Road Rally

Join us this Fall to help us celebrate 70 years of the Texas Region SCCA with a fun-packed weekend of National-level RoadRallying on (mostly) Collin County country roads. We will be hosting three different rallies over the weekend: A Course TSD Rally and a course-following GTA Rally on Saturday, followed by a Tour TSD Rally on Sunday. Registration is open for these events, so sign up soon to allow time to plan and prepare.

ONTO Fall National Course Rally:  Saturday will be a 165+-mile course following rally through the countryside on the beautiful, paved roads of rural Texas.  And with a grand tour of the town of Farmersville, home of Audie Murphy.  Designed for the experienced rallyist, it will have variable Main Road rule priorities and both numbered and lettered Route Instructions.  Additionally, some of the numbered instructions will have a choice of actions.  Speeds will be moderate with generous use of Free Zones.  You will be timed by the Richta app. For additional details and to pre-register, go to MotorsportReg.com: msreg.com/OFCR21msr.

ONTO Fall National GTA Rally:  The Saturday GTA Rally is also course-following and has many of the same traps as the Course Rally.  But it has no lettered instructions, so many of the traps are implemented differently.  You will be scored by your answers to questions that are designed to determine if you followed the correct course and/or applied the rules correctly. If you have run a Clear Blue Sky Rally with us in the past few years, this will be a similar experience. For additional details and to pre-register, go to MotorsportReg.com: msreg.com/OFGR21msr .

Aftershock National Tour Rally:  The Sunday Tour rally is a 165 miles scenic tour on the best paved (and they’re mostly good) roads of Collin and Grayson Counties.  Just one very short section of gravel.  With fun speeds and some timing controls in challenging places.  Timing will be with the Richta app. For additional details and to pre-register, go to MotorsportReg.com: msreg.com/ASTR21msr .

Liz Witt is Rallymaster and John Poulos is Chairman for all three events. Liz has been putting on Course Following GTA’s for about 5 years.  One of our local rallyists gave her a tote sack to carry “Liz’s Traps”.  You’ll see a bunch of them on either Saturday rally. More recently, we have (re)introduced time-speed-distance (TSD) rallying to our Region, with the Tick Tock rallies held in 2020 and earlier this year. We’ve had good experience with the Richta app on these two very successful Regional Tour Rallies.

Several teams from all over the country will be joining us, as they compete for the National RoadRally Championship. Local rallyists and/or others with no or less rally experience can enter in contestant classes that reflect their level of experience. These three National-level rallies are longer than our usual events, but we have built breaks into them, including one for lunch. We will supply information on places where you can enjoy a brief lunch during that break.

Rally Schools – to help prepare for these upcoming rallies, we will be holding a couple of Rally Schools, oriented primarily to novice rallyists but open to all to attend. John Poulos, event Chairman, will be your instructor, assisted by Liz Witt, Rallymaster.

Aftershock Tour Rally School – If you signed up for the Aftershock Tour Rally, or if you just want to learn about Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rallies and the Richta smart phone app that we will be using for timing of the rally, then we invite you to a short Rally School on Saturday October 9th at 10:00 am.  Content covers TSD Tour rallies and is geared for novices, though it may also include concepts of interest to the more experienced rallyist. The “classroom” instruction will be conducted via Zoom session, which will be recorded for optional later viewing.  When you register on MSREg (msreg.com/ASTR21RSmsr), we will send information on how to download the app and also directions for a very short course in Richardson where you can go see how it works.

ONTO Fall Rally School – If you signed up for the ONTO Fall Rally, or if you just want to learn about course-following rallies, then we invite you to a short Rally School on October 10th at 10:00 am.  Content covers SCCA GTA (Games, Tours, Adventures) rallies and is geared for novices, though it will also include concepts of interest to the more advanced rallyist.  The “classroom” instruction will be conducted via Zoom session, which will be recorded for optional later viewing.  When you register on MSREg (msreg.com/OFR21RSmsr), we will send information and directions for a short course in Richardson where you can practice some of the concepts introduced in the classroom.

Pre-registration on MSReg.com required – You can enter either the Course or the GTA event on Saturday.  For most local rallyists – and specifically those with limited TSD rallying experience and no special timing calculation equipment – we would recommend you register for the GTA rally. If you are entering the Sunday Tour rally, the seat-of-the pants (SOP) class is likely the most appropriate for your level of experience. This will be similar to (though longer than) the Tick Tock Rally we held in this area in October 2020. If you’re running a Saturday event and the Sunday event, you must register for each separately. If you plan to attend a Rally School, we ask you to register on MSReg as well – there is no charge for the schools.

Headquarters Hotel:  check-in and starting point for all three rallies will be at the SpringHill Suites Dallas McKinney/Allen, 2660 S Central Expy, McKinney, TX 75070 (469-678-5047). If you are joining us from out of town, we have negotiated special rates for this hotel and the Home2 Suites by Hilton next door. Details provided on the MSReg site. If you are local and planning to compete in a Saturday and Sunday rally, you might consider staying there overnight and avoiding early rising and lengthy driving to check-in on Sunday.