SCCA Gimmick Rally

[ccage]

Ok, so I'm sure a number of you received the email from the SCCA regarding their upcoming May 7 gimmick rally...

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Subaru of Dallas and SCCA present
The Rally to the Race
A RoadRally for all vehicles sanctioned by The Texas Region SCCA

This event will be a gimmick rally from Subaru of Dallas to Texas Motor Speedway, for the SCCA Sunburn® Road Races Saturday, May 7th; rally registration 9:00am, first car out 10:00am.

The rally will start at the Subaru of Dallas dealership at 5403 Lemmon, Dallas (south of Inwood). You will need a driver, co-driver, something to write on (clipboard or something similar), and a pencil. No rally experience is required.

The end of the rally course will be in the parking lot of the Texas Motor Speedway Souvenir shop at the track in Fort Worth. Instructions will direct you from there to parking inside the track. Lunch is available at the restaurant at the track.

Entry fee: $20 per car for those who pre-register, and $25 “at the door”. This fee includes 2 free tickets to the SCCA road races for Saturday and Sunday at TMS. You may pre-register by mailing a $20 check (made out to “Texas Region SCCA”) to REGISTRAR, 702 West Shore Drive, Richardson, TX 75080. Note: racing will also be happening on Friday at TMS, and those who have pre-registered can get a free pass for Friday, as well, just by asking.

[There's a time schedule, but I'm too lazy to reformat.]

The rally course covers nearly 80 miles of scenic North Texas roads, 95% of which are paved. Instructions will be given to avoid the all-weather, unpaved roads if you like, but you will miss a couple of scoring opportunities.

Please join us for a morning of driving fun, whether you drive a Subaru, a sports car, or a family sedan! Then plan an afternoon (or a whole weekend) at Texas Motor Speedway for the road races. The next rally in the SCCA series will be announced at the drivers meeting.

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IMHO, I've never really been a fan of gimmick rallys. I love TSD (even though I'm not that great at them) because they feel like actual competition as opposed to "tooling around yuk yuk" which is how gimmicks seem to me. Unfortunately though, rally just isn't big here, and it's rare that anyone's willing to take the "risk" of presenting the public with something as "complex" as a TSD rally.

But, it is a rally nonetheless, and might be interesting. Is there any interest among you guys (and ladies)?

Chuck

PS: <rant> I know, SCCA did a TSD last year and I didn't go. My bad. The real bummer is that the Texas Region SCCA Rally page is always out of date. Right now they're showing the 3/27/04 TSD as their only event. For a while (a few years ago) I joined DSCC -- lots of expert rallyists -- but they seemed more engaged in setting up rallys for other clubs that I couldn't participate in -- the PCA comes to mind. TSD can be really fun, is real competition, and is a great way to have fun with your car. Isn't there someone out there willing to put on these events? </rant>

[onething]

I did a gimmick rally once. Came in second The amazing part was my co-driver had never rallied either and we finished almost 45 min late. Our second place was entirely based on having all the questions answered correctly. We missed a turn near the end and spent all our penalty time trying to find it. We finally went to the next point we could locate and didn't miss any clues :)

I put together a gimmick rally for a LSMC weekend event I tried to host. Nobody wanted to go to East Texas and 1st Monday in Canton, so it was a waste.

The biggest problem I have with rallying of any kind is time (no pun intended). I might be able to squeeze this in before I have to report for duty to the Solo Dogs detail that is hosting dinner Saturday night.

Somebody else wants to see what this is all about - I might be more likely to go.

[gabkwong]

I never done any and like see how it is done. It definitely increase my chance of going if one of you more expereince racer is going.

[Treibenschnell]

Sounds like fun...


I remember ccage telling me about TSD rallies... they sound like a blast... provided I don't get lost!!

[OzCop]

I hope we can generate some interest in this event. I plan to enter, although I am not a rally guy. I nearly got divorced because of them when I first hooked up with SCCA back in 85. My spouse and I could not agree, me being the driver and she being the navigator. Still, it's fun to do this stuff just for the sheer pleasure of driving with other folks...

