I am doing the bbrc rallies on my 990 adv R and i am not young so they are all doable
Tyres i use mitas at £50 each eo9 or co2 and the rear does 2 rallies with the front c19 lasting longer which is cheap for motorsport and an unforgettable weekend
You dont have to race as just getting round on a twin is the achievement

[Wilso122]

Just summarising what has been said and indicating interest.

1/ Training / introduction day for sure. I've tried to do this with Burt 3 times already but its a long way to get there.

2/ Somewhere in the south of England so its not a 5 hour + ride to get there..

3/ Novice entrants / tiered levels out at the same time. Having someone scream GET THE F** OUT THE WAY and running you over is no fun (not talking bbr here).

4/ Fire-track sure, some technical stuff if you want to have a go.

5/ Ability to use any knobbly's you want not just FIM approved.

6/ 650 ++ or weight related class of bikes.

Like others have said I would love to get involved in these but time poor and funds make it harder to do, which is a shame. Still need to get to Burt for some training!

[Mike54]

Wilso, the venue they have at sweetlamb is superb. Totally closed so no issues with walkers etc. I know it can be a long way depending on where you are but it is SO worth it. You'd come away after two days feeling more confident - last time I was there the guys who came from the first time were transformed when they left. A couple are on the forum, maybe they'll see this and comment.

Tyres - there is no need for FIM approved tyres. Any e marked tyres are ok (just not moto x tyres)

[Wilso122]

Not doubting that it is superb or that it will HUGELY benefit my riding, its this, Friday, up at 6am, home at 8pm, jump on bike, sweet lamb by midnight(ish) camp by 1am, up at 7, ride bike and learn new skills. - basically by Saturday I'm normally the walking dead. It would be amazing to have that training locally, but nothing would compare.

Thought for BBR events you needed ACU licence and FIM tyres? good to know you don't as it all adds up and I have to join a club that doesn't holds no interest just to get the ACU or pay extra for day licence....

[Mike54]

No you don't need either. You can do a day licence for a tenner and no need for FIM approved tyres. Tends to be only moto x tyres which arent e marked but pretty much everything else is ok.

[Itchy]

Where is it? can I do it on a Vstrom1000 with basically road tyres??

[Mad Cow]

Great to see the interest in Rallies, hopefully my experiences might give you some insight (this is the draft of a “how to” guide to Rally Racing that I’m putting together for my website)

Last year at the age of 50 I decided to start Rally racing, on my 10 year old CCM 604E (598cc Single). I’ve never done any form of motorcycle competition before and although I’ve been trail riding for twenty plus years I’m definitely no “off road god” but rather a competent bumbler on the green lanes. Until then I doubt I’d even ridden faster than 40 mph off road.

So from this you can deduce you don’t need to be young, fit, and highly skilled or even need the latest equipment to go rallying.

I entered my first event, the Hafren Rally last October but beforehand decided I needed to learn a bit more so signed up for a BBRC training weekend at the Sweet Lamb Rally complex near Lllanidloes in Mid Wales.

This was run by the aforementioned Burt and Moly (Robert Hughes and Mark Molyneux, in case you were wondering) and had the added benefit of Dakar Rally finishers Craig Bounds and Tamsin Jones as additional instructors.

Day one started with an essential skill… how to pick your bike up! We then went through a number of basic skills, such as positioning on the bike, how to steer with “body English”, braking skills and how to cope with brake induced skids. The afternoon was spent on high speed cornering on fire roads.

Day two we switched to lower speed skills, climbing rocky ruts, rock steps, loose shale, extreme climbs and descents then the afternoon was spent putting all our new skills into practice on a short “Rally course” which was a hoot. It all clicked with me when I was descending a gravel fire road hill at speed and went to change up, only to find I was already flat out in top gear (about 85mph)….. and it felt perfectly normal!

A few weeks later I returned to Sweet Lamb for the Hafren Rally, a one day event with two and a bit laps. Lap one had three special stages that were untimed to allow you to recce them (known as the “sighting lap”). On lap two all three were timed and on lap three we only had to do the first two as the lap was shorter eliminating the third special test. Between laps you return to the start/finish area for refuelling, food etc.

The terrain was a great mix of fire road, forest single track, a few muddy ruts (but not much) and rocky climbs and descents. There was nothing a reasonably competent rider couldn’t tackle and I managed to complete the rally pretty much unscathed, well apart from a failed climb that ended up with me completing the Rally with half a number plate and half a brake lever! I finished in 18th place in the Rally Class and scored a whole point in the BBRC!

Having now got through a year of Rallies, here’s my synopsis:

Now first off we need to explain the “rally scene” in the UK, generally there are six established events:

Name (Location) - Organiser

1. The Tarrenig Rally (Llanidloes, Wales) - Hafren Dirt Bike Club
2. The K2 Keilder Rally (Bellingham. Northumberland) - Dirt Bike Action
3. The Ryedale Rally (North Yorkshire) – Yorkshire Enduro Club
4. The Beacons Rally (Llandovery, Wales) – Welsh Trail Riders Association
5. The Hafren Rally (Llanidloes, Wales) - Hafren Dirt Bike Club
6. The Cambrian Rally (Llandovery, Wales) – Welsh Trail Riders Association

In 2012 the Tarrenig wasn’t run so the Big Bike Rally Challenge (BBRC) consists of the other five events plus a new one organised by the BBRC themselves:

The Rallymoto Sprint Rally (Llanidloes, Wales) – BBRC

In addition another Rally, the Brechfa was run in Camarthenshire, I didn’t do it but despite a small entry was judged by many to be a great event and ideally suited to big bikes. The Brechfa Rally was not part of the BBRC this year.

