VBMMC 2026 Winter Table Top Rally

This is a regurgitation of a recent Facebook post on our RRDG Facebook Group page and my personal Feed. I thought it may fit here as well, so here you go. – Gary

This is day 2 of the Winter Table Top Rally series from the Venture Bound Members Motoring Club. I’ve made earlier postings about this biannual challenge (and at the same time have tried to cajole people to join in the fun), but how exactly do these things work?

Entering one of these rallies (either the Summer or Winter version) is a simple matter of visiting the VBMMC website, paying the entry fee of 15 British Pounds, and waiting for day 1. Each morning during the rally, I receive a notice of that day’s “regularity” being available on the portal. Once it’s downloaded and printed in colour and I’m armed with highlighters, a pencil, eraser and magnifying glass, it’s time for the games to begin.

Start and finish locations are marked on the included map section, and a direction of departure and arrival is provided. The goal is to navigate from the start to the finish, via the provided instructions, using the shortest possible route and without repeating any roads.

Each day’s method of navigation is different and unknown in advance. Yesterday, we needed to navigate by crossing grid lines in the order specified in the daily instructions. Today, six grid squares are provided which must be visited in order. Two grid squares are marked as out-of-bounds, and you can bet both of those are on the obvious shortest route!

Other methods of navigation include tulips, herringbone diagrams, intercepting spot heights in order (without going through other spot heights), farm-to-farm navigation, map symbols and even poetry with the directions and hints included in the poem!

The plotters at VBMMC are devious and have been steeped in the competition of European endurance and classic rallies, so you need to be very careful with what you’re doing. I always think if a certain day seems too easy, I’ve probably missed something and need to revisit my plotting!

Once the route plotting is done, you’ll then be faced with a question such as “How many times do you pass under power transmission lines?” You need to count this on the map and make note of the number. If your map plot is wrong, your number could be wrong too. At the end of the week, Elise sends out a “key” where you can transpose your numbers to letters to form a word. At the end of the two weeks and if your weekly words are correct, you’re entered in a draw for prizes.

Anyone can do this, but to be honest it does help to have some basic map using knowledge and an idea of how road rallying works. I’ve done both the summer and winter Table Tops for the past few years (as well as a couple of practice Table Tops) and I can’t wait for the next one to come around. It’s a ton of fun and great mental exercise for this old brain of mine.

Drop us a line if you want more info, or visit the VBMMC website. Rally on!