CA: INTO THE NIGHT 2023

6-Hour “Starlite”-style modified Monte Carlo, an SCCA Cal Club Regional Course Rally, with Rallymaster Joe Akerman, run on December 9, 2023.

For a bunch of us rally people out here in Southern California, this is the rally format that first got us hooked. There’s a colorful history to it all, beginning with the Pan-Am Rally in the 1960s, followed by Starlite from 1971 – 2000. Starlite ran from Santa Barbara to Las Vegas, starting at 10 pm on the second Friday night after Thanksgiving and finishing in Vegas around noon Saturday. Fourteen hours across the mountains and desert, and during those years, there was damn little in between start and finish.

Other rallies followed suit until, by the mid-1980s, in addition to Starlite, there was Equinox, Moonshine Run, and Into The Night. Over the years, as has been the sad situation with navigational rallies across the country, teams and events fell by the wayside until, in the early 2000s, only Into The Night Rally Team was left standing.

Other types of rallies use maps, but what makes the “Starlite” format different is a special kind of Rally Control called a ‘Standoff.’  Standoffs are kind of like a start for each leg. Each Checkpoint has a Standoff (Standoff 1 – Checkpoint 1, Standoff 2 – Checkpoint 2, etc.), and you must go to the Standoff before you go to the corresponding Checkpoint. You would want to do so anyway since the workers at the Standoffs (they are always staffed) will have more information about the Checkpoint location. The Standoffs are marked precisely on the Official Map(s), and their location is described precisely in the Route Instructions, along with their required direction of entry. The Checkpoints are NOT marked on the Official Map(s), but they may have some information in the Route Instructions, usually not an exact location, but some general description, road(s), or a defined area where they might be, and a required direction of entry. All Checkpoints have a Car Zero Time. The entrant will need to use whatever information is provided, both in the Route Instructions and the Standoff information, along with the time available to reach each Checkpoint to determine the correct route.

INTO THE NIGHT 2023, RALLYMASTERS’ CRITIQUE OF THE COURSE

(If you’d like to follow this Critique more closely, go to itnrally.org and download the Route Instructions and Official Map. We suggest you read through the RIs. As you read, mark the Checkpoint locations described in the RIs on the map. Then download the Standoff handouts (Regular class) to see what further info you would have been given at the Standoffs. Go back through and update your calculations (or guesses) for the Checkpoint locations. Then use the Novice class Standoff handouts for specific map routes for each leg, and then read through the Critique below to see if you got it right. If you do all this, you’ll see what an interesting and fun puzzle-solving rally this is.

Leg 1  

In order for scoring to occur on the Richta app, all CP times have to be measured from some sort of Start (or Restart). To preserve the general style and format of this Starlite/PanAm map-based rally, we had to make the Start Leg 1 (Richta CP 1), and use that point as the starting time of all the legs of the rally.  

We also did not use the Standoffs as Richta Restarts, so we could keep all the timed Checkpoints in chronological order. In order to allow all the Checkpoints to be unstaffed, we put ‘off-course’ Richta Course Controls opposite any Checkpoint that might be entered backward. These ‘off-course’ controls were given high CP numbers to keep them from confusing the order of the timed Checkpoints. Remember, the Richta app calls everything – Start/Restarts, timed Checkpoints, and Course Controls – a ‘CP’.

Leg 2 

Out of Start, head East on Palmdale Blvd, and navigate the roundabout at 47^th St E to continue East. Go Right on 90^th St E to Ave S and go Left there to find CP 2. To allow for any possible heavy traffic on Pearblossom, an extra 4 minutes are included in your time.

Leg 3

Out of CP 2, you make a very quick Right onto 96^th ST E and take it all the way South, carefully cross Pearblossom Hwy (CA 138) and continue to Fort Tejon Rd. Left there and head East until you pick up 106^thST E which becomes Juniper Hills Rd and follow it to SO 3-5. (How about that view coming into Standoff, eh?)

Upon leaving Standoff 3, the challenge is to complete CPs 3-5 in order AND in the correct direction. The initial complication is that CP 4 and CP 5 are on the route (131^st St) that is the most direct path from Standoff 3 to CP3 on Valyermo. Therefore, the route taken to CP 3 must dodge both of those CPs.  

To dodge CP 5, proceed North from Standoff 3 on 131 St. Turn Right on Pallett Creek Rd to avoid passing through CP 5 in the wrong order and wrong direction. Turn Left on Fort Tejon, pass 131 St, and turn Right on Homer Rd.  

Proceed East on Homer Rd to 131 St, then turn Left (thus avoiding CP 4, which is immediately on your Right as you make that Left turn).

Use the map mileages to find the Right on Ave W, which then turns into Valyermo, and successfully head toward CP 3.

