From winches to bull bags to tow straps:
When I first started rallying seriously in the late 1960s, we always carried a winch, ground rod and sledge hammer in the car. Although these items were heavy, events then were more of a continuous fast run for two or three days. Thus, if you could get unstuck, the few minutes lost were usually not noticeable at the end.
The winch was normally used attached to a tree - sometimes across the road, which was a great incentive for those who had to stop to help you get going again. The down side to putting the winch cable across the road was that you would sometimes encounter someone like Gene Henderson who could be doubly intimidating based not only on his size but by the three foot long set of cable cutters that he carried in his car!!!
With the ground rod and sledge hammer it was possible to pull yourself out of almost anything without a tree in sight. Two foot deep gumbo on the prairies could even be defeated.
As the move to stage rallying began in the early 1970s, we dropped the sledge hammer and rod but kept the winch through the 1973 POR. In 1974, we discovered (courtesy of John Bellefleur) "bull bags".
These are inflatable canvass/rubber bags about 3 feet cubed. They are used for lifting aircraft out of soft soil and mud when they go off the runway. The bag folds down to minimal size, weighs almost nothing and is inflated using a hose attached to the bag and inserted over the end of the exhaust pipe while the engine is running. These bags will lift the car 3 feet in the air in about 15 seconds when placed under the car. Similarly, if placed between the side of the car and a ditch embankment, they will simply push the car back on the road within seconds. Fiat was so impressed with these bags, that they carried them in the works Fiat 124 Abarths on the 1974 Rideau Lakes and POR. Randy Black and I went off the road big time in the 1975 Canadian Winter Rally and would never have got out without a bull bag. In only about 5 minutes, we moved the car an incredible distance back onto the road and were able to continue to the end of the rally.
As for tow straps - basically useless. You have to rely on someone stopping and then that car must have sufficient traction to pull you out. OK if it is the sweep truck, but no good if you actually want to continue in the rally with minimal time lost.
I have watched every SCCA Pro Rally on television over the past two to three years and I am amazed how many of the top competitors have been stranded on a stage due simply to having got the car high centred on the edge of the road or having dropped the front or rear end of the car into a small ditch. With a bull bag they would be been on their way again is less time than it takes to change a tire.
Doug Woods
