With losing my ride in the Tasmanian Rally Championship I needed to find a new Navigating seat for my bum to sit in! I sent an email off to the AMSAG guys telling them I was looking for a ride. I got a response from Zyg Ryter who owns a Datsun 180B and this is the start of my epic story!!!!
I met up with Zyg at the bottom of Town Hall steps on Friday at lunchtime and glad we could recognise one another. We had added each other on face book the week before (Thank god for face book ha-ha). So with having a quick chat the plan was to jump in a taxi and head to where the car is waiting on the trailer. I was getting excited to see Zyg’s rally car as I am more use to the modern cars. This was going to be an experience rallying in a “classic”! We pulled up to the house and there it was the mighty “Datto” sitting loud and proud on the trailer. I quickly skipped up for a closer look and was introduced to our one and only service crewman “Colin”. I was so delighted to see my surname “Nicholson” on both side windows of the Rally car. I get so excited when I see my name on the side of race cars it just looks professional and I feel a bit important haha. I went to open up the passenger side of the rally car to have a look inside and there was a surprise waiting for me. Zyg had got my favourite quote “Harden the F#@k Up!” stickered and had put it on the glove box under all the devices for me as a welcoming present, little did I know that this quote was going to be a big help to me in the Rally. So with my welcoming over and the Rally car strapped down to the trailer and checked we were off for the 5 hour trip to Cowra!

We got into Cowra at around 5:30pm and unloaded. I was going to be sleeping in a different cabin to Zyg and Colin. I was so happy to find out that I actually knew other people that were going to be rallying on the weekend. Peter Batt that helps us with MRA is a Rally guy as well!! He was navigating for his son Michael in there VH commodore and I was going to be sleeping in there cabin with the family as there were girls in that one so I could feel more comfortable. The great thing about AMSAG is they are more laid back with there rules and regulations and its all about having fun. I was impressed to see registration get held the night before the rally. It’s not such a mad rush in the morning to add all your notes to the Road Book I had time to highlight and add my touches. This Rally was going to be a different experience for me, for one it wasn’t going to be raining so no slippery roads this time and two it was a One and half day rally so the road book was massively thick. I was a little scared flicking through the book there were so many cautions in each stage. I was about to find out this is the roughest rally I have experience yet! So with a bourbon and chicken schnitzel in my tummy my road book highlighted and checked I was ready for a good night sleep and the adventure to begin.

We woke up at 6am and I threw on my SSCC long sleeve shirt and old pair of jeans. Went to the drivers briefing and had to make a few extra corrections throughout the road book which is pretty normal at these types of events. We were car number 32 and had a bit of a wait till it was time for us to depart so I checked out the competition and it seems the Evo’s and Datsun 1600 are the favourites at this event. It was finally our time to leave and I navigated our way to the first stage. Zyg has an older style Terratrip in the Datto which goes well with the rest of the car. I was trying out a foot pedal for the first time to RESET the terratrip which I found it worked really well for me over the weekend. No more “RESET” being yelled at me!!! We reached Control at the first stage and this was going to be a quick little stage with 5kms to cover and a only few calls. It was fast and smooth and it cleared out the cobwebs. The next couple of stages were a lot rougher than the first stage as we were moving more into the forest roads and I was amazed that we hadn’t broken anything so far. I have learnt one thing about myself I am a lot better in the quicker stages. I tend to stress and feel the pressure on the long stages and I was about to find out how much pressure I really felt. With having a quick schedule 10 minute service in between stages I was starving and went to go visit the girls in the food van. I chomped my way through a bacon and egg sandwich and felt a lot better after I had something in my stomach. Here comes the good part – I really feel that Zyg had jinxed me. He has an omen with navigators. They have all throw up or felt very sick after doing a stage with Zyg driving and on the way down to Cowra he was telling me all the stories. The best story of all was he had gone through 5 navigators in one rally as they all got sick and couldn’t continue on for him. This was a fate I was about to find out for myself! We headed out to start the mid morning stages which were the same ones we had just completed in the early morning. We went through 2 stages and then it was time for the longest one in the rally the 27km stage. I was feeling ok for the first part of it but about ¾ the way through. The dreaded pins and needles feeling started to wash over me, my body started feeling numb and then the burps. I was feeling nausea and then I stopped calling the notes as I couldn’t hold it down any longer. Yep you guess it I THREW UP ALL OVER MYSELF I had put my hand over my mouth as I didn’t want it to projectile onto the windscreen. I couldn’t reach the window winder to put the window down but probably would of been useless anyway as I was in the seat so tight. I even tried to swallow the first lot that came up but there was no use (Eeeewww). My stomach contents wanted to come out and there was nothing I could do about it. I had made such a mess of myself, the harness, the seat, the mic on my helmet and the road book. All I could do was apologise and Zyg asked me if I could still call the notes again so I pulled myself together and started to call again as we hadn’t finished the stage yet! I was so embarrassed at the end of the stage I told the control guys not to look at me while I was getting my time. Zyg thought it was pretty funny how he had made another navigator sick and I was so unimpressed with myself that it had happened!!!! There is a first for everything I guess and I am finding out this Rally business is not very glamorous at all ha-ha. We drove into the service park and I had to tell Colin that Zygs omen had got me and there was a mess to clean up…YUCK!

