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You are receiving this as an enthusiast of Road Rally in North America!
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Checkpoint Chat with Rich Bireta, RRB Chair
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Fourth Q, Rule Changes, Board Membership and Convention
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Fourth Quarter
In my day job, the fourth quarter of any calendar year is the peak time of work for us. The same is true on the SCCA RoadRally Board, with many date driven tasks needing to be completed by the end of the year. This month I’ll give you an update on what lies ahead for the RRB for the rest of 2016.
October – Rule Changes During our October meeting, the RRB will make a decision whether to accept or reject each of the 14 rule change proposals that have been suggested for next year. The calendar for rules changes requires proposed changes to be brought before the RRB by June 30. The RRB then takes an initial pass at the changes, reviews the rationale for each and takes a preliminary vote as to whether or not they should be released for public comment. This initial vote is only meant to eliminate any proposals that would have no chance of passage by the RRB.
Fourteen proposed changes passed the initial review and were released for comment by the rally community. To date, we've received comments from 17 individuals. Thank you to all of you who have responded. The deadline for submitting comments is October 8th. Our intention is to give significant weighting to the opinions from the rally community.
Following final action by the RRB at the October meeting, the rules changes that passed the RRB will be summarized and sent to the SCCA Board of Directors for consideration at their meeting in early December. The SCCA Board of Directors makes the final decision on each of the proposals.
November — RRB Membership 2017 An important order of business for the November RRB meeting is to recommend a slate of RRB members to the SCCA BOD for approval at their December meeting. I encourage anyone who would like to serve on the RRB to submit an email to rrb@scca.com before November 12th. Include a brief rally resume with your email.
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In previous years the November meeting is also available to finalize any unfinished business regarding rules changes. I am optimistic we can complete this task in October, but November is available if we need additional time.
December – Convention Preparations, Year End Awards, 2017 Kick Off
At our December meeting, the RRB turns its attention to the new year. We'll finalize the presentations and speakers for the SCCA Convention and vote on the Regional and Divisional Road Rally Awards. John Emmons, Deena Rowland and I will oversee the voting for the Gervais and Teter “Rally of the Year” Awards.
We'll also set some objectives that we can complete in 2017. Regional program development will be a top priority. This will include freshening up the road rally content at scca.com to make it easier to find road rally information, schedules, and documents for organizers.
YOUR End of Year Task We've started to see National events calendared for 2017, having heard from Arizona Border, Milwaukee, and South Jersey Regions about their dates and events for 2017. I encourage all road rally organizers to inform Jeanne English of your planned event dates so they can be placed on the Road Rally Planning Calendar for early notice to contestants and fellow organizers. Jeanne’s email is ean21@juno.com.
As always, I welcome your questions or comments to rbireta@gmail.com. Rich
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United States Road Rally Challenge - Nov 4-6th
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USRRC is 28 Days Away!
Come join New England Region of SCCA as it celebrates 50 years of Ted Goddard and Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge 50 Road Rally and A Bridge Too Far, will be headquartered at Mount Snow Resort, West Dover, VT on the weekend of November 4-6, 2016.
Have you registered your team yet? Head over to motorsportreg.com and register your team today!
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From the Home Office in the Arctic...
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Winter is in the Air!
Last months falling leaves have led to frosty roofs and termination dust on the mountains!
An unplanned trek to Boonville, Missouri, took my husband and I to a family funeral September 27-October 4th. While flying out, I considered that this would be the last time this branch of Father's maternal family would be together. Yet an intersting thing happened.
I delighted in seeing cousins not seen in over thirty-years, yet meeting the names on my family tree led to newly formed friendships beyond just names on paper.
Much like road rally, there is a core who believe. Rallying has the faithful who come out to events or volunteer to work an event. And, through the celebration of life for my Great Uncle Bob Martin and Aunt Helen Roth Martin, I have a new family brought together by their passing this world. I learned some enjoy road racing and have actually sponsored some SCCA Runoff winners. Jennifer Cody, a cousin from New Mexico, had the Alcan 5000 on her bucket list! Who knew!
