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92RAGTOP
06-27-03, 08:19 PM
WHAT IS A ROAD RALLY?

It’s a way to enjoy your Vette. It’s more than a Sunday drive it’s a Sunday drive with a puzzle thrown in and a little friendly competition. More specifically it’s an event in which teams of people in cars follow a set of driving directions to get from a starting point of the Rally to the Rally finale. Along the way, the teams try to find answers to the Rally Master’s tricky questions.
The Road Rally is NOT a Race! Cars follow the printed instructions as closely as possible, observing safe, local speed limits as they look for the answers to the questions. The emphasis is on SAFETY, accuracy, observation and fun.

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN BE ON A TEAM?

How many people can you fit in a Vette? You don’t have to use your Vette, however, it is a CCDV event the firs C stands for Corvette, but if the weather turns on us and you don’t like to get your baby wet, saddle up the Minivan. You need at least two team members, a driver and a navigator, but any number of people can be on a team. However there are some important considerations to keep in mind. To equalize things a bit you will be given only one set of questions, the more people in your car the better you all have to be with communicating and listening. The old phrase “the more the merrier” is seldom the case with this type of Road Rally. We would recommend teams of (2) as optimal and much less nerve wracking.

WHAT SHOULD WE BRING?

Besides your Corvette, a working odometer, a driver and a navigator, all you need is a pen or pencil. There are a few things you may wish to bring but are not necessary to complete the Rally. A Pennsylvania/New Jersey map, clipboard, sunglasses, cell phone. And last perhaps the name of a good marriage counselor ha! Ha!

HOW DOES THE RALLY START?

Rally vehicles are sent off one by one, at times intervals. After a group welcome and announcements/instructions from the Rally Master, each car is lined up in a row and given a number to be written on the windshield (car dealer white marker). At Rally time, the first car is invited to the starting line by the Rally Master. At that point the team in the car will be given the direction sheet and the question sheet, and any last minute information from the Rally Master. Once the car is ready to go, the Rally Master will record their starting time and give them the go signal. The next team is then invited to the starting line, given their paperwork and instructions, and sent off anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes after the team ahead of them.

WHAT ARE THE DRIVING DIRECTIONS LIKE?

Let’s take a look at some examples:

• Start Turn LEFT when safe.
• 0.7 SLOW, stay towards RIGHT.
• 0.75 Turn SHARPLY RIGHT.
• 1.9 STOP. Turn LEFT when safe.

As you can see, the directions are as clear as possible and tell you where to turn according to odometer readings. Also the directions follow road signs. For example, when the odometer reading above indicated 1.9 miles there was a STOP sign at an intersection.

AREN’T ODOMETERS ALL A LITTLE DIFFERENT?

Definitely, so here and there during the Rally we throw in an Odometer Reality Check it looks like this: 2.0 ODOMETER REALITY CHECK – mine says 2.0 just as I passed the yellow RR sign.
If your odometer reads 2.0 before/after you pass the yellow RR sign you can safely assume that you’ll have to add/subtract a bit from the odometer listings in the directions. We also include odometer resets several times along the way, so that long distances don’t magnify any differences.

TELL ME ABOUT THE QUESTIONS?

Each team, in addition to the driving instructions receives a set of questions/clues that are interwoven between the driving instructions.
For Example:
• Start LEFT when safe.
• International __________________________________
• 0.7 SLOW, stay towards right.
• 0.75 Turn SHARPLY RIGHT
• Not the Pacific but the _________________________________________
• Ice Cream Nobility__________________________________________ ___
• What time is it? What time is it? ___________________________________
• 1.9 STOP. Turn left when safe.

As you can see, there are questions or clues placed between specific odometer readings, and a line for you to write in the most appropriate answer. All answers can be clearly seen from the car, between specified odometer readings traveling at the local speed limit. In the example above somewhere between 0.75 and 1.9 miles on the odometer there are three answers to be found.

• Not the Pacific but the Atlantic Fence Company
• Ice Cream Nobility Dairy Queen
• What time is it? What time is it? Jerry’s antique Clock Repair


WHAT ABOUT TRICKY QUESTIONS?

Well it’s like this, the Rally Master works day and night to perfect the driving instructions, making them as clear and easy to follow as possible. No team should ever have trouble getting from the start to the finish without getting lost. There are no tricks in the driving instructions. Some of the questions are another story. This is where the rally master has his devious fun. Some questions are obvious, some a bit less obvious, some are humorous. Some will be billboards large as a house or maybe a sign tacked to a telephone pole 1 foot wide. Some will be businesses or maybe a description of a building you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly. You will be able to see all the answers without having to look behind you.



