Rallying

Petter Solberg driving on gravel at the 2006 Cyprus Rally, a World Rally Championship
event.

Rallying is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified
production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not
on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers
drive between set control points (special stages), leaving at regular intervals from one or more
start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to
a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

History
Pre-war era

Marcel Renault during the 1903 Paris-Madrid.

1912 Monte Carlo Rally entrant.

The term "rally", as a branch of motorsport, probably dates from the first Monte Carlo Rally
of January 1911. Until the late 1920s, few if any other events used the term.[1] Rallying itself
can be traced back to the 1894 Paris-Rouen Horseless Carriage Competition (Concours des
Voitures sans Chevaux), sponsored by a Paris newspaper, Le Petit Journal, which attracted
considerable public interest and entries from leading manufacturers. Prizes were awarded to
the vehicles by a jury based on the reports of the observers who rode in each car; the joint
winners were Panhard et Levassor and Peugeot.[2]

This event led directly to a period of city-to-city road races in France and other European
countries, which introduced many of the features found in later rallies: individual start times
with cars running against the clock rather than head to head; time controls at the entry and exit
points of towns along the way; road books and route notes; and driving over long distances on
ordinary, mainly gravel, roads, facing hazards such as dust, traffic, pedestrians and farm
animals.

The first of these great races was the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris Rally of June 1895, won by mile
Levassor in a Panhard et Levassor. His time for the 1,178 km (732 mile) course, running
virtually without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24 km/h (15
mph).[3] Just eight years later, in the Paris-Madrid race of May 1903, the Mors of Fernand
Gabriel, running over the same roads, took just under five and a quarter hours for the 550 km
(342 miles) to Bordeaux, an average of 105 km/h (65.3 mph). Speeds had now far outstripped
the safe limits of dusty highways thronged with spectators and open to other traffic, people
and animals; there were numerous crashes, many injuries and eight deaths. The French
government stopped the race and banned this style of event.[4] From then on, racing in Europe
(apart from Italy) would be on closed circuits, initially on long loops of public highway and
then, in 1907, on the first purpose-built track, England's Brooklands.[5] Racing was going its
own separate way.

One of the earliest of road races, the Tour de France of 1899, was to have a long history,
running 18 times as a reliability trial between 1906 and 1937, before being revived in 1951 by
the Automobile-Club de Nice.[6]

Italy had been running road competitions since 1895, when a reliability trial was run from
Turin to Asti and back. The country's first true motor race was held in 1897 along the shore of
Lake Maggiore, from Arona to Stresa and back.[7] This led to a long and thriving tradition of
road racing, including events like Sicily's Targa Florio (from 1906[8]) and Giro di Sicilia (Lap
of Sicily, 1914), which went right round the island,[9] both of which continued on and off until
after World War II. The first Alpine event was held in 1898, the Austrian Touring Club's three-
day Automobile Run through South Tyrol, which included the infamous Stelvio Pass.[10]

In Britain, the legal maximum speed of 12 mph (19 km/h) precluded road racing, but in April
and May 1900, the Automobile Club of Great Britain (the forerunner of the Royal Automobile
Club) organised the Thousand Mile Trial, a 15-day event linking Britain's major cities, in
order to promote this novel form of transport. Seventy vehicles took part, the majority of them
trade entries. They had to complete thirteen stages of route varying in length from 43 to 123
miles (69 to 198 km) at average speeds of up to the legal limit of 12 mph (19 km/h), and
tackle six hillclimb or speed tests. On rest days and at lunch halts, the cars were shown to the
public in exhibition halls.[11]Template:Reliable This was followed in 1901 by a five day trial
based in Glasgow[12] The Scottish Automobile Club organised an annual Glasgow - London
Non-Stop Trial from 1902 to 1904, then the Scottish Reliability Trail from 1905.[13] The Motor
Cycling Club allowed cars to enter its trials and runs from 1904 (London-Edinburgh, London-
Land's End, London-Exeter all still in being as mud-plugging classic trials).[14] In 1908 the
Royal Automobile Club held its 2,000 mi (3200 km) International Touring Car Trial,[15] and
1914 the important Light Car Trial for manufacturers of cars up to 1400 cc, to test
comparative performances and improve the breed.[16] In 1924, the exercise was repeated as the
Small Car Trials.[17]

