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FOREST and GARDENS TULIP RALLY - REPORT BY TONY CALVERT
PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID MILES
06 TULIP RALLY
The Remaining Z3 then arrived at the finish, as we were finishing the prize giving, having phoned me. A quick look at their answer sheet revealed they had dropped too many points for a prize, Sorry Simon and Sue. The drivers and navigators then went their separate ways, with some going for a drink or carvery at the pub, others heading home, some had a bit further to travel home than others too, Thank you John (Z4) and Cristian (Z3) for travelling down from the Midlands for the event. Many thanks go to Steve Robinson for his assistance with a couple of the route runs. I would also like to thank David Miles for the photos, as I forgot my camera, and also the amusement caused by his flower arranging skills on the afternoon run.
A good day was had by all who participated in the event.
24th September 2006, the day dawned wet and miserable, I was doubtful if the event would actually take place as I headed to the start point for the tulip rally. Drivers briefing was set to be at 10am, I arrived there just after 9am to find the weather had improved somewhat. The rain had stopped, and by 10am the sun was out. I sat awaiting the participants for the event.
The group of adventurers gathered in the car park at Pease Pottage Services, for my second event of this type. The collection of BMW's was impressive indeed, rangeing from the older E30 models, an E39 5 series, Z3's, Z4's including a brand new Z4M with 55 miles on the clock, A couple of other cars were also present these being the Nissan Primera (loan car) of Andy and Sam, their Z4 having an argument with a rock in Chedder the week before, The Z4 being in the body shop. The organiser also had a courtesy car (Fiesta) as my Z3M was still in the body shop 4 weeks after hitting a crash barrier in damp weather. The drivers briefing was held on time with everyone turning up, who said they would. The folders containing the route directions, question sheets etc were handed out and explained. Certain points on the route were mentioned due to the recent weather. The question sheets were in 2 parts, the first being a question and answer sheet with items to be found enroute, the second sheet was write down the pubs and breweries, easy enough for the observant.
The route itself was a gentle start with a few turns; someone even went wrong at the first turn. Eventually the drivers with their navigators would head past Leonards Lee gardens, they then headed of towards Haywards Heath, via a series of quite narrow lanes, they would skirt all the major towns and associated traffic problems, most of the roads driven you would be more likely to see horses and cyclists than other cars. The route then cut across towards Balcombe and Ardingly, and then headed to the second major garden on the route Wakehurst Place. Another cut across country lanes and the route found its way in the Ashdown Forest. This part of the route included 2 fords and some excellent scenery around Ardingly Reservoir, before heading across country again towards the lunch stop at Punnets Town. The lunch stop had been chosen because of the excellent views across the valley from the restaurant. All the drivers eventually made it to lunch, where an excellent Sunday Roast was offered. During lunch I circulated round, warning the drivers of a potential hazard later on the route and reminding them to ignore the road closed sign as it was a right hand turn closed but the route turned left. As organiser I just drove straight from the start point to the lunch stop and had an agonising wait, waiting for the first car to come over the rise and turn into the car park. Eventually everyone arrived and I could relax a bit.
Lunch over, The crews set off again on the last leg of the journey, heading towards Hurstmonceau, the route then went via Etchingham, Ticehurst, Wadhurst, Frant, and close to Edenbridge and Hever. They passed close to several large gardens/houses on the way, Hever Castle, Chiddingstone Castle, Chartwell and a smaller garden called Emmets Garden. The afternoon route only had 2 narrow lanes in it and some of the roads were a bit faster than the morning run.
The finish point was at the Grasshopper Inn on the A25 near Westerham, this was selected due to the massive car park, allowing us to get all the cars together for pictures etc. Again I was able to head straight there from the lunch point, and sat there waiting for the cars to begin arriving. First to arrive was Barry and Jo in their Z4 2.5 SMG ( last years champions) After a brief chat, during which they told me they missed a turn and had to back track, then they went wrong again and came straight to the finish. I marked their sheets, then we waited for all the other cars to arrive, which eventually they all did except one a silver Z3, who decided to stop at a different pub with a similar name, I tried phoning them only to find I had the wrong number. Barry gave me a hand to mark the question sheets as the others arrived, my thanks to Barry for this. The driver of the new Z4M even admitted to stopping in the last narrow lane to rearrange the foliage so it didn’t scratch his new motor, much to the merriment of the assembled drivers.
Eventually the winner was decided, out of 106 points they scored 100, mainly missing a couple of pubs, due to an off route excursion. The winners were Andy and Sam, in the Nissan loan car; they did have an extra passenger which helped. Second place went to Steve and Carolyn in their E30 325i, with 95 points. In third place were Chris and Tony (Steve and Carolyn’s sons) in an E30 316, 91 points, local knowledge perhaps? Next was speech time, the part I hate! Thanking everyone for coming etc. The prizes were then given out, the first 3 drivers being awarded a Bucket, sponge and car wash shampoo; they just drove and got the car dirty. The 3 winning navigators/question answerers were awarded a bottle of wine and a box of milk tray chocolates, as they did all the hard work. The third placed car the prizes were reversed as the navigator was only 16, so he got the bucket, sorry Tony.