In addition there is the Dawn to Dusk, which is in fact a number of events within a main race, a dawn to dusk enduro (as you might guess but the main event is now a 24 hour race, open to both solo riders and teams and it also contains a 10 hour “Big Bike” race. Again this is not part of the BBRC and takes place this weekend at Walters Arena (home of the BMW Off Road School) in South Wales.

So what can you expect, here’s my experiences:

October 2011 – Hafren Rally (see above)

October 2011 – Cambrian Rally

Starting in the middle of nowhere about 40 minutes from Llandovery, the format was supposed to be two laps on Saturday with two special stages, then three laps of the course but in reverse on Sunday, with the first lap of each being a sighting lap. However St John Ambulance failed to provide the promised ambulance cover due to a booking mix up and we started very late.

So we did a single sighting lap on Saturday and then three laps (in the same direction) on Sunday, all with timing. The course is fairly straightforward with a long fire road section, then joining the “Strata Florida” track for a bumpy rocky ride during which you cross and re-cross the River Tywi multiple times. A short muddy rutted climb and then more fire road and a bit of tarmac to arrive at two back to back specials. The first was a mix of single track, muddy ruts, forest trail and fire road. Fifty metres of tarmac led to the second which was all fire road, at times flat out and other sections impossibly slippery. A short run in on tarmac finished the event, like the Hafren between laps you return to the start/finish area for refuelling, food etc. I didn’t think I had done so well at this one so was pleasantly surprised to get 14th place in class.


April 2012 - Rallymoto Sprint Rally

Based at the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex this was a one day event and the first of its kind in 2012. A untimed short liaison stage of fire road and a short dirt track let you warm up before entering the Special Stage, about 15 miles against the clock of gravel fire road with a short stretch of tarmac, a small area of mud/grass and the “motocross track” a large flat area with berms and some easy jumps. The first lap was an untimed sighting lap, then you did seven timed lap with the results being based on your single fastest lap and once again you return to the start/finish area for refuelling, food etc. Sadly for me the bike failed on lap four, my first DNF.

June 2012 - K2 Keilder Rally

This Rally consists of two 65 mile laps with no return to the start area in between so you have to provide a fuel can that is taken out to a refuelling point on the lap. In fact for the thirstier bikes there was the option of a second fuelling point (if you had a second can). The course was almost entirely fire road so very fast with only a small section of muddy, rutted track, incorporating a very tricky descent. The one special stage each lap was a slippery forest track leading into “the tunnels” ; very tight, technical single track cut through a pine plantation. More fire road and a particularly slippery, muddy track finished the lap. Sunday was just a repeat of Saturday. The rate of DNFs was pretty high so I was pleased with my 15th place in class.

July 2012 – Ryedale Rally

A slightly different format for this one, on Saturday we rode 24 miles on a mixture of road and forest trails from the camping area near Pickering to the Langdale / Dalby Forests on the North York Moors. Then we started the lap at a checkpoint/fuelling area and these consisted of relatively easy fire road and tarmac road interspersed with some very tricky muddy sections. The one special per lap was a mixture of big puddles and bigger ruts, a real battle to get through. We did three laps with the first being a sighting lap before the long ride back to the start/finish. This was extremely tough on bikes, with brake pads going from brand new to completely worn out in a day!

After a lot of bike maintenance, day two started directly at the camping area and again consisted of three laps (lap one as a sighting lap), this time in the Cropton Forest. Although we returned to the campsite each lap a separate fuelling point was used on the other side of the field. Again the lap was a combination of fire road and muddy technical trails and a truly horrible special stage, huge, muddy ruts through the forest were a real test of skill and physical strength as physically hauling bikes out of the ruts (trenches?) was the order of the day. I eventually finished 20th in class and just outside the points.

August 2012 – The Beacons Rally



Back to Llandovery for this one with the start in a forest clearing about 10 miles from town near the village of Tirabad. Saturday was a two and half lap affair, with two long special stages each lap but only one on the last lap. The 35 mile lap was a real mixture with fire road, rocky trails, muddy trails, muddy climbs, muddy descents, loose rocky climbs and equally loose rocky descents. With not much in the way of rest it was a true test of physical endurance. Sunday was the same course but ridden in reverse, this time we did three full laps with two specials each lap. I managed to scrape into the points (just) with 18th place in the Rally Class.

[Mike54]

Itchy, road tyres aren't suitable, things like E09, tkc80 fine for sweet lamb

[Mike54]

Mad Cows post illustrates why the guys are keen to have some easier events next year which are suitable for all. You can still do the more tricky ones if you want, but there will be more fire road based events and there is a plan to possible "grade" each event so you can make a decision as to enter what you are happy with.