In Germany, the Herkomer Trophy was first held in 1905, and again in 1906. This challenging
five-day event attracted over 100 entrants to tackle its 1,000 km (620 mi) road section, a
hillclimb and a speed trial, but sadly it was marred by poor organisation and confusing
regulations.[18] One participant had been Prince Henry of Austria, who was inspired to do
better, so he enlisted the aid of the Imperial Automobile Club of Germany to create the first
Prinz Heinrich Fahrt (Prince Henry Trial) in 1908. Another trial was held in 1910. These
were very successful, attracting top drivers and works cars from major teams - several
manufacturers added "Prince Henry" models to their ranges.[19] The first Alpine Trial was held
in 1909, in Austria; by 1914, this was the toughest event of its kind, producing a star
performance from Britain's James Radley in his Rolls Royce Alpine Eagle.[20]

Then in 1911 came the first Monte Carlo Rally (later known colloquially as "the Monte"),
organised by a group of wealthy locals who formed the "Sport Automobile Vlocipdique
Mongasque" and bankrolled by the "Socit des Bains de Mer" (the "sea bathing company"),
the operators of the famous casino who were keen to attract wealthy sporting motorists.[21] The
competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A
second event was held in 1912.

Two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time. The Peking-Paris of 1907 was not
officially a competition, but a "raid", the French term for an expedition or collective
endeavour whose promoters, the newspaper "Le Matin", rather optimistically expected
participants to help each other; it was 'won' by Prince Scipione Borghese, Luigi Barzini, and
Ettore Guizzardi in an Itala.[22] The New York-Paris of the following year, which went via
Japan and Siberia, was won by George Schuster and others in a Thomas Flyer).[23] Each event
attracted only a handful of adventurous souls, but in both cases the successful drivers
exhibited characteristics modern rally drivers would recognise: meticulous preparation,
mechanical skill, resourcefulness, perseverance and a certain single-minded ruthlessness. The
New York-Seattle race of 1909, if shorter, was no easier. Rather gentler (and more akin to
modern rallying) was the Glidden Tour, run by the American Automobile Association
between 1902 and 1913, which had timed legs between control points and a marking system
to determine the winners.[24]

Interwar years

Renault Nervasport won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1935.

The First World War brought a lull to rallying. The Monte Carlo Rally was not resuscitated
until 1924, but since then, apart from World War II and its aftermath, it has been an annual
event and remains a regular round of the World Rally Championship. In the 1930s, helped by
the tough winters, it became the premier European rally, attracting 300 or more participants.[25]

In the 1920s, numerous variations on the Alpine theme sprang up in Austria, Italy, France,
Switzerland and Germany. The most important of these were Austria's Alpenfahrt, which
continued into its 44th edition in 1973, Italy's Coppa delle Alpi, and the Coupe Internationale
des Alpes (International Alpine Trial), organised jointly by the automobile clubs of Italy,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland and, latterly, France. This last event, run from 1928 to 1936,
attracted strong international fields vying for an individual Glacier Cup or a team Alpine Cup,
including successful Talbot, Riley, MG and Triumph teams from Britain and increasingly
strong and well funded works representation from Adolf Hitler's Germany, keen to prove its
engineering and sporting prowess with successful marques like Adler, Wanderer and Trumpf.
[26]

The French started their own Rallye des Alpes Franaises in 1932, which continued after
World War II as the Rallye International des Alpes, the name often shortened to Coupe des
Alpes.[27] Other important rallies started between the wars included Britain's RAC Rally
(1932)[28] and Belgium's Lige-Rome-Lige, officially called "Le Marathon de la Route"
(1931),[29] two events of radically different character; the former a gentle tour between cities
from various start points, "rallying" at a seaside resort with a series of manoeuvrability and
car control tests; the latter a thinly disguised road race over some of Europe's toughest
mountain roads.

In Ireland, the first Ulster Motor Rally (1931) was run from multiple starting points. After
several years in this format, it transitioned into the 1,000-mile (1,600 km) Circuit of Ireland
Rally.[30] In Italy, Benito Mussolini's government encouraged motorsport of all kinds and
facilitated road racing, so the sport quickly restarted after World War I, and in 1927 the Mille
Miglia (Thousand Mile) was founded, run over a 1,000 mile (1,600 km) loop of highways
from Brescia to Rome and back. It continued in this form until 1938.[31]

The Lige of August 1939 was the last major event before World War II. Belgium's Ginet
Trasenster (Bugatti) and France's Jean Trevoux (Hotchkiss) tied for first place, bravely
denying the Swastika-bearing German works teams shortly before their countries were
overrun.[32] This was one of five Lige wins for Trasenster; Trevoux won four Montes between
1934 and 1951.

