SCCA PRO Rally

What Is It Like To Watch A PRO Rally?

There is very little in this world that can compare to the excitement of watching a rally car at speed. You are standing on a gravel roadside in the absolute middle of nowhere, probably in the weeds, or standing on a stump. It has taken long enough to get here and then wait, by now you are really anxious for something to happen. Then you hear it...very faint at first. What was that? A popping noise? It sounds like it has an echo, but maybe you just imagined the whole thing...Wait...there it is again, this time with a faint roar...Now you can hear it, in the distance, a car's engine, silence, and then a short burst of backfires. The volume increases, the pitch of the engine wavering as the driver modulates the throttle...it is definately coming this way! All of the sudden, the car bursts into view, a flash through the trees, cresting the hill. Coming into the right-hand turn, just about the time you are beginning to really get worried about how much speed the car is carrying, the front of the car abruptly pitches down as the driver hits the brakes. Simultaneously, the blowoff valve starts chattering away like a scolding squirrel, there is a huge "POP" of a backfire, and the back end of the car steps out ten degrees or so towards the _inside_ of the upcoming corner. The nose stays down, rear end riding high, for only a second or so, but it seems an enternity to be braking that hard and holding the car slewing sideways into the corner, maintaining a few degrees of drift on the loose surface. Almost instantly the rear end violently snaps the other direction, now hanging towards the outside of the turn.. All four wheels are spraying a wave of gravel, and the engine rises and falls as the driver steers through the corner with the throttle. As the car begins to straighten out, the wheels still spinning, but the engine is now holding revs at close to redline. The car hooks up and you watch its small form disappearing through a slight hanging cloud of dust. Upshifts are coming up about one a second, and punctuated by a "PHK!" and a flash of flame out the exhaust...keep that turbo spinning! Now, only seconds after the spectacle began, the car is gone. You taste the dust and are just becoming aware of the blood circulating in your ears, when you hear the echo of the revs of a downshift off the trees. You strain in hopes of hearing it again, but no, it is gone. WHEW! You are just returning to reality and don't quite know how to react, but that was SOMETHING!

Performance rally is complicated enough it isn't always readily apparent from watching how the race is run. The cars race flat out for hundreds of miles on forest roads. They are released at either one ot two minute intervals, and each car is timed on each section of the course. The sections are called stages, and the flat-out racing takes place on the "special stages." The lowest overall time is the winner. There may also be "transit stages" which connect special stages together; these are run more like a TSD rally, where the cars are trying to acheive a certain (legal) average speed. Since the transit stages often are or include sections of public roads, all the rally cars have to be registered. The schedule and conditions are very demanding, and each team is given only a few minutes a day to work on the cars, executing any repairs or maintenance which needs to be done. Each driver has a co-driver, who serves to help with timing, navigation, general organization, and keeping the driver focused and positive. It is a very exciting and tough sport! I find the biggest thrill comes from watching drivers take production-based sports cars and drive them at seemingly impossible speeds off-road!

How Can I Learn More?

Oregon Rally Group Includes Schedule, Results, Rules, and Pictures. Click on the link to performance rally to find out more about the competition, or where you can where you can watch one in the Pacific Northwest. This page also contains information of all Portland-area rally events, such as TSD and rallycross, and also links.

Sports Car Club of America Includes Schedule, Results, and Rules. Click on the link to performance rally to find out more about the competition, or the rules and regulations.

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