I'll be volunteering at the Reno Rally :banana:

Best way to spectate in my opinion

As for the Laughlin Rally, I believe he is refering to the Ramada Express Rally in the link he posted. It is a race, and one of the bigger ones in the states. If you've got the time, you should go.

 

Reno is being put on alomost as a first time event, so their web page is pretty inadequate, there are only a few cars running (<15 I think at last count) and I don't expect this year's running to be really well directed in terms of spectator opportunities.

Your best bet would be to volunteer as other have suggested, otherwise show up at the Hilton on Friday, talk with some of the racers and their crew people to get an idea of where the stages will be and get out there real early in the AM yourself and check it out- just stay safe and don't do anything stupid.

On the other hand, the Magellan Adventure Rally is something you don't need a roll cage, helmet, fire suit and racing license to participte in.

The word "Rally" means a whole lot of different things, from low speed "gimmick" events that anyone can run with no experience;

http://therallyeclub.org/

Through Timed TSD and Monte Carlo events that also require little experience or prep, yet can be very challenging and enjoyable;

http://www.sfrscca.org/Rally/

http://carzero.freeservers.com/blank.htm

Then getting into the "performance" catagory there are Nevada Open road events:

http://www.openroadracing.com/

http://www.silverstateclassic.com/

But for flat out gravel flinging action in the US you have 2 sanctioning bodies to choose from

Rally America

http://www.rally-america.com/

and Nasa Rallysport.

http://www.nasarallysport.com/

All of the above welcome newcomers, and for most of these "sports" it can be benificial to volunteer and work a few events to get to know the people and how the events are organized.

The less "extreme" versions still develop a lot of the skills you need to be succesful in performance rally, so it's worth trying a few of the other types of Rally just to get a feel for which ones you might enjoy.

And to keep tabs on developments primarily in the performance rally catagory, you'll need to log on to www.specialstage.com

Have fun and I'm sure we'll see you out there someplace.

 

group b soooo sweet soooo fast and soooo dangerous

 

Wow, the Laughlin rally looks soo awesome... why couldn't it be the next weekend /cry - it just has to be the weekend before finals.

The nevada one seems doable as far as timing and distance goes, but i'm not really sure I want the first rally I go to to be one with"only a few cars running" and one that isn't "well directed in terms of spectator opportunities." I'm sure it'd still be totally awesome, and being a first time event, possibly even more so, but I worry about working it, and, well yea.

The laughlin one really annoys me though, just one week later and it'd be soo perfect.

Thanks again for all the help, advice, links, etc. Muchly appreciated they are!

 

psoper, did you end up making it to Reno this weekend? I thought I saw your name on the volunteer list.

I was working the start of 1 and finish of the last stage on both days (5 and 4 respectively), but unfortunately I didn't get much chance to mingle with the other volunteers due to having to stay put at time control. Small rally, but I have to say I had a blast. Its my first time volunteering, and I'm glad I did it.

 

Yeah I was up at the other end from your start, we were finish 1 both days and we then moved to where you'd been Saturday and worked start 4 while Sunday we stayed at "cow corner" and helped coordinate the spectators and road bannering since stages 3 and 4 used different exits from the same intersection there.

It was a fun time for a small rally, lots of good people there to work with and the event went off pretty well considering some of the hassles the organizers got handed between the weather and local politics- not to mention the communications challenges, it got pretty busy with all the controls and lead cars sharing the same frequency, if there'd been many more cars it might not have worked so well.

Next year it should be even better!

Next weekend Laughlin- I leave tomorrow.

 

I sell a ton of Rally stuff. Check out our books at www.cp-racing.com

The "World Rally Championship" book tells you everything you want to know about the WRC. If you can find it I recomend picking it up. Makes a good coffee table book.

 

Nice description, $50 is quite a lot though... almost 2 tanks of gas =) - maybe I can get it for christmas...

Thanks

 

http://www.wrc.com/page/WRCAnalysis/...752434,00.html

Small article on WRC.com about the switch from Group A cars to WR Cars in the WRC.

Part 1 of a 2 part series.

 

Part 2

http://www.wrc.com/page/WRCAnalysis/...752524,00.html

 

Nice articles! - Thanks for the links!!!