What is Rallying ?

What is rallying?

Rallying is a form of motor sport competition that takes place on a mix of closed as well as open public roads in modified production road-legal cars.

It is distinguished from circuit acing in that competitors battle the clock in a point-to-point format. It is also unlike racing in that it is a team sport with a driver and co-driver in each car with the aim of negotiating a route between set control points on what are known as stages.

The crews, leave at regular intervals usually set at two minutes between cars.

Events feature both transport or liaison stages on public road where competition cars mix with other traffic observing normal road rules and speed limits and special or competitive stages on closed roads where times count toward the result of the event.

On transport/liaison stages crews are penalised for arriving early but it is on the closed road special stages where rallies are won and lost by crews and their speed within the stages.

Rallying dates from the first Monte Carlo rally held in January 1907. The ultimate prize in modern rallying is the World Rally Championship, first decided in 1979 the WRC is run over 14 rounds across the globe including Repco Rally Australia in the Northern Rivers of NSW in September.

Competitors can use a variety of cars in rallying in a variety of events from club rallies to State and National Championship events.

NSSCC counts some of Australia’s best rally competitors amongst its members including Dakar veteran and multiple Round Australia/ Australian Safari winner Bruce Garland, champion co-driver Coral Taylor.

1. There is no club meeting for January. The first meeting of the year will be at the West Ryde Hotel on Monday 1 February. A reminder will follow closer to the time.

2. Clubs members Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki and their sister team of Swedes Pelle Wallentheim and Olle Ohlsson are competing in the Dakar and are trying to improve upon last year’s placings. Bruce and Harry were 11th outright in their Isuzu D-Max ute and were actually capable of 7th outright were it not for the cancellation of a stage at the end. This was an astonishing result given that the factory teams were spending many millions of dollars (rumoured to be $100 million in one case) each to mount their challenges. Don’t forget to watch SBS’s coverage of the Dakar at 6pm each night (starting tonight). The Facebook link for Garland Motor Sport is here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=212985626694&ref=nf

Please go in and check out developments and also show your support for the two teams.

3. Club member Molly Taylor goes back to the UK at the end of January to run a Citroen C2. These cars have more grunt than the Suzuki Swift Molly ran last year and she has been picking the brains of the young Irish rally star Marty McCormack who had had some astonishing outright results (like a 4th outright in the Ulster Rally !!!) in his C2R2 Max Citroen (190 bhp). Marty is also well known for his exploits in historic Escorts.