Road Rally

A road rally is a course-finding contest. A driver-navigator team attempts to cover a predetermined but unknown course laid out over public roads. Classes are based on equipment, which can range from computer-equipped rally cars to those with no special gear at all beyond a stopwatch. Many regions also add a novice class for rallies. Speeds are always legal highway speeds. Most common is the TSD rally – time, speed, distance – where the rallymaster establishes precise average speeds that must be driven during the course of the rally. The object is to arrive at checkpoints exactly on time, neither early nor late. A local TSD may last an hour or two, while higher-level competitions may go for several hours. “Gimmick” rallies may use other means to take the rallyists through the course, including puzzle solving, hare-and-hounds, poker runs, map following, or whatever a rallymaster might imagine. Often designed to lead the rallyists off course, the contest is to determine the exact mileage of the true course. In some years there also has been a Divisional-level Midwest Division Road Rally Championship, a series of TSD rallies leading to driver and navigator championships in the Equipped, Limited and Stock classes. If not a member, Weekend Membership is required to participate in the events, but full membership is required to score points in the championship. Rally teams also may aspire to the U.S. Road Rally Championship, a series of three events in as many days conducted by a host Region to be determined by SCCA.