Post war years

Osmo Kalpala servicing his car during the 1956 Jyvskyln Suurajot, now known as Rally
Finland.

Rallying was again slow to get under way after a major war, but the 1950s were the Golden
Age of the long-distance road rally. In Europe, the Monte Carlo Rally, the French and
Austrian Alpines, and the Lige were joined by a host of new events that quickly established
themselves as classics: the Lisbon Rally (Portugal, 1947), the Tulip Rally (the Netherlands,
1949), the Rally to the Midnight Sun (Sweden, 1951, now the Swedish Rally) the Rally of the
1000 Lakes (Finland, 1951 - now the Rally Finland), and the Acropolis Rally (Greece, 1956).
[33]
The RAC Rally gained International status on its return in 1951, but for 10 years its
emphasis on map-reading navigation and short manoevrability tests made it unpopular with
foreign crews.[34] The FIA created in 1953 a European Rally Championship (at first called the
"Touring Championship") of eleven events, won by Helmut Polensky of Germany. This was
the premier international championship until 1973, when the Fdration Internationale de
l'Automobile (FIA) created the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, won in the first
year by Alpine-Renault. Not until 1979 was there a World Rally Championship for Drivers,
won that year by Bjrn Waldegrd.

Initially most of the major postwar rallies were fairly gentlemanly, but the organisers of the
French Alpine and the Lige (which moved its turning point from Rome into Yugoslavia in
1956) straight away made no bones about setting difficult time schedules: the Automobile
Club de Marseille et Provence laid on a long tough route over a succession of rugged passes,
stated that cars would have to be driven flat out from start to finish, and gave a coveted Coupe
des Alpes to anyone achieving an unpenalised run;[35] while Belgium's Royal Motor Union
made clear that no car was expected to finish the Lige unpenalised - when one did (1951
winner Johnny Claes in a Jaguar XK120) they tightened the timing to make sure it never
happened again.[36] These two events became the ones for "the men" to do. But the Monte,
because of its glamour, got the media coverage and the biggest entries (and in snowy years
was also a genuine challenge); while the Acropolis took advantage of Greece's appalling roads
to become a truly tough event.[37] In 1956 came Corsica's Tour de Corse, 24 hours of virtually
non-stop flat out driving on some of the narrowest and twistiest mountain roads on the planet
- the first major rally to be won by a lady driver, Belgium's Gilberte Thirion, in a Renault
Dauphine.[38]Template:Reliable
The Lige continued as uncompromisingly an open road event run to an impossible time
schedule, and remained Europe's toughest rally until 1964, by which time it had turned to the
wilds of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to find traffic-free roads; but in the end the pressures were
irresistible.[39] The Coupe des Alpes struggled on until 1973 until it too succumbed, its demise
no doubt hastened by the decision of the French motor sporting authorities to select the Tour
de Corse as its representative event in international rally championships.[40]

These events were road races in all but name, but in Italy such races were still allowed, and
the Mille Miglia continued until a serious accident in 1957 caused it to be banned.[41]
Meanwhile in 1981, the Tour de France was revived by the Automobile-Club de Nice as a
different kind of rally, based primarily on a series of races at circuits and hillclimbs around the
country.[42] It was successful for a while and continued until 1986. It spawned similar events in
a few other countries, but none survive.

Rallying became very popular in Sweden and Finland in the 1950s, thanks in part to the
invention there of the specialstrcka (Swedish) or erikoiskoe (Finnish), or special stage:
shorter sections of route, usually on minor or private roads predominantly gravel in these
countries away from habitation and traffic, which were separately timed.[43][44] These at
long last provided the solution to the conflict inherent in the notion of driving as fast as
possible on ordinary roads. The idea spread to other countries, albeit more slowly to the most
demanding events.

Jari-Matti Latvala on the muddy gravel roads of the 2007 Wales Rally GB.