[ccage]

I'm going to stick it on the calendar and try to make it. Road rally really is a fun way to do things with your car. I always loved TSD because it felt to me like more "car stuff" than just hanging out -- not that there's anything wrong with that of course -- but was something you could do with your street car and could even bring friends/spouses/etc. along. (Assuming, of course, that you can agree to leave the disagreements in the car -- sometimes more difficult than it sounds!)

I'll get some more information about this, and maybe we could get a little group together to go. And I'm going to look into seeing if there's any way we can get some TSD going again.

Chuck

[jolberry]

Never done a gimmick Rally, but it sounds like fun. I think the wife and I are going to par-take in this. We discussed it last night and agreed that she would navigate and I would not question her no matter how right I am. I know....this is going to be hard!

[onething]

As my I told my oldest friend at the start of the rally mentioned above, "During this event #%*^@$#@@!!! will be considered a term of praise. Please do not be offended."

We nearly missed the first turn because he was laughing so hard.

Have fun - this aint WRC.

[onething]

Dear Hal,
Thank you for your entry. We are sending you an entry form to fill out and return to us. You are the first entrant to reply, therefore you are car #1. Your name is on the list and you are marked "Paid."
Thank you,
Betty Lanz,
Registrar, Rally to the Race

Anybody else gonna actually sign up for this thing??? Already car #1. Guess the rest of you might as well stay home :P[/i]

[jolberry]

I'm mailing my check at the end of the week. I guess a lot of people are waiting til the last minute. Is there a real link explaining in more detail about this event? I seached around on the SCCA website and could not find anything about the rally.

[onething]

SCCA RALLY LINKIE

This one works, I think.

[onething]

Man - if you guys don't get off your butts, I'm guaranteed a top 10 finish!!!

onething,
So far we have six entries. Your entry form has arrived. We expect more to arrive soon. See you May 7th!
Betty Lanz, Registrar
Rally to the Race

[TurboDuane]

I'm going to the Dyno Day to test my new mappings

[jolberry]

I just paid my entry fee....Soooo is anyone else going?

[onething]

What a lesson! Actually, many lessons:

1. Big fast Viper Convertibles and Soobies with National Sponsors can really fly past the answers to questions.
2. Big fast Vipers and Soobies are allowed to pass on country two lane roads at hills with double yellow stripes.
3. Read all the instructions thoroughly - repeatedly.
4. Read all the questions before the end of the event - some of the questions had to do with counting things all through the rally.
5. Tommy Saunders has a E-Type!
6. I can do tech inspecitons when drafted.
7. Profanity does not have to enter into the driver / codriver conversation.
8. Directions to the awards ceremony come in handy - bring them with you so you aren't late to said ceremony.
9. 36 cars out doesn't mean 36 cars will find the end - even if you tell them the end is at TMS

We had a blast!!! Certainly as much fun as the last event and a bit more challenging.

Ya shoulda been there

[Treibenschnell]

Sounds like you got passed a whole lot... and had lots of fun!

[jolberry]

Yeah, you guys missed out on something different. Fun roads and great scenery...It was tons of fun even though my wife and I came in the last 5 in beginner class. And hey we didn't even get in a fight about directions or answers to the questions COunt me in for the next one.

[onething]

After a rather pointed phone call from POS Racer, I realized that I forgot to mention our 9th overall & 6th in class finish.
I listed our excuses above (#3,4, & 6)

[tailchaser]

Are you sure about #7? Or is that just because I've always done TSD's with a co-driver recruited at the last split-second... They always started cursing up a storm when they realized why they had to sign that waiver...

[onething]

I almost started cursing when the Viper passed us the second time in the no passing zone, but Tom was even cool then.

Gimmick aint the same as TSD; not a race but more like a walk with CSI = all about the clues I think all the Soobie drivers thought they'd entered a minnie WRC