TSD Rally in expert class.... who, me? A long-ish story.

[ultrasonic]

My girlfriend and I ran a few road rallies a couple years ago. We both really want to do more but she's pregnant now, and I don't think we'd be very competitive taking a restroom break every 20 minutes. Not to mention that a few hours in the navigator seat might make her quite uncomfortable. She'll be back in the seat eventually.

So I tried to get a friend to fill in for the TSD event on Sunday Aug. 15th. but I could not find anyone willing and able to run the rally with me. So I just showed up hoping that another person like me would be there and we could team up. Either that, or I'd work a check point, or whatever. Finally, towards the end of the competitors meeting, a local veteran shows up with his family. He agrees to navigate in my car, and his daughter would navigate with his wife. Since he is a 25 year veteran of performance and road rally, including national competition I was pretty stoked.

The short version is that we ended up First in the Expert catagory, although the overall winner was a Novice. We would have been First overall if we hadn't totally messed up one leg.

Most roads were 1.5 lane twisty asphalt in rural Missouri outside of St. Louis, with about a few miles of really great gravel roads, very twisty with good elevation change. About 70 miles overall.

The rallymaster was Kim Demotte, who along with Lew Bailen are also the primary organizers of the 100 Acre Wood SCCA Club Rally. My stand in navigator partner was Tom vonHatten (thanks again, Tom). All these guys have been involved with all manner of rally for many years and I'm really lucky to be able to learn from them.

I learned so much, and had a really great time. The weather was fantastic, and the rally ended at a winery where everyone drank wine, ate cheese, and traded rally stories until the results were tabulated.

That's my fourth or fifth road rally, first rally in the Legacy SS, first time in Expert class, and first time to finish first in class.

Life is good. I'm ready to go again...

[jmaziarz]

Excellent ultrasonic! I have run two TSD's with a friend and I found it quite challenging to sit in the navigators seat. Perhaps it is just me but my brain goes blank at the most critical times when trying to calculate, especially DIY legs.

Anyway, congrats!

[ultrasonic]

Excellent ultrasonic! I have run two TSD's with a friend and I found it quite challenging to sit in the navigators seat. Perhaps it is just me but my brain goes blank at the most critical times when trying to calculate, especially DIY legs.

Anyway, congrats! :)

Keeping focused is job one, it seems. I certainly believe that everything depends on the navigator- that person can make or break your rally. There were a few DIY stages on this rally. It took me a while to figure out that all you have to do is take careful mileage notes and just tell them what they want to hear. Since there is nobody checking exact times, what really matters is that you demonstrate that YOU know where and when you were there. Well, that's an oversimplification, but you know what I mean.

I'm really looking forward to doing more road rallies. It's great fun, without a huge investment in equipment. And it can be quite a challenge.