Leg 4

The only trick here is to be sure that CP 4 is crossed in the correct direction. Thus, out of CP 3, continue South on Valyermo, turn Right on Pallet Creek Rd and then an immediate Right on Fort Tejon. Proceed past 131^st St (again), then go Right on Homer (again) and Right on 131^st St.  CP 4 will now be crossed in the correct direction.

Leg 5

Nothing complicated here at all. Continue South on 131^st St and go Left at Fort Tejon Rd. A Right back onto 131^st St and CP 5 will be straight ahead, approximately 100 yds.

Legs 6-10 

Out of CP 5, use Pallet Creek Rd (again) back over to Valyermo Rd.  Turn Right at the Stop and make your way up the mountain to SO 6-11.

Next comes a ‘gauntlet’ run from the STANDOFF through 5 CPs in under 9 minutes. Leave the STANDOFF heading North on Largo Vista Rd to find all 5 CPs.

Leg 11 

From CP 10, head West on Pearblossom Hwy and South on 165^th St E, which becomes Bob’s Gap Rd. CP 11 is on the only section of road that runs generally East-West, thus allowing you to enter 11 heading West.

Leg 12

After lunch and a restart, the next four legs offer another challenge of completing CP’s 12-15 in order AND in the correct direction. The preferred route out of Standoff 12 is to exit the parking lot on the EAST side onto 85^th St. and turn Right, then an immediate Right onto a potentially very busy Pearblossom Hwy. Due to the high traffic volume, additional time has been added to this leg, so there is no need to hurry. Turn Left on 82^ndSt., then Left on Ave V (this turns into Fort Tejon Rd). Turn Right on Mount Emma Rd, then Right on 47^th St. Enter CP 12 from the South in the correct direction.

Leg 13

After completing Leg 12, the most direct route (heading due North on 47^th St.) to CP 13 passes through CP  14 in the wrong order AND in the wrong direction. To avoid CP 14, continue North on 47^th St and turn Left on Barrel Springs Rd (thus avoiding CP 14 in the wrong order and wrong direction). Turn Right on 40^th St and Right on Pearblossom Hwy. Proceed past 47^th St. Be sure to follow Pearblossom Hwy/Hwy 138 at the junction of Pearblossom/Fort Tejon/Ave T. A Right on Cheseboro, which comes up very quickly, and a Right on Barrel Springs Rd will bring you to CP 13 safely in the correct direction.

Leg 14

From CP 13, the most direct route to CP 14 (Barrel Springs then North on 47^th St) passes through CP 14 in the wrong direction. Thus, to approach CP 14 in the correct direction, from CP 13 continue on Barrel Springs past 47^th St (avoiding going the wrong direction into CP 14). Turn Right on 40^th St, Right on Pearblossom Hwy (again), then Right on 47^th St.  CP 14 will be just prior to the intersection with Barrel Springs Rd.

Leg 15

From CP 14, the locations of CP 12 and CP 13 force you to head West on Barrel Springs Rd (again) to avoid entering them twice and in the wrong direction. North on 40^th St E,  East on Pearblossom Hwy, South on Cheseboro Rd, West on Mt Emma Rd to find CP 15.

Leg 16 

Continue on Mt Emma Rd to Angeles Forest Hwy. Then South to Aliso Canyon Rd and find CP 16 just after the intersection.

Leg 17 

From STANDOFF, CP 17 is just to the East (Left). The map shows that Crown Valley Rd parallels Soledad Canyon Rd to the East so you can determine that CP 17 is just South of the Northern intersection of these two roads. Head South out of the STANDOFF, turn Left onto Crown Valley Rd to CP 17.

Leg 18 

From CP 17, Left onto Soledad Canyon Rd, through STANDOFF 17 again (no need to stop a second time), then Right onto Agua Dulce Canyon Rd to CP 18.

Leg 19

From CP 18, continue on Agua Dulce Rd to Davenport Rd to STANDOFF. Out of Standoff you very quickly get on Summit Knoll Rd to CP 19 and continue the 1.2 miles to CP 19. Average speed to reach the CP on Summit Knoll is about 15 mph.

Leg 20 

From CP 19, turn safely Left onto Davenport Rd, then go South on Sierra Hwy about 2 miles to CP 20.

The finish was at a favorite pizza place about 8 minutes from CP 20. Even the folks who didn’t score so well were laughing and telling tall tales at the finish. It’s always great to see that everyone enjoyed the event.

In 2024, we’ll be part of the United States Road Rally Challenge (USRRC) on Nov. 9, with Thunder Roadas a Monte Carlo-style 7-hour SCCA National Tour and the first of three rallies on Veteran’s Day weekend. We’ll also have Stagecoach from Larry Scholnick, an SCCA National Tour running “on time all the time,” and Highway Robbery (a “medium hard” SCCA National Course) from Jeanne English.

Into The Night 2024 will return on a TBD date to run again as a unique and challenging map-based, Southern California-style modified Monte Carlo.

Hope to see you all out there.