A Practical Experiment Combining RoadRally and Solo
A fast-paced dance between cones, a precision reversing maneuver on the clock, hairpin turns on gravel, blind curves with unexpected ice, and half of this at night — all in the same event! That’s what competitors enjoyed at the 2024 Flamethrower Regional Rally in Red Wing, MN, sanctioned by the SCCA Land O’ Lakes Region and sponsored by Red Hen Racing on YouTube.
I wanted to bring a little extra spice to the sport for my second year organizing Flamethrower (and my second time at the helm of a RoadRally). I was interested in offering a sort of “super special stage” for TSD competitors — a section that differs in character from the rest of the rally. Perhaps adding an autocross or rallycross into the standard RoadRally format would be possible.
I talked through these ideas with various experienced rallyists. I realized that, while fun, any true SCCA Solo or Rallycross event would require helmets, not to mention more involved tech inspection and other complications. Rallycross also suffers a chronic limitation on venues, so the pavement is necessary — a bummer for a winter rally. So I brainstormed: how can a RoadRally emulate the experience of solo competition with a much simpler implementation?
After an exhausting amount of back-and-forth with SCCA folks from all levels of the organization, a mechanism was found to ensure the event. The catch? I would need a Solo Safety Steward to certify the Skills Course. After contacting every Solo Steward in the Region, including our Division Safety Steward, and coming up dry, I decided I may have to cancel the Skills Course. Thankfully, a few days before I was ready to pull the plug, our Land O’ Lakes Regional Executive Mark Utecht committed to getting his Solo Steward license that weekend to ensure the event went as planned. That was a generous donation of time and effort if ever there was one!
Fast forward to February 24th. At 2:31 pm, Car 1, a black right-hand drive Subaru Impreza STi piloted by first-time rallyists, rolled onto Old W Main St in Red Wing. A BRZ, C5 Corvette, MX-5 RF, and more followed it. The competitors followed a 4.5-mile route past historic houses to the nearby Minnesota State College Southeast. I used old SCCA ProRally time control signs to mark the start and finish. Competitors got a target time based on the time it took me to run the course, in this case, 50 seconds, and they were given a countdown down to zero.
Gymkhana elements helped to keep speeds down and promote safety. Tight spacing of elements made high speeds impossible. Still, the reversing section ensured each competitor had to stop the car twice during their run. Two-second penalties could be for tipping or moving a cone, missing a cone, or creeping up to the finish. Every competitor picked up at least one penalty, but none drove unsafely, and all stopped at the stop line as instructed.
After zeroing at an End Control sign, they all went to the first half of the stages! I used many of the same roads as last year but ran them in a sequence that allowed teams to enjoy a “hairpin” turn onto a steep side road up a hill. Another “hairpin” sent them the long way around a delta intersection — right after cresting a hill, mind you. I enjoy combining these regular road elements to create exciting driving challenges. After the first eight stages, the cars returned for a mid-point break at a gas station. A time-of-day (CZT) restart sent them across the street for the second run of the Skills Course, this time in dusk lighting conditions. The course did not change for the second running, but I added ten seconds to the target time to make the course more satisfying for competitors unfamiliar with autocross style competition.
The second half of the rally began in the twilight hours and traversed the scenic valleys of the Cannon River area, including a loop of three new stages. One of my favorite sections was SR16, which started by descending 170 vertical feet off the edge of the valley within half a mile of the road — a steep, twisty downhill grade on gravel at night! I led the teams up an old favorite, Ravenna Trail, on their way to the endpoint, Hastings, Minnesota. The new end point of the rally put most teams a half hour closer to home than they would have been in Red Wing.
The new end location was convenient for more than just timing; one local rallyist found he could compete in Flamethrower with his Ford Mach E, a fully electric vehicle! After registration, he had topped up his battery charge at a car dealership and found his range adequate for the whole day. The EVs are coming, and charging infrastructure is an event planning aspect to be aware of in the future.
Ted and Lisa Rurup received their trophy for First Overall. The trophy is a flamethrower provided by Red Hen Racing on YouTube (competitor Gavyn Gill’s channel)! Photo credit to Alex Summers.
Will the Skills Course happen again? I’m sure it will, but perhaps not by me. Cross-discipline RoadRally has been done before; two Bruces, Weinman and Gezon, told me they had held a similar event. It’s a lot of work, but I exist in the Venn diagram among RoadRally, stage rally, and by association, RallyCross. The idea of a combined RoadRally & Solo or RoadRally & RallyCross may be one mechanism for dealing with the discontinuation of ProRally and RallySprints as SCCA concentrates its programming. There is merit in the concept, so Flamethrower may get another Skills Course next year if the demand is adequate. However, the ‘cone sports’ aspect may fit better for a summer rally. Either way, my organizing adventure may inspire other rallyists/organizers to reach out to those of other disciplines and create new opportunities.
I want to keep this experience relevant and valuable, so don’t hesitate to contact me at tylerlinner@comeroadrallywith.us if you will hold a similar event in your Region!
Tyler Linner, Rallymaster
All photos by Tyler Linner, except as noted above.