And yes! Of course I put in my pitch for the USRRC over the September 15-17, 2017 Weekend. She placed in her iCal, so who knows — we may have a team from New Mexico entered next year!
For many of of us here in Alaska, when we fly out to America for business or personal travel, we often take in as much as we can. It was no different for us on this trip. After getting to our first destination at 1101P on the 28th, I looked at the distance to the RallyCross Nationals in Iowa. It was only three hours from Kansas City, and we decided to make the run north on our one free day the 30th. My husband was surprised by how many people knew me! I heard a female voice calling my name repeatedly, yet at first I thought they were calling someone else — who would know me? It was Andrea Albin from our SCCA National office! She was making her first laps in a RallyCross and I believe she was enjoying it by the broad smile on her face! I sought out a few members of the RallyCross Board for conversation. I was called over to the car of Warren Elliott (who had been up on Alaska holiday this summer with his father and I shared an evening with them in Palmer), yet he was out by the time I arrived. I was greeted with a hug and a "What are you doing here? I didn't think I'd see you until next month for the USRRC!" Speaking of which Scott Belevieu and Chris Ragan were there from New England — both active with the USRRC matters coming up soon!
And, our RReNews? I admit I was stunned by Karl Sealander's comment about a photo that was in a recent edition. As some of you have heard me say, "I send this out and I don't know who is out there reading!" It is reassuring to know that folks are seeing us and reading about road rally matters!
And the comment that made me laugh? After learning of strides the SCCA RallyCross program had made through the SCCA Board and my commenting, "You know my sport," referring to road rally. The gent was aware, replying "You are worse off than we are."
I have been pleased with the small pockets of rallying that are growing across the US. My Region struggles with the ratio of hours by organizers to number of entrants. Yet I remain ever faithful and have been encouraged by new participation and interest here too! We'll see where it leads us in the next twelve months!
In the meantime, thank you for being a part of my Road Rally Family! Safe travels, Cheryl Lynn
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Road Rally eNews Needs YOU!
Please choose to increase awareness of your events via calendaring when you have the date, to writing pre-event and post event articles to invite and entice folks to come rally with you.
RReNews is intended to bring awareness to Road Rally across North America. Yes, I am a part of the SCCA Road Rally Community, yet John F Kennedy's quote, “The rising tide lifts all the boats.” applies to Road Rally as well! More awareness leads to more participation, more enthusiasm, more Rallymasters, and stronger Road Rally programs across America!
- We strive to have have some consistent contributions: Thompson with NEC News
- My First Road Rally column (are YOU writing yours?)
- Nemeth-Johannes with rally development ideas
- Bireta addressing the SCCA Road Rally Community, Rally APP Developers
- SCCA Championship Standings by Emmons
- Road Rally Planning Calendar by English and Rowland SCCA RRB Minutes
- Words from the Wheel
We continue to appreciate Rallymasters and Organizers who submit their information and follow-up with post-event stories! From
independent clubs, SCCA, PCA, BMW, British or other marque club – you are all invited to support Road Rally and bring awareness.
Please, pass along the text-2-join information above at your next Road Rally! It truly takes less than 45-seconds and two texts to complete!
Rallymasters, Organizers and those of you who handle your clubs' webpages or
Facebook
matters — we can provide you a link to send out in a Facebook post, place on your Website, or via an email directly to your competitiors — help us gain exposure for
RReNews in 2016!
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November RReNews
• My First Rally
from Jake "AKSTIG" Engstrom
• Updates in
There's an APP for That
• An article from YOU on your rally adventures or an upcoming Road Rally in your area perhaps?
It was recently pointed out to me that
many are still surprised Road Rally eNews is still with our road rally community. Sometimes, to be quite honest, so am I! It is the sharing by each of you — whether a volunteer serving their program or an enthusiast — that have helped us to succeed. We are seeking some marketing items to pay the annual bills, and I hope you'll be there to support that too!
A Note on the Side...
Road Rally eNews is put together by volunteers. We strive to make an edition to the first of the month, yet while awaiting contributions, it slides back. I want to apologize to those who have made the deadlines. Know that in good faith we have strived to get each edition out in a timely manner.
