Many years ago the MG Car Club ran an invitation rally in the Riverhead Forest. They were very picky about which clubs they invited and that annoyed some members of the club to which I belonged so we decided to have some fun at their expense.
We went along as a supposed delegation from the FIA, to judge the event and the drivers taking part. As the FIA was based in Paris, our protest had a French flavour to it.
Firstly we re-named the event the MUG Rally and the we set up a “French Café’ with chequered table cloths and sun umbrellas. There was plenty of wine, baguettes and berets in evidence.
When the rally got underway we had our signs out indicating that the FIA Judges were in residence and around the corner there were a bunch of guys holding up scorecards.
I don’t know what it was like in other parts of the world, but here in New Zealand in the early days of rallying the organisers had a thing about photographers using flash lights during night stages. They thought the drivers might be startled and lose control of their cars so they made us put up signs warning the drivers to expect to have a flash go off. I remember being told off by Les McLaren for using a flash during an early international event.
We had a “Flash Ahead” sign but it wasn’t a camera flash that greeted the drivers as they rounded the bend but this.
It was all good fun but it did get a bit out of hand later in the day, after the wine had its effect, when a Mini Moke with about a dozen people on board travelled up a stage before the trail car had gone through.
