Classic rally

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Classic rallying, or historic rallying, suitable for most standard classic cars, with no special equipment needed (equipement allowed depends on rally), are all about enjoying. These rallies are an ideal way to take your first steps into Historic Motor sport, before thinking about other series as race meetings, classic endurance, hillclimbing. A road rally is not about speed, in fact there are severe penalties for arriving at a control early. The idea of a rally is to travel from a point to another within a certain time (Time Controls), not too fast or too slow. Speed average has previously given by organizers.

1 Classic rallies
2 The Road Book
3 Famous rallies
4 Famous rally drivers
5 See also

[edit] Classic rallies

We can classify classic rallies as:

mixted competition and regularity rallies
competitive regularity and endurance
touring rally

Touring rallying is all about enjoying country side and the company of classic car owners.

In regularity rallies, as indicated in the name, you should visit in the correct order a series of intermediate time controls where you should stop to have your time recorded on your card. At the end of the event, the competitor who has visited all these controls and who has the least early or late penalties overall is the winner.

Endurance rallies are long distance motor rallies for vintage, historic and classic cars.

Classic rallies will take you into the world of mythical rallies where you will experience the experience of great events of the 1960s and ‘70s when man and machine were often alone for hours, even days, with little support. Cars now have expendable parts and a gearbox can be changed in twenty minutes. On the long tough rallies of yesteryear drivers had to drive 3000 km exclusively up and down the French Alpes, against the clock for most of the way, and look after the gearbox and every other part of the car, since changing them was out of the question. Liège-Sofia-Liège was even worse, being almost a flat out drive from Belgium to Bulgaria and back, through the roughest roads the length of Yugoslavia and over the horrific little passes like the Gavia and the Vivione in the Italian Dolomites. Service was wherever the service crews could reach and was usually limited to a change of tires, refueling and, hopefully, minor repairs, since any time used for service had to be made up on the road by the driver.

Thirty or forty years ago more than half of the competitive distance on the classic rallies was run at night. Monte Carlo Rally would have long sections running through the Chartreuse mountains between Chambéry and Grenoble before crossing the Rhone valley and continuing in what was often the deeply snowbound and ice covered Ardeche. All in the same night

[edit] The Road Book

In most events, you will be given a road book. The road book and co-pilot will be your best friends during a classic rally. This map style book is a straightforward ball and arrow system to show you the route. Note that the name of tulip diagram, usually used to describe the road book diagrams come from the Tulip Rally (Tulpen rally) of the 1950's. It gives you a diagrammatic representation of the road junction. You should religiously follow the mileages on the left to ensure that you are at the correct junction and if you have a trip.