The RAC Rally had formally become an International event in 1951, but Britain's laws
precluded the closure of public highways for special stages. This meant it had to rely on short
manoeuvrability tests, regularity sections and night map-reading navigation to find a winner,
which made it unattractive to foreign crews. In 1961, Jack Kemsley was able to persuade the
Forestry Commission to open their many hundreds of miles of well surfaced and sinuous
gravel roads, and the event was transformed into one of the most demanding and popular in
the calendar, by 1983 having over 600 miles (970 km) of stage.[45] It is now called Rally GB.

Outside Europe
Checkpoint during the 1973 Safari Rally.

In countries where there was no shortage of demanding roads across remote terrain, other
events sprang up. In South America, the biggest of these took the form of long distance city to
city races, each of around 5,000 to 6,000 miles (8,0009,500 km), divided into daily legs. The
first was the Gran Premio del Norte of 1940, run from Buenos Aires to Lima and back; it was
won by Juan Manuel Fangio in a much modified Chevrolet coup.[46] This event was repeated
in 1947, and in 1948 an even more ambitious one was held, the Gran Premio de la Amrica
del Sur from Buenos Aires to Caracas, Venezuela Fangio had an accident in which his co-
driver was killed.[47] Then in 1950 came the fast and dangerous Carrera Panamericana, a
1,911 mile (3,075 km) road race in stages across Mexico to celebrate the opening of the
asphalt highway between the Guatemala and US borders, which ran until 1954.[48] All these
events fell victim to the cost - financial, social and environmental - of putting them on in an
increasingly complex and developed world, although smaller road races continued long after,
and a few still do in countries like Bolivia.

In Africa, 1950 saw the first French-run Mditerrane-le Cap, a 10,000 mile (16,000 km)
rally from the Mediterranean to South Africa; it was run on and off until 1961, when the new
political situation hastened its demise.[49] In 1953 East Africa saw the demanding Coronation
Safari, which went on to become the Safari Rally and a World Championship round,[50] to be
followed in due course by the Rallye du Maroc in Morocco, and the Rallye Cte d'Ivoire in
the Ivory Coast. Australia's Redex Round Australia Trial also dates from 1953, although this
remained isolated from the rest of the rallying world.[51]

Canada hosted one of the world's longest and most gruelling rallies during the 1960s, the
Shell 4000 Rally. It was also the only one sanctioned by FIA in North America.[1]

Modern times

Juuso Pyklist in his Peugeot 206 WRC at the 2003 Swedish Rally.
The introduction of the special stage brought rallying effectively into the modern era. It
placed a premium on fast driving, and enabled healthy programmes of smaller events to
spring up in Britain, France, Scandinavia, Belgium and elsewhere.

Since then, the nature of the events themselves has evolved relatively slowly. The increasing
costs both of organization and of competing as well as safety concerns have over the last
twenty years brought progressively shorter rallies, shorter stages and the elimination of
nighttime running, scornfully referred to as "office hours rallying" by older hands. Some of
the older international events have gone, replaced by others from a much wider spread of
countries around the world, until today rallying is truly a worldwide sport. At the same time,
fields have shrunk dramatically, as the amateur in his near-standard car is squeezed out.

Gruelling long distance events continued to be run. In 1967, a group of American offroaders
created the Mexican 1000 Rally, a tough 1,000 mile race for cars and motorcycles which ran
the length of the Baja California peninsula, much of it initially over roadless desert, which
quickly gained fame as the Baja 1000.[52] "Baja" events now take place in a number of other
countries worldwide.

1968 brought the first of a series of British-organised intercontinental rallies, the Daily
Express London-Sydney Marathon, which attracted over 100 crews including a number of
works teams and top drivers; it was won by the Hillman Hunter of Andrew Cowan/Brian
Coyle/Colin Malkin.[53] Not to be outdone, the rival Daily Mirror sponsored in 1970 the
London-Mexico World Cup Rally, linking the stadia of two successive football World Cups,
on a route that crossed Europe to Bulgaria and back before shipping out from Lisbon to Rio
de Janeiro, making a giant loop round South America (including some of the most frightening
sections of Peru's road race, the Camino de los Incas, which continues to be held), before
shipment to Panama and a run up Central America. The Ford Escort of Hannu Mikkola and
Gunnar Palm won.[54] These were followed in 1974 by the London-Sahara-Munich World Cup
Rally,[55] and in 1977 by the Singapore Airlines London-Sydney Rally.[56]

In 1979, a young Frenchman, Thierry Sabine, founded an institution when he organised the
first "rallye-raid" from Paris to Dakar, in Senegal, the event now called the Dakar Rally. From
amateur beginnings it quickly became a massive commercial circus catering for cars,
motorcycles and trucks, and spawned other similar events.[57] Since 2008, it has been held in
South America.