It is true, the SCCA RRB has asked for contributions prior to this edition. And now we are down to a 24-hour deadline for those who may want to send their contributions. My apologies for the lateness in sharing your goal to have the most input for the issues at hand Chairman Bireta.
Certainly, not all contributions are dated, yet as we work towards getting out dates for events this will become more important and timeliness comes into play.
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SCCA Regional RoadRally Development
by Jay Nemeth-Johannes
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Planning the Course – First in a Series
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In Promoting Your Rally, in the August 2016 Road Rally eNews, we touched lightly on selecting the format of your event. This month we are going to start the job of
laying
out the course for a TSD-style event.
- The very first step is to determine where the event is going to start (and possibly end). There are some things to consider when choosing a starting location:
- First, it needs to be "rally friendly."
- The site must have the cooperation of the owner, and it is much better if the owner is enthusiastic about having the event start there too.
- The start location should also be near a gas station, restrooms and possibly a fast food restaurant.
- It should be near the anticipated rally territory.
- A common location where contestants can feel comfortable is good, yet don't let that "common location" force you to use the same roads over and over.
Once you have the start confirmed, you can begin to plan your route. You have between 10 and 20 miles for an odometer calibration check to get them to the rally roads. I try to avoid putting them on the freeway, but sometimes that is the only answer to get away from congested urban areas.
As a general rule, avoid building a rally around one particular trap or intersection. Try to develop a flow of roads, while keeping the following in mind - breaks and control locations.
You will want to provide periodic breaks. These serve two purposes.
- First, they help in keeping the event social by allowing the contestants a chance to get out of the car and socialize.
- Just as important, the break is used to let your control crews time to move to a new location.
Try to plan your breaks in an area where gas, snacks, and restroom facilities are available. They also want to be located after all your crews are ready to move.
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Controls need to be on lightly used roads where there is room for the cars to pull over. You can't place a control on the side of a highway, so you will need to use those "less traveled" ones. They tend to be more fun at any rate. Be careful in choosing control locations. They should be away from houses and any open business unless you have spoken to the property owner and received permission. It is much easier to move controls if the contestants need to travel longer distances than the crews. The diagram shows the rallyists running long distances between two larger roads, while one checkpoint crew can move from CP1 to CP3 to CP5 and the other from CP2 to CP4.
Look for the scenic roads whenever necessary. Try to avoid course following traps until you gain some experience. Traps that take contestants on different routes may be difficult to get right. If you need to have traps, try to use the ones that only have extra pauses. We will talk more about traps in a future article.
When planning the route, figure it will take as much as twice as long to run it than it takes you to drive it. Rally speeds are always below the speed limit, and time is lost in breaks and at controls. Plan accordingly.
I make use of Google Maps as a tool these days for early planning. I will present an article in a future RReNews on using Google maps to create routes. The trick is to use these maps as a tool, and don't rely on them to be 100% accurate.
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Upcoming Road Rally Events
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The Saint Louis Region Monopoly 4 RoadRally is this Sunday, Oct. 9. We hope you can join us.
The details:
- The start: Rookies Bar and Grill, 3721 New Town Blvd, St. Charles, MO 63301 (just north of I-370 and across from the MotoMart).
- Registration: Noon to 12:45 p.m. (Drivers meeting @ 12:45 p.m.).
- 1st car departs the start: 1:01 p.m.
- What you need: A car, a driver and a navigator, a clipboard, pencils and paper, and an inclination to take a Sunday afternoon drive.
- Entry fee: $20.00 (cash or check the day of the rally, no advanced registration necessary).
- Duration: about three hours and 65 miles
- Finish: Same as the start.
For more information, reach out to Tom vonHatten, aka the “March Hare,” via phone 314-741-0508 or email at tom.vonhatten@gmail.com or stlscca.org—or visit the St. Louis Region’s Facebook page.
As with Tom’s Monopoly 3 back on April 10, this edition of Monopoly is based on the board game.
Again, we hope to see you Oct. 9
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The NEOKLA Region of the Sports Car Club of America presents the AREA 51 ROAD RALLY for all vehicles with four wheels that are street-legal.