WHAT ARE STOPS?

Stops are points along the Rally Route where you are instructed to park the car and get out for a short time. Usually 5 to 15 minutes. You may be asked to do something at a stop get something, take note of something who knows. Stops will also be located somewhere close to a restroom and a place to purchase refreshments if needed.

PICTURES?

Just to make it a little more interesting each car is given a sheet with some photos on it at the start of the Rally. You may be asked to place them in the order in which the scenes appear along the route, you may be asked in what town each photo was taken.

WHO WINS?

The team with the best combination of accurate time and correctly answered questions Wins!
Accurate time what does that mean? The Rally Master will run the course 3 times, accurately not making any mistakes and time each run, then calculate an average and use that as the course time. Knowing this you can see how it would be a mistake to backtrack to answer a missing clue.
For every minute greater than the accurate completion time you lose a point for every minute less than the accurate completion time you lose 10 points. Please take note of the point difference if you finish too soon which means you traveled faster than the posted speed limit it will be very unlikely for you to win.
For example let’s says the course takes 3 hours and 30 minutes you finish it in 3 hours and 40 minutes which is 10 minutes longer than you should have, 10 points will be deducted from your total score. However if you finish in 3 hours and 20 minutes which is 10 minutes sooner than you should have 100 (one hundred) points will be deducted. If in the unlikely event that throughout the course you got all the green lights, all the Buick LeSabres in front of you pulled over and all the Tractor trailer trucks disappeared and you did not speed, slow down a bit in the last leg and consider yourself the luckiest SOB in the world.

Correctly answered questions This is easy you receive one point for every correct answer.
In case of the unlikely event of a tie there will be a quiz given to those tied. The quiz will be made up of things seen along the Rally Route.

Example: out of 75 questions you answered 50 correctly and you were 5 minutes late.

50 answered correctly
-5 minutes late
45 your score

A perfect score would be 75. All questions answered correctly with no points deducted due to inaccurate time.

Donald Terranova
dpterranova@yahoo.com

STEVEN LONG
06-28-03, 04:36 PM
These types of events are a blast! About the only suggestion I would make would be to replace the deduction of points for being late, with points being deducted for excessive mileage on your odometer (check at beginning & stop). Another car club that I belong to found that they ran into insurance concerns for what was perceived as a TIMED event on public roads.

92RAGTOP
06-28-03, 10:43 PM
Steve I agree if the insurance company considers this a timed event we may have to use mileage instead of timing. The only problem here is that during a 100 mile course, 2 cars following one another precisely all the way will probably have different odometer readings. Many things can effect the odometer tire size,the age of the car,digital analog etc...
If we have to go to mileage, we can, however the Rally cars will have to be responsible for their own odometer accuracy.
But before we give up one timing let me put together a waiver for the drivers to sign, have the insurance people look it over and then take it from there.
Don Terranova

PS: I'm sure we have some Lawyer/CCDV Club Menbers that may be able to help us out. :D

STEVEN LONG
06-29-03, 04:18 PM
Perhaps the most important consideration is everyone's own insurance coverage. Most companies will not cover any damage if incurred during a timed event on public roads.

Most other Road Rallye's include a phone number, as well as a map sealed in an envelope ... in case someone gets lost. It's not always necessary to rely on the odometers ... you can also use instructions such as ... MAKE 3RD RIGHT AFTER FIRE HOUSE ... or ... WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE GAS STAION AFTER THE YIELD SIGN, etc.

92RAGTOP
06-30-03, 08:12 AM
Your correct Steve some Rallys do include a map and phone number. Those Rallys are based on clues and not specific directions. For instance a upcoming turn may be descibed as first left after 5965T, then right after H2O to spare. These are actually 2 clues that screwed me up on a Rally that I was in. The 5965T was one of those tiny aluminum plates that the phone company put on their telephone poles and H2O to spare was a water reserve. I missed both turns and needed to open the envelope. These Rallys have a very high failure rate, as a matter of fact if you make this your first Rally you may get discouraged and never do another. The Rally that I would suggest should be similar to the one I posted, there are many variations but it should be made difficult to get lost and the clues are only for accumulating points for the win. The clitch is that if you don't use timing, cars will be backtracking to find clues or worse yet going slower than the posted speed for fear of missing clues. If you use mileage you may end up with a few cars that end up following one another thru the entire course and finish with no wrong turns. Then the fun begins, each car's odometer may be a couple of tenths off , WHO DECIDES WHO'S RIGHT? NOT ME!! :rolleyes: If we use timing and each car departed at 5 minutes intervals and 3 cars show up together they can't all be right. Bottom line, today I am going to call my Insurance agent and get a definitive answer about this timing issue. If there is a problem we will have to use a different scoring system, no problem.
PS: Steve If this Rally takes off and we get a repeat group we can make future Rallys more challanging if thats what the group wants.

