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We were sent a report of the 2015 LEJOG HERO Challenge back when we first launched our website from Dan Willan (AKA Driver Dan). Recently rediscovered in the depths of our emails, I thought despite the event taking place back in December, it proved for an interesting read and that you might enjoy reading about it.

Le Jog 2015

Lands End to John O’Groats

HERO (Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation)

They say it’s quite an expensive rally to compete on. Let’s forget about that for now. Instead let’s focus on the important stuff. Five days. 1500 miles. 23 Special Tests. 32 Regularities with over 100 Timing Points. 54 Time controls. And 70 Historic Rally Cars in all shapes and sizes.

Day one sees no competition, but plenty to do. An early start for Scrutineering followed by Documentation in the Lands End Hotel. With signatures on the dotted line crews receive their personal effects, among which is a beautiful Elysee “Le Jog” Chronograph watch for each competitor, with a serial number to match start numbers. Nice touch. The afternoon is lost through final car checks, trip meter calibration and road book familiarisation. Early evening sees everyone back at Lands End for the competitor briefing followed by a 3-course meal, along with the obligatory pint to settle the nerves.

Day two – the rally commences. Straight into the fire with a Special Test out of Lands End Hotel, then a short road section to the start of the first Regularity. Mid-morning coffee & biscuits, then back on the road till lunchtime where a choice of warm meals awaits. Steak pie is always a favourite. The afternoon brings more Regularities along obscure back lanes and quiet fell roads via Special Tests at varied venues including an airfield, a college and a show ground. It’s not all car parks and cones.
Dinner is served, another two courses with hot beverages galore. The energy will be needed. The night section begins with an incredible Regularity section in Caerwent, a WWII Royal Navy Propellant Factory which in recent years has been used as an army training facility. 98 tulip instructions in less than 6.5 miles. Intense! Finally, to round it off a challenging night section of Regularities and Time Controls in the intricate Welsh lanes before flopping onto hotel beds at 02:30.

Day three – 5 hours’ sleep, raring to go. It’s becoming clear that whatever happens you just have to keep on moving. Any dawdling cuts the time you have at rest halts, which is more and more precious as the event goes on. Chez Perez near Chesterfield is a highlight of the day with three Special Tests on a mixture of Tarmac, gravel and mud. Being Sunday the lunch halt is of course a Carvery. Nothing wrong with a bit of tradition. As night closes in the ice arrives to keep drivers on their toes. Two Special Tests in a quarry add a new challenge – darkness. Then looms the impressive site of Slaley Hall, our residence for the evening. Luxury, if you can navigate the myriad corridors to your room.

Day four – the long one. On the road at 08:00. Coffee halt at a roadside cafe with the best Bakewell Tart in memory. A quick visit to the Jim Clark Rooms in Duns. Sorry, did someone say the Forth Road Bridge has been closed? No problem, the organisers just rattle off new road book paperwork for the diversion. For 70 crews. Oh, and to be safe, the entire diversion has been set out with day-glo orange HERO arrows. Even adorning the odd motorway signpost. Amazing! A late lunch is taken in an elevated restaurant overlooking the Forth Road bridge and its partially built sibling.

Still meandering north, no snow but plenty of wind and rain. Aviemore greets us with another lovely hotel, but there aren’t any beds for us here. Instead just two hours for a late dinner and a recharge before the final leg.
At 23:00 we head into the night to encounter the Loch Ness Monster – a 74 mile Regularity section with 14 timing points. To keep a high level of concentration for over two and a half hours really tests the stamina.
Throughout the night regular coffee stops are factored in, useful when you’ve been on the go for nearly 24 hours. There are also a couple of Special Tests, which help to get the adrenaline back up and running.
The hardest time is as dawn begins to break, but you have to keep pressing on. Finally, magically, John O’Groats is just a Special Test away. No time for Heroics! The last time control after 26 hours on the road. A good day.

Day five – breakfast, pint, bed. Roused early evening for the Awards Presentation and Dinner. Suits donned, tales of derring do ready, the night passes by in a flash. Are we setting off again tomorrow, Le Jog?

What strikes me about the event is that everything is always under control. Competitors are well looked after, fed & watered, serviced if required (the cars, not the crew members!) and treated to some of the best roads and venues possible. Every scrap of event paperwork is professionally presented, clear, thorough and true. Marshals are abundant in every nook and cranny of England, Scotland and Wales. The service crews who follow the event and pop up at every rest halt are indefatigable. Fellow competitors are friendly, helpful and willing. The two contenders for the HERO Cup assisted each other with spare parts when they encountered car problems. And the competitive side? We spent most of the event in convoy with eventual Gold Medal winners Andy Lane & Iain Tullie. After every Special Test we’d hang on to check each other’s times. Andy gave me his spare alternator when mine developed a fault. Even when they had the event sewn up we managed to rile them with a quick time round a kart track early on Monday morning. Never think these events aren’t fiercely fought.

I don’t think about the money. I just think about how and when I can do it all over again.

Dan Willan

DTW

(Driver Dan)

Thanks Driver Dan!
That’s it for today’s post. Martin is down at Oulton Park for a test day, so we’ll have his accounts of his time there posted in a blog next week.

Thanks for reading, have a classic weekend!

– Edwin