Road Rally is generally described as Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallying. Any street-legal car can compete with a driver, a navigator, a functioning odometer and a timepiece. Generally speaking, those tools land you in the Novice or Seat-of-Pants (SOP) classes. If you add a calculator or auxiliary odometer, you move up to Equipped class. If you install a full rally computer you move into the Unlimited class. Some rally groups give different names to the classes but the equipment being used determines what class you’re in. Some rallies also include a separate class for vintage cars as well.
The objective of Road Rally is to follow the route instructions through a series of enjoyable roads while passing checkpoints at exactly the right time. Scores are based on how well you maintain the average speeds. The speeds are always at or below the posted speed limit in TSD events. Each second is a point, therefore if you pass a control 10 seconds early or 10 seconds late, you are given 10 points. The lowest cumulative score wins. Generally speaking, awards go to first through third in each class, Novice, SOP, Equipped and Unlimited.
The Pacific Northwest has several rally clubs that put on a variety of events. They range from beginner level events on pavement or gravel to more advanced challenges on snow and ice. Generally there are two types of Road Rallies. Touring Road Rallies traverse scenic roads and are suitable for first timers all the way up to extremely accurate Unlimited class teams. Then there are the trap style rallies which are designed to challenge teams on both the average speeds and determining the route itself. Trap rallies can include similarly named roads, tricky intersections, or limited instructions. Trap rallies are often shorter, but provide a fun extra challenge for both drivers and navigators.
Many of these events now use GPS based checkpoints with the Richta Rally “competitor” app. These GPS based rallies allow for a bit of instant gratification as you’ll get notification of how many seconds above or below the target speed target speed you are as you pass each checkpoint . The Richta app can be found here: : https://richtarally.com/apps.html
2025 Events in the Pacific Northwest:
coming soon….