Note; the post below has been translated with Google Translate.
Report Volante Rally 2020 Car Challenge 2022
11th Volante Rally, Saturday April 9th, 2022
The Eleventh Volante Rally, or as this event will be communicated outside from now on; the “Volante Car Challenge”. “Car Challenge” was created to remove any false associations with what most people understand by car rally. Although, as van Dale describes the meaning of a “rally”, it does cover the load of the Volante event; “competition for cars, motorcycles, etc., with delimitation. built-in difficulties”. We will call it the Volante Rally in this report…
The eleventh Volante Rally, it could actually have been the thirteenth, but everyone knows what came between that. The blueprint of the 2022 Volante Rally was already worked out in 2020. With feedback from the members, collected in 2019, we did a number of things differently this year. Volante events usually consist of two elements, namely they have a car-technical character and conclude with a cozy get-together (network drink). One of the feedback we received is that this gathering afterwards, especially at the Rally, is often messy, on the one hand because people finish very spread out and also because there is enormous pressure on the organization to process the scores. This had to be different… and for those who didn’t notice, the following things were also different:
- The list of participants has been shared in advance via the website.
- Final location is shared in advance.
- An ultimate finish time was specified, scores after the finish time no longer count for the result.
- The time of the award ceremony took place at a pre-specified time, so that teams had the chance to be present on time.
- There is no longer a test in the trajectory where vehicle handling or power can make a difference.
- The rally started 1 hour earlier.
- The contest “Car of the day contest” can be completed digitally by the participating teams during the event.
- The score is kept interactively using Google Forms. (with big thanks to Jelte & Marka Mollema for designing this ingenious system)!
Since we have implemented the above eight to a greater or lesser extent, it seemed sensible to adopt one guaranteed success element from the 2019 edition, and that is the start from the beautiful Recreatiepark de Heidebloem in Schaijk. Not at 11:00 this year, but as indicated above one hour earlier. At half past nine the briefing starts again while enjoying coffee with a delicious pastry. Our brand new chairman Sijmen Tielen kicks off at which Paul Neeskens of RallySupport, (now a well-known supplier of the Volante Rally) explains details about the route, changes compared to previous years and some regulations. After the briefing, the route book and the well-arranged packed lunches can be received and the preparation can start. A total of 39 teams have registered, unfortunately a virus is still active and 34 teams will appear at the start.
The Rally this year consisted of 5 different routes. Route 1 departed from Recreation Park de Heidebloem and took the participating teams through a part of the Maashorst nature reserve (the largest contiguous nature reserve in North Brabant) and then through (a piece of unpaved) via Reek the beautiful floodplains and dike roads of the well-known metropolises of Keent, Overlangel , Neerloon, Denneburg, Demen, and Dieden. Route 2 immediately feels a bit less idyllic because of the large open plains around Haren (you know, from the Harense smith), but RallySupport immediately sets a challenging route for the navigator. In route two there are a number of intersections where you may only touch the route, but not cross it… Then in the village of Marcharen starts at the first checkpoint occupied by Maurice and Remco route 3. In route 3 the “special” is also incorporated. This year’s special consisted of a remote route in which the teams had to drive at different average driving speeds. Deviations in the intended driving time are penalized and since the teams resp. 30, 15, 46 and then 30 km/h on average again, this was certainly not easy. The starting time is recorded by the teams themselves. A secret time check was carried out by Nieck and Bauke, then the end time of the route was set by Lilly and Sandra.
Route 4 starts just south-west of Oss and goes “effe through Geffen” to then pass under the A59 in the direction of Vinkel through the rural countryside south of Nistelrode where route 5 starts at the checkpoint of Bert and Ans. Route 5 then passes Uden through the Maashorst nature reserve to return to the start/finish at Recreation Park de Heidebloem.
At the end there is a nice drink. The interactive scoring still causes a moment of stress in the calculation room, but the system works excellently. The results will be announced in good time and all teams will receive a detailed result the next day. This can also be downloaded below. With a few adjustments (mainly with regard to the application on the participant side), there is a beautiful automated scoring system for future editions. Chairman Sijmen Tielen extends a word of thanks to all participants, volunteers, organization, RallySupport, Recreation Park de Heidebloem and of course our sponsors DETECH and HAN Automotive, after which Jelte and Bauke will provide the award ceremony. Hopefully see you all next year and also inspire fellow graduates to participate. The motto remains, the more souls the merrier.
As a Volante member, as a result of this event, if you want to participate in the organization or support of the Rally or another Volante event, please register via the contact form on our website. In addition, initiatives in terms of environment/region to organize this event are very welcome, an important element here is a suitable start and finish location.
The winners of the Volante Car Challenge 2022:
1st place: Team 11 – Renault Mégane
Driver: Kaal
Navigator: Van der Horst
2nd place: Team 36 – BMW E36 328i cabrio
Driver: Van Thiel
Navigator: Van Zuijlen
3rd place: Team 17 – BMW 330i E46
Driver: Schoof
Navigator: Wagenaar
incentive prize: Team 39 – Buick Skylark
Driver: Kleyweg
Navigator: Bolder
Car of the day: Team 6 – BMW E28 5-serie 1982
Driver: Beijer
Navigator: Pardoel
Below you can download the results of the Car Challenge, as well as the individual results per team.
An impression of the day, made by Anne Pardoel, can be found below:
The photos of the start, finish and award ceremony, made by Remco Wonink, are below:
The Volante Car Challenge 2022 was made possible in part by:
