Hi all, I'll start with just a little about my self.

I've been interested in rally racing ever since I was a wee lad seeing it on TV once in a blue moon. Of course growing up in Southern Ontario well all know there isn't a whole lot of coverage available. It think It was 2002 when Speedvision began coverage of the WRC season and I'd watch every time. I've also been a long fan of Rally PC simulations, and I don't mean those cheesy arcadish games like Rally Championship, and to a lesser extent the Colin McRae series.

In November I went to my first rally ever with my brother and best friend, the Rally of the Tall Pines. I'm live just outside of Waterloo and a freak snow squall slowed our progress and it took a good 5 1/2 hours to get to Bancroft. I enjoyed the show but was dead tired. My brother drove back that night to the 401, but I couldn't really get any sleep in the back seat of my Pontiac Sunfire. Nervous about his driving and he wondered onto the slushy sides of the road sometimes waking me up. Also I swear every time I was just dozing off he would hit a huge crack in the road or something waking me up.

In the end I was awake for 37 hours straight and I'll never do that as a day trip again, I'll make sure theres somewhere to sleep. Good times though.


So to make a short story long....


Anyway, wanting to get my toe in the door I've been reading about the mini-navigational rallies off Highway 400. The web site says anyone with a car can compete. I've been doing some research on Navigational rally and it looks pretty complicated. What's the best way for a fella to go about learning the ropes of this? Perhaps somewhere online I could learn a firm basis of this? Or would say rally school be necesary. I don't personally know anyone who does rally in any form. As for the navigational rally I understand that just finishing on course is quite a feat in itself and I certainly don't expect to do very well. My brother would very much like to be a navigator.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the links Nikola. I suppose its time for myself and my bro to get studying. I'm sure I'll be checking back with more questions  .

I also may consider that rally school but thats probably more than an hour's drive from where I am.


I also noticed in a couple of the videos on this forum from the rally of the tall pines I can see my brother, my one buddy and myself for a second, lol.

I am aware.  Afterall I did stay awake for 37 hours straight  for the Tall Pines event. I guess it really isn't that bad, just that its repeted trips. And I got a new job with a continental shift in which the term "weekend" is now meaningless to me. I will have to see about it with my work schedual.

I looked into that a bit. Thier website seems alittle uninformative. I can't find information about rally school at all on thier site, wether its nessesary or not to first be a member, and next to nothing about any upcoming events this year. I'm not sure its what I'm looking for or how helpful it would be.  ???

Well dang, seems the last meeting was on Thursday night. Its ok though, I went to see Motley Crue in Hamilton that night and have no regrets despite a rough day at work the next day and some hearing loss. Next month however I'll definatly look into it.

Club meeting are a good way to meet people, but I didn't find them a pre-requisite for getting started with rallying. There's a Provincial Rally this weekend which is touted as reasonably beginner's friendly (you'll still get lost though;)) called Greenspond Go-Round. It was the first rally for my current navigator, and we did OK, all things considered. And if you come early (there's usually people there hours before), you can pick our brains for a while

Toofastforlove. wrote on 03/13/6 at 16:46:10:


The Greenspond rally would be an ideal event for both of you to try. There will be lots of old hands hanging around early, that will be more than pleased to advise novices. I marshalled that event last year, (or the year previous, I forget,) but what I do remember, is that is signified the start of the rally season, and every old f*rt in the sport was there to marshal or compete. (unfortunately, I can't marshall this year.)

Seriously though, they have three levels of instructions for ORRC events, ranging from novice, to intermediate to expert. Come out, try the Novice, You'll have a blast. Trust me. (I know what sort of rally Ray Felice puts on.)

Dave

umm... I don't know about that test. It's got some things that are different then around here.  ???