Forresters Car Club's chosen charity for 2010 in the Wales Air Ambulance.

Club Nights:

11th March - "Treasure Hunt" Rally
18th March - Playstation Evening
25th March - Tour of Caerwent preparation & Charity Night

1st April - Tabletop Rally
8th April - DVD & Quiz
15th April - Scalextric Evening
22nd April - Playstation Evening
29th April - Welsh Preparation and Charity night

If you have any ideas for things you want to do at a club night, please talk to any committee member!

Rallies:

14th March - Tour of Epynt
28th March - Fast Impressions Tour of Caerwent

11th April - Taith Cymru, HRCR Classic Car Tour starting and finishing in Usk
17th April - Get it Sideways Stages, Down Ampney
18th April - Red Kite Stages

2nd May - RDP Welsh Rally
15th May - Plains Rally
29th May - EMCOS Stages, Down Ampney

5th June - Severn Valley National Rally
6th June - "Mini" Epynt
13th June - Abingdon Carnival
20th June - Mid Wales Stages
20th June - MidSummer Caerwent
27th June - 3 Counties Stages

Request for Marshals:

Somerset Stages - 24th April 2010

The event is once again a round of the BTRDA Championship and this year falls on Saturday 24th April. It is worth noting that the 2009 event was awarded the Best Lose Stage Rally by the ASWMC.

Most, if not all, of you will know what a brilliant event it is with it's mix of Forestry Stages and Tarmac. It will, once again feature the ever popular Porlock Toll Road Stage which is more akin to a Hill Climb rather than a Rally Stage. As I write, the rally route is still being finalised, but it will feature the usual stages of Croydon, Knowle, Chargot, Timberscombe & Porlock. Whits Wood is being given a rest this year.

Dick Pease (Mission Engineer / Control) has agreed to run Radio Control for us this year.

As usual we need LOTS of Radio Crews to ensure the safe running of the event and therefore your assistance (and that of your fellow club members, relations, friends and neighbours) is requested to help with these essential safety duties.

If you (and/or your fellow club ........................... etc.) are able to help please let me know as soon as possible by replying to this mail or using any of the other e-mail addresses below:-

snoble201@yahoo.co.uk
steve.noble@somersetstagesrally.com
lynn.noble@somersetstagesrally.com
radios@somersetstagesrally.com

Or you can contact me on 08450951387

When you reply, if you have a preference in respect of which Stage that you would like to cover, please let me know (giving a second choice as well please). I will also be looking for Radios who are prepared to do "Starts" & "Finishes" - so again, please let me know. Remember, If I don't get enough volunteers, I will have to appoint people.

If any of you have access to club web sites, please feel free to add this plea to them. Also mention it at your next Club meetings etc.

Matt B, will you pass this out to your distribution list as it's probably larger than mine.

If you know anyone who want to "marshall" on the event rather than doing a Radio role, then they should contact Nicky or Winky (Nigel) Winkworth on 08450951385 or by mail on any of the following (no, I don't know why he has so many !!):-

Nigel.winkworth@somersetstagesrally.com
marshalls@somersetstagesrally.com
marshals@somersetstagesrally.com
nicky.winkworth@somersetstagesrally.com
nigelwinkworth@somersetstagesrally.com
winky@somersetstagesrally.com

All events need marshals and would be very grateful for your assistance.  However, the below events have specifically requested our help. Please contact Richard Shorey if you can help in any way, shape or form.

Young Members Initiative

Congratulations to Jon Lougher and Nathan Long who after jointly winning the 2009 Young Members Award, successfully passed their BARS test this week at Phil Price Rallying.  Nathan has put an entry in to the Tour of Caerwent, and Jon is busy finishing his car, aiming for a late Summer debut in his diesel powered Golf.  We have agreed to run the competition again in 2010, so look out for entry forms coming to a club night soon.

