Rally racing is one of the most challenging and grueling forms of motor sport in the world. Rally is a type of sports car racing involving real sports cars on real roads going real fast! Battling against the road, the elements, oneself and competitors, it’s the ultimate durability test for a race car and a race team. Rally race vehicles are unique because they must also be street legal! These cars offer special appeal for race fans because they are the same cars they use in their daily lives! Combine the rough and tumble action of gravel road racing with the glamour and excitement of international sports car racing and you have rally racing.

RACE

Unlike most forms of racing, rally racing is not done by counting laps. In rally we compete on stages. Each team starts a “stage” where there is timing equipment and a timing card. They are given a start time and when it is their time they are off as fast as they can to the end of a stage where again there is timing equipment and they turn in their timing card to receive the time it took them to get there. Every team competes on the same stage, spaced apart at 1 minute intervals. Each team races in a “class” that is determined mainly by the power of the car and the driver and co-drivers experience.

Teams are provided a bit of a breather as they negotiate transit zones on open, public roads at normal, legal speeds. Transits link the stages together, providing what is truly cross-country racing in its purest and most exciting form!

The Team

The Rally Race Team consists of a Driver and Co-Driver or Navigator. Teams do not get to practice the course before the race. The teams see the course for the first time as they race. During the race, the roads are driven at race speed and the Co-Driver uses an on-board computer and course notes to instruct the Driver about turns and hazards on the stage. The driver and co-driver wear helmets with built in radios to communicate to each other. Mile after mile, for hundreds of miles, each driving team roars over forest roads, guided only by written instructions read at lightning fast speed by the co-driver.Over all kinds of terrain, through anything Mother Nature can serve up, the teams race on.The driver and co-driver are also required to use some of the most advanced safety equipment in the world. From seats, harnesses, fire suits, helmets everything is geared towards driver and co-driver safety.

SERVICE

The service crew is waiting in the designated service area for the cars to come to service between designated stages. Sometimes the crew has only minutes to service their cars.