This event will be held on Sunday, October 23rd. Registration can be done at www.motorsportreg.com or at the event.
The ENTRY FEE is $15.00 per car.
There will be two CLASSES:
- STANDARD CLASS is for rally teams wishing to compete under the standard DRIVER/NAVIGATOR concept.
- 2-4-1 CLASS (2 drivers-4-1 car) is for rally teams that wish to "swap seats" every other LEG.
The rally is based on the idea that many SOLO or RALLYCROSS entrants do not rally because NAVIGATORS traditionally do not drive. The 2-4-1 CLASS eliminates this. This rally has been set up with pairs of legs with portions that BOTH team members get to drive. In addition, all leg pairs have paved and unpaved portions to please both SOLO and RALLYCROSS drivers.
This is a "matching time" road rally that is set up for the first-time entrant. Basic numbered instructions will take the rally teams through the course. Each instruction on the TIMED LEGS will have a MATCH TIME. The rally teams can "practice" arriving on time at each timed instruction, however, the rally will be scored at the CONTROLS.
The CONTROLS are in the instructions and also have the MATCH TIME as part of their instructions. Each team will attempt to arrive at the CONTROL exactly on time. The teams that come the closest for all the legs are the winners.
We will meet in the Tractor Supply Company parking lot located at 810 W. Rogers Blvd. in SKIATOOK, OKLAHOMA. Rogers Blvd is Highway 20. Tractor Supply Company is located on the S.W. corner of
Rogers Blvd and Lombard intersection.
The AREA 51 SCHEDULE:
- 8:00 am Registration and Tech opens at Tractor Supply parking lot.
- 8:30 am Competitor's Meeting
- 8:45 am approx. Caravan START
- 9:45 am approx. REST BREAK at FAST TRACK in BARNSDALL
- 10:00 am approx. START LEG 1A
- 11:10 am approx. LUNCH BREAK at SIMPLE SIMON'S in RAMONA
- 12:15 pm RESTART
- 2:45 pm approx. REST BREAK
- 3:00 pm RESTART
- 4:00 pm FINISH at CHARLIE'S CHICKEN in SKIATOOK. Awards shortly thereafter.
More Info? CONTACT Rallymaster GARRY DEATON at gregaryus@yahoo.com or at (918) 492-3602 for more information.
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SCCA Matters —
Minutes, Planning Calendar, Championship Points
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SCCA Road Rally Board Minutes
by Jeanne English, RRB Secretary
This month we present the September 12, 2016 Minutes
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SCCA National Championship Standings
The RoadRally Competition Season is now a calendar year – January to December.
John Emmons
is the 2016 Points Keeper for the SCCA National Championship. This month we present the points for National Tour, Course and GTA through August 18th.
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SCCA Road Rally Planning Calendar
All SCCA Regions are encouraged to Sanction their events through the National Office as soon as the date is known – it will get it out on the planning calendar, a listing in SportsCar and let fellow Rallymasters know that date is already taken. And, perhaps most important, it helps Rallyists plan their travels to your Rally!
Jeanne English
maintains this calendar, with input from
Deena Rowland of the National Office as sanctions come in from Organizers. Seek out the latest calendar off the www.scca.com website via the About SCCA and the Downloads tab!
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Road Rally Events Happening in 2016-2017
Does your Club, Region, Chamber of Commerce or a neighbor town have events planned this year?
Please send RReNews the date, event details, and the contact information. Email them to RReNews@comeroadrallywith.us for our North American Road Rally calendar. This online calendar is for all marque clubs, independent car clubs and SCCA Regions, as well as community events in your hometowns!
We want to help you bring awareness to your events and the sport of Road Rally across North America. We are trying to make your initial input smoother — and we hope to share that in our October edition of RReNews!
Pre-event or post-event write-ups of special events? Send them and event photo(s) to us for sharing the event with fellow Rallyists as well. Share your enthusiasm and success!
We are still on target for mid-October, when we'll hope to unveil the changes on our webpage to better help promote events and share the road rally news on North America. As always, we welcome your comments 'n kudos!
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Road Rally eNews is produced in association with the Sports Car Club of America
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