STEVEN LONG
06-30-03, 01:28 PM
<<5965T was one of those tiny aluminum plates that the phone company put on their telephone poles>>
---Well, that's just foolish to use something so obscure! Asking questions such as, "What's the price of Super Unleaded at the Exxon station" are "aditional" questions ... and not deemed to be for directional purposes. I understand what you mean about someone missing a turn ... but it happens. You can have some sort of follow-up after a turn ... to make sure that the driver is on track. Making a wrong turn is half of the fun!

Joel Fellman
06-30-03, 03:55 PM
Hey guys, we've had numerous ralleys - both easy and tricky! Both timed or with mileage. There was never a concern or problem! It's a Club event. It's NOT a race. I don't think there's any problem with the way you're planning to handle it. If you start to get legal opinions, the event won't occur until the next millenium!

STEVEN LONG
06-30-03, 04:27 PM
No problem with the types of rallye's ... but the insurance portion is very important! I am not about to risk waiving my insurance coverage on a club event. This is basic common sense stuff.

92RAGTOP
06-30-03, 05:56 PM
Hi Steve I called my Insurance Agent (Farmer's Insurance) and explained to him exactly what we had in mind emphazing how we are thinking about timing it. He assured me that so long as we obeyed the local rules of the road that we are basically on a Sunday drive and we would be fully covered. I kinda figured that was what the case, I asked him to run it past his home office just to double check, he said he would.
If this is still a concern Steve it would be worthwhile for you to contact your Insurance Agent and run it passed him.
Don

STEVEN LONG
06-30-03, 11:39 PM
Yes ... I have already done that, and I speak from experience (I have been in car clubs for more than 20 years).

Ask your agent to follow along with the following scenario: In the unlikely event of ANY colission damage ... once the opposing party (or your own insurance company) finds out that it was a TIMED event (even if you were making a legal u-turn) ... you are through ... case closed. Try arguing your case in front of a District Justice, or District Court ... "Your Honor, I was obeying all traffic laws ... just before the accident". GUILTY - JUDGEMENT ENTERED!

BTW - As I am sure you know ... your local agent does not decide what is a chargeable accident, and when you are liable for the incident. Ask your agent if he will put his statement in writing, and also, if he will be able to bind his company to his statement. I can tell you - his answer will be NO.

No need to get a legal opinion ... just common sense! I can't believe that this club would seriously entertain a TIMED event on PUBLIC roads, when a timed event on a closed course, on private property, was shot down due to extroardinary cost of an insurance binder by our own club insurance company. Hmmm ... go figure?

Joel Fellman
07-01-03, 01:51 PM
Who's nuts enought to tell their ins. co. they were racing or even on a timed ralley? and oh yes, I was drinking at the time but fortunately the drugs hadn't kicked in yet!
Why would or should this be considered anything different than a normal Sunday drive? We've got to drive our Vettes & this is just another FUN way to do it!
Accidents happen & that's why we have insurance! A necessary EVIL! that hopefully we never have to use.
Joel

STEVEN LONG
07-01-03, 03:18 PM
<<Accidents happen & that's why we have insurance! A necessary EVIL! that hopefully we never have to use.>>

---You are right Joel, but we should not fuel the fire, and include an additional risk. On my last Road Rally with the MB club, I was driving an awesome S600 that had encountered a minor breakdown. Within a few minutes, there were no less than 4 other MB's at my side to lend a hand (which was nice). The first thing out of the cop's mouth was, "Are you guys in a club, or what"?

Insurance is indeed a necessary evil ... but READ your policies ... I can almost guarantee that they ALL include a disclaimer against coverage for timed events. In addition, if you are involved in an accident ... you will almost assuredly be charged AT FAULT, regardless of who was actually at fault. Just offering insight, and past experience.

Thanks much!

RichRog
07-02-03, 02:31 PM
Don,

Sounds like a great time, count me in if the weather cooperates.


Steve,

If we don't put numbers on the windshields and do get involved in an accident, how would the police know the difference between a Sunday drive to a club sponsored picnic or a timed road rally event?