Two Lane Blacktop
 

I love motor sports! From go-karts to Formula One, it’s all very exciting. I need to be involved in car events and I have tried many types of competitions, from Formula Ford racing to autocross to rallies. It can be very expensive to run some of these events, so now, I concentrate on winning Monte Carlo Rallies. They are affordable and expose you to amazing scenery.

I’ve been running TSD sports car rallies since 1965. My first one was an SCCA National Championship Event in Houston, Texas when I was a senior in high school. It was a tremendously difficult event and we were lost most of the time. It hooked me on this form of motor sports, because it combined driving skill with navigational skill. In the Air Force, I ran Time Speed Distance Rallies in Oklahoma City, Oxford (England), and Denver.

After moving to Los Angeles, I discovered the “Into the Night” Rally Team and learned about Monte Carlo Rallies. These are much more fun! Gone, were the complicated math and the difficult rules. Instead, we had simple timing and maps to follow. That means you can drive whatever speed you’re comfortable with! The magnificent scenery of Southern California made this a prime hobby of sports car nuts like me, who love motor sports, but don’t really want to bang up their car on a race track.

The ITN Team is putting on a short event, perfect for first timers called, “Two Lane Blacktop”, on September 12. It will start in Santa Clarita and take us on a fascinating tour of great canyon roads and river valleys. We will cruise over mountains, through forests and see some very interesting historical sites.

The people who run these events are fun-loving characters. They help each other out and share a lot of information with newcomers to make the events more exciting. Many of them tell amazing stories of rallies from all over the United States. They bring out all kinds of cars, too.

Subaru’s are very popular and we see lots of Japanese cars including Honda’s (S2000), Toyota’s, Mitsubishi’s (Evo) and Nissan’s (350Z). We see teams in Jaguar’s, Mercedes’ and BMW’s. PT Cruisers have won events and so have teams in pickup’s and SUV’s. One time, a team ran in a Rolls Royce. One of our strongest teams runs in a Toyota Matrix. Sometimes, we see some really fast Pro-rally cars, muscle cars and exotic sports cars compete, too. We will be bringing out the Arntz, of course. You see, the car is really not important, navigating and driving skill is!

You don’t need much equipment to compete. A good wristwatch will do for timing and a clipboard to hold maps. You want to be sure your tires are in good shape and that there is air in the spare (I don't have a spare, just two cans of flat fixer). I usually check all the car’s fluids, too. I have to be more concerned about my own condition than the car’s. At 62, I try to do some exercise twice a week and eat right so that I have the stamina to run the longer events. My navigator is almost my age and he sometimes drives when I need a break.

A navigator who can read maps and help follow the course is very important for Monte Carlo Rallies. I have seen single drivers win events, but it is pretty difficult. You can bring a girlfriend, wife, son or daughter and have some bounding time and this can really add to the fun. The simple problem solving challenges of Monte Carlo Rallies can provide an excellent team building experience with whomever you run with. After you try one, you may come to love them as much as I do! Hope to see you on Saturday, September 12. Please write me if you have any questions.

Rallysnake

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...m/2lanefly.jpg

When i was a kid my mom and dad did those rallies in northern california(mid 60's to early70's) and they were a lot of fun then and we had trophies and dash plaques all over the house from all the events they would partisipate in. I didnt know they still did those type of things,still sounds like fun,good luck

Rallies have died out in many parts of the country. It is a LOT of work to put these events on and the organizers don't make any money! We are very fortunate to have an organization here in SoCal who loves this sport enough to keep it going. That's why I try very hard to support them by posting information on websites and at businesses. More competition means more fun!

Some of the events we ran in the 90's had 150 teams entered. We had whole groups of BMW's and Porches and other makes. It was very hard to beat the seasoned veterans, too. These days, with the easy to run beginner class, anyone can win.

Rallysnake

Well all i know is it was a lot of work back then also, that was something they did almost every weekend,sometimes we kids got to go and sometimes we didn't and after the rallie they would meet up at a pizza parlor( owneed by one of the ralliers) and they would hand out trophies and dash plaques and drink beer half the knight.

