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HERO Training Academy at Race Retro

HERO Training Academy has again run a series of training seminars at Race Retro aimed at budding enthusiasts looking to get into the world of historic Regularity rallying. With over 150 entrants registered for the four seminars, the day was set to be another success.

HERO Training Academy at Race Retro
The sessions opened with a few brief words from Guy Woodcock, HERO Competition Director, welcoming the new HERO recruits to the platform. The first seminar of the day, 'The Basics', would introduce our fresh blooded enthusiasts into what they could expect to see on a HERO event. Explanations of Regularities and Tests, Tulip diagrams and marked maps would get the ball rolling in session one, and would be delivered by the Whyte Sisters, Seren, and Elise. As regular competitors in the world of historic rallying, and with results to match, they were the perfect fit for the lead role. Once again, their advice of 'Route first and timing second' would ring through as the newbies were encouraged to live by this mantra throughout their future rally careers.

The second seminar of the day, 'The Next Step', would go on to discuss timing on Jogularities and using Cumulative Speed Tables. The hardest aspect of historic rallying to explain, while sitting in a classroom, is the timing of a competitive section of a route. Potential Navigators were subjected to examples during the session where they worked through the practice Regularities, in order to understand when and how they would need to adjust their times.

Seminar Three, 'The Tricky Stuff' would go on to talk about plotting a route on a map, Triangles, and how important accuracy is with the Tripmeter and marking your own maps. The next item on the agenda in this particular seminar would be the tricks and things to be aware of on a historic event. The HERO route planners can be a crafty bunch and they are quite famous for 'keeping you on your toes', particularly in the Advanced and Expert rallies on the HERO calendar.

The final seminar of the day 'The complicated stuff' would address advanced plotting, reiterating again how important accuracy is when marking a map and whilst on the road. The seminar would also introduce London maps and Speed Tables for the crews eager to get started with the Advanced and Expert events such as Classic Marathon, Rally of the Tests and Le Jog.

After seminar two had finished there was a huge influx of bookings at the HERO ERA Hospitality Area where keen crews made sure their entries were in for events such as HERO Challenge Two, Summer Trial and those that wanted to go on with further training which includes a mini-rally, in order to gently ease their way into world of Historic Rallying signed up to The Novice Trial.

It was great to catch up with some of the returning students from previous year's training seminars. Malcolm Dunderdale and Anita Wickins, Training Academy students from this time last year, had a hugely successful 2019 season going from no experience to finishing the RAC Rally of the Tests, the pinnacle of historic motoring in the UK, and have now gone on to put entries in for a wide range of events in 2020. John and Tracy King also came along to the HERO stand to catch up with the team and to get an idea of what they can expect from HERO this coming season. Two successful crews who both started out at the HERO Training Academy at Race Retro and progressed on to take part in events like The Three Legs of Mann, HERO Challenges and the Summer Trial.

Once again, a successful day of HERO Training Academy seminars was delivered by the Whyte sisters and we can't wait to see our new crews out in the lanes this coming season.

 



 

 

 

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