Westchester Sports Car Club - 2015 Columbus Road Rally Saturday October 3, 2015
 

I am a member of the Westchester Sports Car Club and we sponsor a few rallies during the year and I thought I would post the information on the various sports car forums I belong to. I think there may be some interest in a scenic drive through the upper Westchester area. These rallies are low pressure/fun competitions involving following directions and observing posted "rally signs" along the route. Generally you drive approximately at the posted speed limit and you are penalized for arriving at the finish early or late.

One word of warning, I was surprised to learn that there are still some public dirt roads in Westchester and they are sometimes included in WSCC rallies. I had no problem driving my sports car on these public roads but some people freak out if their shiny cars come anywhere near a dirt road. You decide if that matters to you, any street legal car is welcome.


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Westchester Sports Car Club - 2015 Columbus Day Road Rally
Saturday October 3, 2015

WHAT IS A ROAD RALLY?
These are events in which a driver/navigator team follow written instructions at specified speeds (always within the speed limits) over public roads. These events usually are 50 to 70 miles long and take two to three hours to complete. WSCC sponsors several rallies each year including one of the oldest consecutively held rallies in the United States. They are fun oriented time-distance rallies in and around Westchester County.

In a Road Rally, each team of two people--a driver and a navigator--is given a set of route
directions to follow, and the speeds at which they should travel the route.
The goal of a Road Rally is to travel the correct route at the correct speeds, and arrive at
“checkpoints” precisely on time. You are scored on how close to the correct time you arrive. A
Road Rally is not a race, and no rally will ever require you to drive in a reckless or illegal
fashion. Arriving too early at a checkpoint hurts your score, as does arriving too late. To
participate, you'll need to know the rules for understanding the route instructions. Some
basics will be discussed at the Driver’s Meeting and you are encouraged to “study” the General
Instructions that you’ll receive upon registration.

RALLY PREPARATION: Entrants should have a light for reading route instructions, a watch, paper, pencil, a four
function calculator and maybe a clipboard. NO AUXILIARY LIGHTS ABOVE HEADLIGHT LEVEL WILL
BE NEEDED OR ALLOWED. (NOTE THAT NEW YORK STATE LAW PROHIBITS SUCH LIGHTS.) There
will be no alcoholic beverages allowed before or during the rally. MORE THAN TWO PEOPLE IN A CAR
WILL BE APPROPRIATELY PENALIZED. DUE TO SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS, NO DRIVER ONLY
CARS WILL BE REGISTERED. CARS WITH "COMPUTER" or “NAVIGATION SYSTEMS” WILL BE
INELIGIBLE FOR OFFICIAL RESULTS RANKING.

THE START: will be from the Grand Prix New York parking lot, 333 North Bedford Road (Route
117), Mt. Kisco, N.Y.

THE FINISH MEETING: will be at Applebee’s Restaurant, 195 North Bedford Road (Route 117),
Mt. Kisco, N.Y.

REGISTRATION: opens at 5 PM and continues to 6:30 PM. There will be a drivers’ meeting at
approximately 6:30 PM. Cars will be sent off at 7:00 + the car number in minutes (i.e. Car 35
leaves at 7:00 + 35 minutes or 7:35). Entry fee is $20.00 ($15.00 for WSCC members) per car. A
$5.00 late fee will be charged for anyone registering after 6:30.

TROPHIES: awarded to top 10%. (To qualify for an award, the team has to finish.) A WSCC
Credit Certificate (good for free entry at any WSCC event) may be chosen in place of a
traditional trophy. Dash Plaques will be given to all entrants.

For more information visit our internet address: HTTP://WWW.WSCC.ORG

Just for completeness, here are the results:

RALLY MASTER LETTER COLUMBUS DAY 2015 ROAD RALLY
Thank you to all who participated in the Columbus Day Road Rally. It was quite nerve wracking not knowing if Hurricane Joaquin was going to thwart our efforts to pull this off, and thankfully, the rain subsided, Joaquin went out to sea, and Ken and I were gently relieved. However, we do contribute this threat to our low turn-out.

Despite the low turn-out, we had a high rate of success! We recruited some newbies who all said they loved the chance to partake in a fun and exciting adventure. My fellow experienced rallyists told me it was an awesome route, with great roads and good instructions. It was challenging where it needed to be, but yet we kept it as simple as we could for a novice to hopefully, at least, finish!

We had 15 cars total, 4 of which did not make it to the checkpoint. But 3 of those 4 did come to Applebee’s to understand how they fared and why/how/where they went wrong. It’s so important to come back to share your experiences, commiserate with your fellow rallyists and get to know more about rallying!

I will say, it’s been a long time since I hosted a rally and yes, IT IS A LOT OF WORK….but I had so much fun putting it together. We ran it quite a few times and had one person “cold run” it for a sanity check. One direction seemed to be a problem for one or two of our rallyists…this was near the Saw Mill (River) Parkway and the “HATCHED” direction. The Saw Mill Parkway was clearly marked, parkways generally don’t exist, but sometimes we get tripped up and it’s really not done on purpose…unless of course it’s a Halloween Rally!

I’m not sure why, but we posted 45 signs – UGH – the downside is you have to pick them all up the next day…so when you think it’s over, it’s not…..Sunday, thankfully was a gorgeous day and if you have the chance to run the rally during the day – do so….It’s beautiful as it wraps around the reservoirs. We lost one sign (ironically in a remote area) but Car # 15 retrieved it, so it counts, and while some were way wicked hard (SO WE HEARD….) they all counted because in one way or another, they were all accounted for…

Even though quite a few cars came thru the check point early, we heard about two situations involving time delays for our rallyists – one was the car that lost its muffler whereby a fellow rallyist stopped to help; and the other was a (non-rally) car that blocked the road for at least 3 rallyists who held them up. In the 1st instance, no one asked for a time allowance, but in the 2nd, a time request was asked for and granted. Although Time Allowances are at the discretion of the Rally Master, they, if legitimate, are generally granted.

We look forward to our next rally, the Turkey Tour on November 21. Please come join us.

Regards,iane and Ken

Correct time: 2:37:46, Correct mileage:59.2, Number of signs: on course: 45, off course: 1

Sounds great, wish y'all were closer.

in texas its 25 years to register as an antique and a classic. What is the benefit of a classic registration over an antique one if the year requirement is the same.