Hi Rallysnake!
That is gonna be a Blast! Wish I couls beam myself over.
The Main Line sports Car Club (philly burbs) is having a rally the Sunday of Halloween. We do easy ones but they are a lot of fun.........if anyone is interested?

JB,

Man, I wish I could be there for that one. I was in Philly as few years ago and saw the original houses of congress and the liberty bell. I didn't see much of the terrain though. What are the rally roads like?

Paul

Okay, so I am completely inexperienced; let me get this straight...

You drive to different locations instructed by someone, you are timed in getting there, if you get there first to all of those places, you win. Right? What am I missing? This I assume is an all day event, correct?

Help me out please. I am interested.

And I thought you were talking about that high-budget movie with James Taylor!
Larry

Me too! I was wondering how you were going to work a '55 Chevy into the Cobra forum. About 7/8ths of the way thru I realized.... you were'nt!
One of my favorite movies.

I wonder if RallySnake has been looking for the money Smiller Grogan burried under the big "W" in Santa Clarita?

Two Lane Blacktop- the Rally!
 

Xavier,

There will be a short class before the rally to explain it all. But, it's really pretty simple: You are given a set of maps and instructions. The instructions tell you where the checkpoints are on the maps and exactly what time to be there.

You drive to the checkpoint and find a timing car there with a hose stretched across the road. You drive across the hose on the exact second that you are supposed to be there (not early or late). Then, you stop at the timing car and they write your score on your timing card.

You proceed to each checkpoint, in order, and collect all your scores. The team that does this most accurately wins the trophy. There are three different classes and beginners have just as much chance of winning as us old timers.

You do not have to speed. You do not have to do any wild maneuvers. Just find the right place and be there on time, exactly on time. This is harder than it sounds and that's where the fun comes in. I practice by running over a broomstick many, many times. We usually hit most of the checkpoints on the zero. It's like golf, the lowest score wins.

The other things that make it fun are the interesting roads and scenery that the Rallymaster takes us through. Also the chance to see how your car compares to other cars. Some people like to go faster. Others like to take it real easy. Which group are you in? ;)

Rallysnake

Okay, I am getting most of it, thanks for the explanation. I went to a lot of web sites last night and was trying to digest some information.

So the challenge is, you really do not know how long it is going to take to get there, but if you get there faster, you can stall somewhere and wait to drive over the magic hose right?

Where does the Ralllymaster fit in? If you are all going individually, all timed apart, what is this dude doing?

Hey thanks for the explanation and the opportunity.

Xavier,

The Rallymaster is the guy who drove all the back roads to pick the best ones, plotted out the rally, set up a test run to make sure it all works with a few cars, he works some of the checkpoints and does the scorekeeping. He is Joe Akerman and he has invested a lot of time, sweat and money to put these events on. He's a great guy and you will see him at the pre-rally class and at the finish.

Yes, the cars are timed out at one minute intervals. You have just enough time to get to the checkpoint if you stay on course. If you get there early, you can drive slowly on the shoulder (but not stop) until your time to run over the hose. The hose is connected to a pnuematic switch that stops a very accurate clock in the timing car so they can give you the correct score.

I have to admit, one the best parts is if you make a mistake and get to run a "little faster" to make up the time. It is good to have a radar detector.

Paul

In November, we will run a much longer rally to Las Vegas. It’s mentioned on the website too: http://carzero.freeservers.com/.

Paul

That is the type of racing that I really like as you don't have to have a fortune to sink into a car. I wish we still had them up here in Northern Calif., but anything to do with racing or performance seems to be against the law around here now. One thing I noticed that they had here when we had those type races that you never mentioned so I am guessing they don't use it there. At each checkpoint they also took down your mileage and it and the time was used together to decide who won. I know of one person who took a wrong turn and backed up for 5 miles to get the extra mileage off his speedometer. Have fun and I wish I could be there to enter.

Ron :)

Ron,

A number of teams used to come down from the bay area to run these rallies. It was so exciting to run with over 100 teams all the way to Las Vegas. Man, there were some amazing stories!

Paul

It Was a Great Event
 

The Cobra Team took home the first place trophy. (See Two lane Blacktop, the Result.)

RallySnake