Ross makes very good points. Setting up a Rally-x is not as simple as people make it out to be, and finding a location where people will not complain is next to impossible. I would like to thank Ross and rest of the organizers for putting these events on.
Using “Golton SS stage” as a rally-x is a good idea, but as some mentioned becomes very rough after 2 rounds, and is really bad in certain spots by end of the day. Having gravel rally tires is the best solution for this (used gravel tires can be picked up for cheap), and they will last you for many years of rally-x’s. Skid plate is also highly recommended. Actual rally suspension is not needed. I have been running stock suspension (struts) for all rally-x’s.
Using the Golton SS has a side benefit, as you can “kind of” compare your times against actual Rally cars from Tall Pines. (yes, I know there are few differences between the Rally-x and the actual SS stage)
Here are my 2 cents on current rally-x.
The summer rally-x events are great, can be very, very dusty on certain days, but generally they are great.
However the winter events (as someone mentioned) need to change! The track is plowed very narrow, and after one round you were basically a rail-car, driving/following a set of tracks between snow banks. NOT FUN !! And, if you get out of the tracks, you are most likely stuck in a snow bank, followed by 30 minutes of NOT FUN for anyone till you get pulled out.
In the winter events the track should be plowed at least 2 widths of a car or wider, so you can go sideways (remember we are there to have fun and drive sideways), and not drive in ruts. At least I am anyway.
Then you have the 6 hour “there and back” commute, to drive five 1 minute rounds in snow ruts, IMHO it’s not really worth it.
I stopped going to the winter events for that reason.
One of the complaints I heard from few competitors was that they were unhappy with the same starting order in some of the events. They had a high starting number and were near the end of every run. By the time their turn came up, the course was destroyed no matter when it was fixed between runs. They didn’t go back for another event for this reason. Yes, it’s an excuse, and you can’t please everyone, but they do have a point on that.
How about rotating the starting order, something like, 1st round start at car 1. 2nd round start at car 11. 3rd round start at car 21…etc. and this would solve that particular issue. We used to do that years ago.
I personally preferred the old Gravel Pit in L’Amable. I am talking the actual gravel pit where we used to run the Rally-x’s in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and not the back parking lot area where the Tall Pines service is now. In the pit, we had different track/route combinations, this also made it a bit more interesting. Plus having a 2 day event (Saturday and Sunday) was better. You got way more runs in
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I also want the old winter Drive-X’s series back, ya, Ross, this is me wishing
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