Job?
Computer Programmer
Rallies?
Road Rallies since 1989 - won in both seats including the East Anglian Classic in 2000 & London Counties Navigators championship in 1996. Stage Rallies since 1993 - won various events & championships in the drivers seat.
Why did I do the 2004/2005 Championship?
Seemed like a good challenge to tackle on winter nights that involved minimum
car preparation.
Liked/disliked?
No complaints - found everything very enjoyable & well organised.
How did you tackle it?
Normally spent a few good hours on the first weekend plotting as much as possible. If a section bugs me because I can't solve it then
I'm the sort of person who'll sit there until its done as I couldn't leave it! Often get bored at work so might spend an hour doing it there too which helps as I work 6am till 8pm so
don't get any time at home during the week!
Where do I plot?
Table in living room with a bright lamp & Poti wired into the mains!
Stories?
2nd round of the championship - first Saturday night of plotting we had a power cut for 3 hours - as
there's not much to do in the pitch black on the side of a welsh mountain
(I live 7 miles north of Lampeter and about 20 miles south of
Aberystwyth near the top of a 1000ft hill / mountain. I moved here about
4.5 years ago from Essex) - the wife suggested we get the road rally car out, so she took it for a spin whilst I went for authenticity points for plotting on the move using the map light!
Last round of the championship - spot frights section - got bored at work & annoyed I
couldn't solve the navigation, so identified 26 possible spot heights & wrote a program to list the 1.8million permutations (!) which narrowed it down to 25 sequences which worked with the navigation
and about one that seemed to plot about right. Typically, though I wasn't sure of it
and I didn't submit the answers - it turned out it was right!
Gavin Rogers
April 27, 2005
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