I was somewhat relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only navigator to be sick on that particular stage and the rally guys are such gossipers it was around the service park in 2 minutes flat that Zyg had made another nav sick; everyone was sympathetic to a point as it is pretty funny. It seems to be part of the navigator’s code your not good until you throw up! My SSCC shirt was wreaked and I had been soaked with water to try and clean myself up. I felt I took the wet t-shirt competition to a whole nother level. I hadn’t brought any clean clothes with me to Service so I had to throw on one of Zyg shirts which were at least dry for now! Colin was cleaning up the car best he could and what a champ. He is a plumber and reckons he is use to that sort of thing but it didn’t help as I felt so bad for messing up the car. I had a rest and got given some ginger ale as it’s suppose to help “sea sickness” and Zyg was stressing that I wasn’t going to continue but I actually felt fine once I had thrown up. So with wet pant’s , wet seat and the car smelling a bit funky we jumped in to the datto to finish of the rally. I was felling good for the first 3 stages and then it was time for the dreaded 27km stage again…YES AGAIN! We lined up and we got to have a few minutes break before it was our turn. I was starting to worry that I might throw up again so I took myself into the bushes to see if I could get anything more to come out….nothing! I must of gotten it all out of me the first time plus Colin had given me a “sick bag” so I was prepared for the worst. We started the stage and it was going well till ¾ the way through and yep you guess it. I had the pins and needles feeling again, the burps and “OMG NO……… hear it comes”!!!! I told Zyg I was going to be sick again. Got the plastic sick bag out and you wouldn’t bloody believe it…A HOLE IN THE PLASTIC BAG!!!! It goes all over me again, my lap, the seat, the roadbook, the floor and I had tried to move my mic this time so it didn’t cop a load of chunks but it was no use. I was in disbelief that there was anything left in my stomach from the first time. I looked at my quote on the dash “harden the f**k up” and I started calling my notes again. There is one thing I am proud of about myself I don’t give up! I had the sinking feeling come over me as me came into control and having to facing the timing guys again. They just laughed at me when we rocked in for our time and coming into the service park where they all gasped ”Not again”!!! I told Colin the good news and he got the water bucket out again. Yep wet pants competition was raring that day!! I had definitely made my mark on AMSAG and have picked up a new nickname from my fellow rally competitors …oh wait for it…it’s so original…”CHUCKY”.

The next day went a lot better as I didn’t eat until we had finished the rally stages and the roads were a lot smoother as the stages weren’t in the forest on Sunday. I felt achieved finishing the Rally and I have made my own legend in throwing up with Zygs driving and still managed to finish the event. We came 20th outright which is pretty cool for an old guy and his first time nav. I also received an encouragement award for my efforts – a nice AMSAG Jacket. I had a great time and the AMSAG guys are fantastic even with all my drama I had the best fun and learnt a lot. This is “Chucky” signing out until next time.
Happy Reading!!
P.s I have only ever thrown up in the car with Zyg. It has never happened to me again!!