Rally car evolution

Timo Mkinen's Mini Cooper S on display. Mini won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965
and 1967.
The main change over that period has been in the cars, and in the professionalisation and
commercialisation of the sport. Manufacturers had entered works cars in rallies, and in their
forerunner and cousin events, from the very beginning: the 1894 Paris-Rouen was mainly a
competition between them, while the Thousand Mile Trial of 1900 had more trade than
private entries.

Although there had been exceptions like the outlandish Ford V8 specials created by the
Romanians for the 1936 Monte Carlo Rally, rallies before World War II had tended to be for
standard or near-standard production cars, a rule supported by manufacturers because it
created a relatively even playing field. After the war, most competing cars were production
saloons or sports cars, with only minor modifications to improve performance, handling,
braking and suspension. This kept costs down and allowed many more people to afford the
sport using ordinary family cars, so entry lists grew into the hundreds.

Hannu Mikkola's 1970 World Cup Rally-winning Ford Escort RS1600.

Group 4 Lancia Stratos HF helped Lancia win the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975
and 1976.

As public interest grew, car companies started to introduce special models or variants for
rallying, such as the British Motor Corporation's highly successful Mini Cooper, introduced in
1962, and its successor the Mini Cooper S (1963), developed by the Cooper Car Company.
Shortly after, Ford of Britain first hired Lotus to create a high-performance version of their
Cortina family car, then in 1968 launched the Escort Twin Cam, one of the most successful
rally cars of its era.[58] Similarly, Abarth developed high performance versions of Fiats 124
roadster and 131 saloon.

Other manufacturers were not content with modifying their 'bread-and-butter' cars. Renault
bankrolled the small volume sports-car maker Alpine to transform their little A110 Berlinette
coup into a world-beating rally car, and hired a skilled team of drivers too; then in 1974
came the Lancia Stratos, the first car designed from scratch to win rallies, and the dominant
asphalt rally car of its time. These makers overcame the rules of FISA (as the FIA was called
at the time) by building the requisite number of these models for the road.
Group B Audi Sport Quattro S1

Group B Lancia Delta S4

In 1980, a German car maker, Audi, not hitherto noted for their interest in rallying, introduced
a rather large and heavy coup version of their family saloon, installed a turbocharged 2.1 litre
five-cylinder engine, and fitted it with four-wheel drive. Thus the Audi Quattro was born.
International regulations had hitherto prohibited four-wheel drive; but FISA accepted that this
was a genuine production car, and changed the rules. The Quattro quickly became the car to
beat on snow, ice or gravel; and in 1983 took Hannu Mikkola to the World Rally
Championship title. Other manufacturers had no production four-wheel drive car on which to
base their response, so FISA was persuaded to change the rules, and open the Championship
to cars in Group B. This allowed cars to be much further removed from production models,
and so was created a generation of rallying supercars, of which the most radical and
impressive were the Peugeot 205 T16, Renault 5 Turbo and the Lancia Delta S4, with flimsy
fibreglass bodies roughly the shape of the standard car tacked on to lightweight spaceframe
chassis, four-wheel drive, and power outputs reportedly as high as 600 hp (450 kW). Further
Group B cars were developed by Ford (the RS200), British Leyland (the Metro 6R4) and
many others, but these were less successful.

This particular era was not to last. On the 1986 Rallye de Portugal, four spectators were
killed; then in May, on the Tour de Corse, Henri Toivonen went over the edge of a mountain
road and was incinerated in the fireball that followed. FISA immediately changed the rules
again: rallying after 1987 would be in Group A cars, closer to the production model. One
notably successful car during this period was the Lancia Delta Integrale, dominating world
rallying during 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992 winning six consecutive world rally
championships, a feat yet unbeaten.

Drivers
Sbastien Loeb, the world's most successful rally driver in terms of WRC wins.

Most of the works drivers of the 1950s were amateurs, paid little or nothing, reimbursed their
expenses and given bonuses for winning (although there were certainly exceptions, such as
the Grand Prix drivers who were brought in for some events). Then in 1960 came arguably the
first rallying superstar (and one of the first to be paid to rally full time), Sweden's Erik
Carlsson, driving for Saab.