Winter scatter rallies

The second "navigational treasure hunt" (formerly known as scatter rallies) of 2010 took place a couple of weeks ago, with all crews having a thoroughly enjoyable evening, even if it was super-foggy in some parts once again!  The next event is this coming Thursday, so please come along if you want to take part.  Sign-on closes at 20:15 at Croesyceiliog Cricket & Rugby Club.  We will be combining these events with the tabletop rallies we do in the summer to form a championship.  Final details have yet to be organised, but dropped scores will come into it, so don't worry if you miss some events.

Fast Impressions Tour of Caerwent

Regulations have been available for the Fast Impressions Tour of Caerwent, on 28th March 2010 from www.forresterscarclub.co.uk over the past month.  Entries have been flooding in, and I can confirm that we have now filled all 100 places.  We have a very small reserve list at the moment, but from previous experience, a number of the reserves will get a run, so if you still wish to enter, get your entry in now and you may just be lucky.

As normal, we require help from anyone who can offer it, from setting up, marshalling, other jobs on the day, derigging etc.  If you can help, please let any of the organisers know.

Some club members, along with our friends at SWAC, put in a day's labour at Caerwent today.  We sorted out the equipment shed, scraped some of the service area car park and relaid one of the gravel link roads in preparation for the event at the end of March.  Many thanks to everyone who came along and gave some assistance.  In addition, I'm delighted to report that the MoD have been busy filling in some of the worst potholes at Caerwent, so whilst the event will never be race circuit smooth, hopefully you will notice a small improvement when you're next there.

RDP Welsh Rally

Preparations are now well under way for the RDP Welsh Rally, being held on Epynt on May 2nd.  We're planning to run 13 stages over approximately 85 miles, with the long stage being a little different from the last few years, just to add that little bit extra of a challenge.  As some of you will be aware, following the serious incidents on Epynt last year, all organisers are currently slightly restrained as to the availability of certain roads, and hence we think we have come up with the best route possible for the roads available to us, which promises to be no less exciting than in previous years.  The committee will update you as to progress of organisation as we go along, but if you want regs, they were released today, and are available from www.welshinternationalrally.com.  The event this year is a round of the Welsh National and historic championships, the HRCR Challenge (including the Mini Cup), the Epynt Challenge and the Heart of England Championship.  We're hoping for a good entry, and a very enjoyable day's motorsport.  As with our Caerwent events, there's plenty of roles that need filling, including assistance on the recce on the 1st May, so please lend a hand if you can.

2010 Nominated Charity

As you should be aware, the club supports a charity every year, with us having raised approximately £1200 each year for the last few years.  We asked for ideas for a charity for 2010, and I'm pleased to announce that for 2010, the committee decided to support the Welsh Air Ambulance.  We'll be doing the normal sort of fundraising during the year, so please dig deep and support such a worthy cause.

In-Car Cameras

If you’re interested in fitting an in-car camera into your car for an event your thinking of doing, why not have a look at www.incar-services.co.uk.  The site is run by Rob Richards who provides an excellent service to many customers each year.

Autotests

A huge thank you must go to Steve Andrews for organising them on our behalf in 2009, hopefully they will be back in 2010, watch out for details.

Membership

Please don’t forget that 1st February was the start of our new membership year. If you don’t renew by the end of the month, this will be the last newsletter you receive by e-mail from us, so contact Kev Haven (application form is available on our website) if you want to renew. A membership form can be download here.

Opie Oils - http://www.opieoils.co.uk/

FCC has managed to get a special offer for FCC members from the website "Opie Oils". It sells a variety of products which may be of interest to you. When you register, make sure you say that you are a member of Forresters, and then you will get discounts off many of their products

If you have any ideas or comments about the club and its events, the AGM is not your only chance to voice your views. Speak to any committee member at any time.

They are: Neil Fuller, Mike Taylor, Richard Lomax, Kelvin Saunders, Paul Goodman, Simon Crew, Andy Murphy, John Bird, Kevin Haven and Richard Whitefoot.