YES I DID – WHAT DID I DO?
author: Leon Botha
People are wonderful things, so wonderful that some people are actually amazing.
No matter what you do, or how you do it, one or more of the ‘amazing’ (luckily minority) group will find something wrong or have something to say about it.
When I took on the job to do the Route Notes for the National Rally Championship I knew that I would open myself to criticism – not only from experienced crews, but also from inexperience persons who not unlike first year university students, believe that they were absolute experts. Then of course also from those who float between realism and some kind of illness – normally some form of paranoia.
The criticism in the beginning was hard to cope with as I had a certain plan with the notes – and I knew that I needed to find a golden middle road to satisfy most while still remaining steady en route to refine and improve the notes all the time. Those who use them will be able to say whether that was the case or not.
What I did not expect was that some people would doubt my integrity regarding the information.
It all started before the Sasol Rally when I made the “mistake” to tell a competitor who asked, that some sections of the route were rough but that they (the landowners) were busy fixing it and that I would not really be able to say what the situation would be before the final run over the stages.
Then I heard that I was accused of supplying “inside information” to certain “select” (please Lord help me) competitors and that it was said that I would even be banned from the event the next year because of this! Needless to say the allegations were denied during confrontation, as the accusations were apparently not aimed at me! How’s that for sidestepping?
Now on the approach to the Total rally a habitual stirrer of fertilizer felt it his duty to phone the CoC (his own admittance) to ask him why certain people got information about the rally and he not.
Once again the information given to ONE person last week on the question “what is it (the Total route) like?” was simply “I can not say yet as they are repairing certain sections and will only repair the rest this week according to Dieter. What I can say is that this rally will be technical and demanding, and especially the 60km stage will play a huge roll!”
I truly give up! What was I supposed to say? “Sorry I can’t remember?” or “that is a secret, and if you ask me again I will have to shoot you or even worse drag you to a MSA court?”
When I followed the leads of this rumour, I also heard that the fact that I promote and try to get sponsors for a few competitors (which incidentally is my business and has been for many years and they pay me for this) caused a slight story or two behind the scenes. Not that I knew about it, mind you, but it was speculated (that is the word for saying something behind someone’s back) that the \\\'Rallystar team\\\' may be privy to inside information on the Route Notes! Hallelujah brothers and three sisters!
I then decided that I needed to know what drove people like this and tried to investigate to get more information on serious mental disorders but stopped as soon as I read about paranoia and Schizophrenia. The only good news around that was that “The life expectancy of an individual with Schizophrenia is shorter than that of the general population for a variety of reasons.” So I take it that a paranoid schizophrenic person will definitely not make it for too long?
What annoys me most about stupid stories like this is the fact that it is rather difficult to give anyone any advantage over the other while every one can see what is happening on DVD and better still any competitor can actually phone me if he or she has a problem with any part of the notes - and funny enough they actually do!
Then if those concerned looked closer at the Notes rather than sit and think about what I can do to be unfair to them, they will realise that to write good notes (for what that is worth) you need to give all the relevant information to everyone. It is also amazing that I am not trusted by these amazing exceptions with the content and secrets of the route, while they do take on a crest in fifth or sixth based on what I say in the Notes? Well not all of them, but at least some.
It is so sad that there are (must be) people around that can never, ever, see the good in anything, never be able to trust anyone as a friend and therefore go through life thriving on negative thoughts, paranoia and an incredible lack of self esteem and confidence. Looking at some you can easily see why though.
The world would have been a wonderful place if we could take advantage of genuine things offered in good faith, as that is what is the difference between success and failure. Then also, you have to have losers I suppose?
This negative thoughts and the time spent on stirring, defending and counter acting, instead of going forward, is also the reason why we cannot get this sport to take in it’s rightful place in South Africa.
Instead of building the sport and growing it into something really worthwhile we are stuck with some negative, indecisive, contra-productive, non-committal, incompetent people, not really contributing anything to the sport! To be honest some actually contribute, but the damage they do behind the scenes causes so much negativity and animosity that it cancels out all the positive things. The sport will be a better place without them around, but they do seem to have the ability to hang on for dear life. Look no further than Mugabe – although he is more responsive and predictable in some ways.
Next thing there will be speculation that if you come to test your car at the RallyStar Academy, something I also run at a loss to try and contribute towards the sport, you may get a special set of notes?
This stupidity is also the reason why I actually cancelled a navigation course this weekend – rather than risking that some people – you know who – may think that I gave the attendees privileged information? I wonder when the story will leak that some competitors do actually pay me to train them and also to give them advise on how to tackle events? Oh dear, oh dear?
I would on that terrific note like to invite any competitor who has the time and would like to ask me what the roads and conditions are like (preferably during office hours) to do so.
I can tell you beforehand that I will not commit myself to suggest which tyres you should use, but I will sure as hell tell you what the roads are like and what I think of conditions. If that is not directly related to the writing of Route Notes, and giving you some information to assist you in safer rallying – then I don’t know.
What I do find difficult however is to remember which bloody stage is which after going over them five or six times. Every time I start out doing the Route Notes I promise myself I will make a short summary of every stage, then alas, the problems to keep the car intact and make sure that I don’t add half Stage three to Stage six normally overrides the good intentions.
I can however not phone every one every time to tell them what I told anyone else!
What I can suggest is next time you feel that, giving someone information that there were rough sections on the route, gave that person an advantage, and you heard that from some privileged person who heard it from someone else, who heard it from me, please phone me to confirm, I may even tell you in which stage I saw rocks on the road!
I would like to thank the overwhelming majority of you for your support since the start of this venture and you will probably after reading this article realise why it means so much to me when you mention that you enjoyed the notes, or just smile when I look worried at the end of every stage or even make a positive suggestion!
To the exceptions – those who will look and search between 6841 calls to find something wrong to be able to have at least something to say, or to come to show me a mistake they discovered – I am so glad I can satisfy your strange needs. May the Tooth Fairy have an accident in your shoe!
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