In the 1960s, the competitions manager of BMC, Stuart Turner, hired a series of brave and
gifted young Finns, skills honed on their country's highly competitive gravel or snow rallies,
and the modern professional driver was born. As special stage rallying spread around the
world Scandinavian drivers were challenged by drivers from Italy, Germany, Britain, Spain
and elsewhere. Today, a World Champion may be of any nationality.

The World Rally Championship now visits nearly all continents, taking its stylish sideways
driving style and specialized cars to a vast global market, estimated by some to be second
only to the Formula One juggernaut. This has produced unprecedented levels of visibility in
recent years, but in many ways removed the motorsport from its grassroots past. For better or
worse, rally has become a lucrative business.

Rally types

Spectators along a special stage watch Chris Atkinson drive past in a Subaru Impreza WRC.

There are two main forms: stage rallies and road rallies. Since the 1960s, stage rallies have
been the professional branch of the sport. They are based on straightforward speed over
stretches of road closed to other traffic. These may vary from asphalt mountain passes to
rough forest tracks, from ice and snow to desert sand, each chosen to provide an enjoyable
challenge for the crew and a test of the car's performance and reliability.

The entertaining and unpredictable nature of the stages, and the fact that the vehicles are in
some cases closely related to road cars, means that the bigger events draw massive spectator
interest, especially in Europe, Asia and Oceania.
An Escort RS Cosworth on a stage rally, driven by British driver Malcolm Wilson.

Road rallies are the original form, held on highways open to normal traffic, where the
emphasis is not on outright speed but on accurate timekeeping and navigation and on vehicle
reliability, often on difficult roads and over long distances. They are now primarily amateur
events. There are several types of road rallies testing accuracy, navigation or problem solving.
Some common types are: Regularity rally or a Time-Speed-Distance rally (also TSD rally,
testing ability to stay on track and on time),[59] others are Monte-Carlo styles (Monte Carlo,
Pan Am, Pan Carlo, Continental) rally (testing navigation and timing), and various Gimmick
rally types (testing logic and observation).

Many early rallies were called trials, and a few still are, although this term is now mainly
applied to the specialist form of motor sport of climbing as far as you can up steep and
slippery hills. And many meets or assemblies of car enthusiasts and their vehicles are still
called rallies, even if they involve merely the task of getting there (often on a trailer).

Rallying is a very popular sport at the "grass roots" of motorsportthat is, motor clubs.
Individuals interested in becoming involved in rallying are encouraged to join their local
automotive clubs. Club rallies (e.g. road rallies or regularity rallies) are usually run on public
roads with an emphasis on navigation and teamwork. These skills are important fundamentals
required for anyone who wishes to progress to higher-level events. (See Categories of rallies.)
Short special stage practice events on public roads are in some countries organized by the
local clubs, with a permission of the local police, the community normally using the road, and
the road authority. The public road is closed during these by the organisers or the police.

Rally courses

Franois Duval takes a hairpin turn on an asphalt-based special stage in Germany.

Rallying is also unique in its choice of where and when to race. Rallies take place on all
surfaces and in all conditions: asphalt (tarmac), gravel, or snow and ice, sometimes more than
one in a single rally, depending on the course and event. Rallies are also run every month of
the year, in every climate, bitter cold to monsoon rain. This contributes to the notion of top
rally drivers as some of the best car control experts in the world. As a result of the drivers not
knowing exactly what lies ahead, the lower traction available on dirt roads, and the driving
characteristics of small cars, the drivers are much less visibly smooth than circuit racers,
regularly sending the car literally flying over bumps, and sliding the cars out of corners.

Marcus Grnholm and Sbastien Loeb compete on a gravel-based super special stage in
Argentina.

A typical rally course consists of a sequence of relatively short (up to about 50 km (31 mi)),
timed "special stages" where the actual competition takes place, and untimed "transport
stages" where the rally cars must be driven under their own power to the next competitive
stage within a generous time limit. Rally cars are thus unlike virtually any other top-line
racing cars in that they retain the ability to run at normal driving speeds, and indeed are
registered for street travel. Some events contain "super special stages" where two competing
cars set off on two parallel tracks (often small enough to fit in a football stadium), giving the
illusion they are circuit racing head to head. These stages, ridiculed by many purists, seem
increasingly popular with event organizers. Run over a day, a weekend, or more, the winner of
the event has the lowest combined special and super special stage times. Given the short
distances of super special stages compared to the regular special stages and consequent near-
identical times for the frontrunning cars, it is very rare for these spectator-oriented stages to
decide rally results, though it is a well-known axiom that a team can't win the rally at the
super special, but they can certainly lose it.

Hungarian Audi S6 gets stuck in the sands of the Sahara in Mauritania (January 4, 2005)

Pacenotes and reconnaissance

Pacenotes are a unique and major tool in modern rallying. Television spectators will
occasionally notice the voice of a co-driver in mid-race reading the pacenotes over the car's
internal intercom. These pacenotes provide a detailed description of the course and allow the
driver to predict conditions ahead and prepare for various course conditions such as turns and
jumps.
In many rallies, including those of the World Rally Championship (WRC), drivers are allowed
to run on the stages of the course before competition and create their own pacenotes. This
process is called reconnaissance or recce. During reconnaissance, the co-driver writes down
shorthand notes (the pacenotes) on how to best drive the stage. Usually the drivers call out the
turns and road conditions for the co-drivers to write down. These pacenotes are read aloud
through an internal intercom system during the actual race, allowing the driver to anticipate
the upcoming terrain and thus take the course as fast as possible.

Other rallies provide organizer-created "route notes" also referred to as "stage notes" and
disallow reconnaissance and use of other pacenotes. These notes are usually created using a
predetermined pacenote format, from which a co-driver can optionally add comments or
transpose into other pacenote notations. Many North American rallies do not conduct
reconnaissance but provide stage notes through the use of the Jemba Inertia Notes System,
due to time and budget constraints.[60]

In the past, most rally courses were not allowed to be scanned prior to the race, and the co-
drivers used only maps supplied by the organization. The exact route of the rally often
remained secret until race day. Modern rallies have mostly converted to using organizer-
supplied notes or allowing full reconnaissance, as opposed to racing the stages blindly. This
change has been brought on in large part due to competitor demand.

Historic rallying

A Saab 96 participating in a historic rally.

In the wake of the ever more advanced rally cars of the 21st C is a trend towards historic
rallying (also known as classic rallying), in which older cars compete under older rules.[61][62]
This is a popular sport and even attracts some previous drivers back into the sport. Many who
enter, however, have started their competition careers in historic rallying.

Rally driving techniques

Handbrake turn
Heel-and-toe
Hill jumping
Left-foot braking
Scandinavian flick

See also
Andros Trophy
 Australian Rally Championship
Canadian Rally Championship
Classic rally
Intercontinental Rally Challenge
Rally raid
Rallycross
Road rally
SCCA RallyCross
World Rally Championship

References
1. ^ Robson, Graham. An Illustrated History of Rallying (Osprey Publishing, 1981), p.7.
2. ^ Rose, Gerald (reprinted in facsimile 1949). A Record of Motor Racing 18941908.
Royal Automobile Club 1909. p. 1.
3. ^ Rose, G 1909 p 19
4. ^ Rose, G 1909 p 177
5. ^ Boddy, William: "The History of Brooklands Motor Course", page 11. Grenville,
1957.
6. ^ Louche, Maurice. Le Tour de France Automobile 1899 - 1986. Maurice Louche
1987
7. ^ Jones, Chris. Road Race (George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1977), p.22.
8. ^ Jones, p.31
9. ^ Jones, p.39
10. ^ Pfundner, Martin. Die Alpenfahrt 1910 - 1973 (Bhlau Verlag, 2005), p.9.
11. ^ Bennett, Elizabeth. Thousand Mile Trial. Elizabeth Bennett, 2000.
12. ^ Cowbourne, Donald. British Trial Drivers, Their Cars, Motorcycles and Awards
1902 - 1914 (Westbury Publishing 2003), p.275.
13. ^ Cowbourne 2005 p 279
14. ^ Cowbourne 2005 p 279
15. ^ Cowbourne 2005 p 374
16. ^ Cowbourne 2005 p 422
17. ^ Cowbourne, Donald. British Trial Drivers, Their Cars and Awards 1919 - 1928
(Smith Settle, 2001), p.416.
18. ^ Robson, p.17.
19. ^ Robson, p.20.
20. ^ Robson, p.21
21. ^ Louche, Maurice. Le Rallye Monte-Carlo au XXe Sicle (Maurice Louche, 2001),
p.25.
22. ^ Andrews, Allen. The Mad Motorists: The Great Peking - Paris Race of '07 (Harrap,
1964), p.16.
23. ^ Schuster, George, with Mahoney, Tom. The Longest Auto Race (John Day Company,
1966), p.11.
24. ^ Villard, Henry Serrano. The Great Road Races 1894 - 1914 (Arthur Barker Ltd,
1972), p.124.
25. ^ Louche 2001 pp.4479 & 377384.
26. ^ Pfundner 2005, p.45
27. ^ Pfundner 2005, p.81
28. ^ Hamilton, Maurice. RAC Rally (Partridge Press, 1987), p.9.
29. ^ Delsaux, Jean-Paul. Marathon de la Route 1931/1971 (Jean-Paul Delsaux, 1991),
p.7.
30. ^ Hamill, Sammy. The Circuit of Ireland Rally: Fifty Years On (Tudor, 1981)", p.10.
31. ^ Lurani, Giovanni. La Storia della Mille Miglia (De Agostini, 1979), p.7.
32. ^ Delsaux 1991, p.27
33. ^ Robson, p.45.
34. ^ Hamilton 1987, p.17
35. ^ Robson, p.46
36. ^ Robson, p.55
37. ^ Robson, p.55.
38. ^ Louche, Maurice. Le Tour de Corse Automobile 1956 - 1986 (Maurice Louche,
1989), p.26.
39. ^ Delsaux
40. ^ Pfundner 2005 p 180
41. ^ Lurani 1979, p.165
42. ^ Louche 1989, p.56
43. ^ Tunberg, Anders, and Haventon, Peter. Full fart genom Sverige: Svenska Rallyt 50
r (Full speed through Sweden: 50 years of the Swedish Rally). Bienen & Haventon,
2000.
44. ^ Mkinen, Marko, and Rauhala, Samuli. Finnish Grand Prix: 50 years of rallying
(UserCom Finland Oy, 2001), p.9.
45. ^ Hamilton 1987 p 30
46. ^ Fangio, Juan Manuel, with Carozzo, Roberto. Fangio: My Racing Life (Patrick
Stephens Ltd, 1990), p.50.
47. ^ Fangio and Carozzo, p.92
48. ^ Murphy, Daryl E: "Carrera Panamericana: History of the Mexican Road Race, 1950-
54", page 12. iUniverse Inc.,2nd edition 2008.
49. ^ Fromentin, Pierre: "16.000 km travers l'Afrique", page 1. Plon, 1954.
50. ^ Barnard, Roger: "Safari Rally: The First 40 Years", page 10. Westholme Publishing,
1992.
51. ^ Tuckey, Bill, and Floyd, Thomas B: "Gregorys 25 Years of Around Australia Trials:
From Redex to Repco", page 33. Gregory's Publishing 1979.
52. ^ Fiolka, Marty: "1000 Miles to Glory: The History of the Baja 1000", page 35. David
Bull 2005.
53. ^ Brittan, Nick: "Marathon: Around the world in a cloud of dust". Motor Racing
Publications, 1969.
54. ^ Hudson-Evans, Richard, and Robson, Graham: "The Big Drive: The Book of the
World Cup Rally 1970". Speed & Sports Publications, 1970.
55. ^ Green, Evan: "A Boot Full of Right Arms: Adventures in the London-Sahara-
Munich Rally and other Motoring Marathons", Cassell Australia 1975.
56. ^ Stathatos, John. The Long Drive: The Story of the Singapore Airlines London-
Sydney Rally. Pelham 1978.
57. ^ Jones, Dot & Jim. Dakar: The Challenge of the Desert (Dinefwr, 2003), p.14.
58. ^ "Veloce Books". veloce.co.uk.
http://www.veloce.co.uk/shop/products/productDetail.php?
prod_id=V4040_group=Motorsport. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
59. ^ TSD Rally Retrieved 13 August 2006
60. ^ Rallying Glossary Retrieved 13 August 2006.
61. ^ UK HRCR's Historic Road Rally Retrieved 13 August 2006
62. ^ Historic Rally Association (Australia) Retrieved 13 August 2006
External links
FIA - Sanctioning body for the WRC
World Rally Championship - WRC official website
NASA Rally Sport - US sanctioning body
Rally America - US sanctioning body
United States Rally Championship - US sanctioning body
National Rallying Committee of Mexico - Mexican sanctioning body