[Adrian Thompson]

Hi, this is a first time post from a non competitor. I don't want to step on peoples toes or upset people, but there's a question that's puzzled me for some time.

I'm an ex-pat Brit who has lived and worked in the US or the last 9 years. While I've competed in road racing, autocross, sprints and hillclimbs, I've never competed in a rally, although I've been a long time fan. While I've been monitoring/lurking on Specialstage for some time, the recent tragic events have finally persuaded me to join and chime in.

One thing that I've never understood since moving here is why there is no equivalent, that I'm aware of, to British single venue events. These are very popular in the UK. For those who may not be familiar with the format, these are one day events hold on private land, often old abandoned WWII airfields. They are predominantly tarmac (asphalt) or concrete based, although broken/gravel/dirt surfaces are common. A series of stages are set up using old runways, taxiways, access roads etc. As they are on a single private location it strikes me as having many advantages for the organizers. It makes it much easier to control spectator access and location. One site/site owner to deal with. No road closures or public access issues. Greatly reduced personnel requirements. And the biggie, I would imagine it's much easier to insure.

It also has many advantages for competitors, centralized single location, no need for road transit, easier timekeeping/navigation. Probably less wear and tear on the vehicle due to the closed surface. No, it may not provide the same level of thrill as hurtling down a tree line logging trail or similar, but I would think it could prove a more accessible cheaper format for many people to start, or even stay at that level. I could be totally wrong and off base. Perhaps this has been discussed previously. If so sorry for wasting time. I'd just like to know what competitors and organizers view is of something like this.

Thanks for reading my long ramble

Adrian Thompson

 

[cs]

Adrian,

This is exactly what I proposed on the local rally list couple of weeks ago.

I'm going to check again with the local club person that overlooks rally.

It can have even more fun with stuff like run night stages and bring some road racing people to the dark side (here is your chance).

Later,

CS

 

[MDBodnar]

Several have been discussed. A few that I know of have been used. And another is close to what you describe.

Discussed: Ivor's land in Florida, Rausches(?) Creek in PA, I think another old coalmine in PA, VIR or some other land in Virginia associated with a roadrace favility.

Used: Henry's Joy's Property in Michigan (about 1,000 acres good for small amount of cars and under 25 miles of competition.)

The old ammunitions storage facility in TN, I think no longer avaialable.

What's the name of the venue at west? Some sort of motorcross park?


The reality of the issues is that if you can establish a single venue event it has the good possibility to be successful.

The struggles are
1) availability of the venues
2) distance for competitor travel (hotel expense)

Distance is the biggest limiting factor, most rallyist would not be interested in driving more than 4 hours to attend a low mileage event.
The vast size of our country is both a blessing and a constraint.

Do you have some sites in mind? This type of event would be easy to organize!

Mike

 

[yankkiwi]

I, and others, have introduced this topic many times and been quickly shut down but now might be a good time. Arena rallysprints in local speedways. Everthing about our sport costs money and we have none. If every area had a rally car show and a rallysprint at their local speeedway then it would both raise public awareness of the sport and give the same public a safe place to watch. It would also raise money so we could PAY for safety people, organizers, etc. We need to move away from ameteurs running our events and become a professional group. The Motocross motorcycle guys have shown the way and we have a product that people are becoming interested in. I mean no disrespect to the current organizers but i'm sure they would agree if organizing was their only job and they had a large budget to work with they could do an even better job. we need to raise money and single events open to the public are what we need. stuart.

 

[Bruce]

Can't imagine why anyone has shut you down. The PRB has been discussing single venue events with Risk Management for some time, with the goal of less risk/cheaper insurance. No conclusions, yet, however.

Some others that have been used:
- Paris events on Camp Maxey in Texas.
- Several Coefficient 1 events in Arkansaw, WI.
- The Hallett Triples - three C1s on Hallett Motor Speedway property in Oklahoma

We investigated a couple of local military bases, but after 9/11, civilian use shut down pretty tight.

Bruce

 

[Dave Kean]

Typical single stage venues in the UK have longer stages than a speedway or ORV park can provide. I can't recall any stages less than 3 or 4 miles long at a single stage event I've run in the UK.

They are more than a rallysprint, closer to full stage rallies with at least 20-30 stage miles. The only thing is they generally require no transits on public roads.

The Hallett Triple put on by Mad Mike is a good example of what a single venue event looks like. All the stages were on private land, had single service area, no road transits (I think) and so on. Reno is another example, all the stages were on the property of a single landowner, with a central service area, though short (3 mile) road sections were used during transits.

The new venue in Hoquiam used for Doo-**** I and II this year was long enough to run a real stage with multiple cars out at once.

Old airfields, race tracks and big patches of private land are what is needed, if you want to run in a stadium then call it "European rallycross", put 6 cars out there and trade paintwork.

Dave
[email protected]

 

[wvonkessler]

The Chattanooga Region had three planned, including July 18, 2003. We have 800 acres to work with, and the planned stage(s) were about 2 and 3 miles, or 5 miles combined, with total stage miles for the day around 30 miles. However, the moratorium on events has shut us down.

Because it is a single access venue, we would be able to have waivers executed by all entrants to the facility. Additionally, the stage areas are geographically separate from anything else, and the natural viewing area (a hill overlooking the stage area that allows one to see the whole thing) is well separated from the "hot" areas.

I contacted the PRB and Pete Lyon at SCCA by letter back in December regarding a reduced insurance rate for closed venue events. I have never received a reply.

Wilson

 

[MDBodnar]

You should send an outline of the event directly to the BoD -- the suspension of ClubRally should not include single venue closed/limited acces events. (If it does that would include all roadraces.)

I really think a well worded and explained request for sanction directly to the BoD would be a great step in their needed education.

Good Luck!
Mike

 

[wvonkessler]

Mike:

I have a full "Spectator Safety Plan" done up as part of the Operations plan. I will forward it on.

Thanks,

Wilson

 

[wvonkessler]

>Mike:
>
>I have a full "Spectator Safety Plan" done up as part of the
>Operations plan. I will forward it on.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Wilson

Done. Sent via e-mail and U.S. Mail to Board of Directors and copied to PRB. Now just hurry up and wait.

Wilson

 

[ProRallyPix]

>You should send an outline of the event directly to the BoD
>-- the suspension of ClubRally should not include single
>venue closed/limited acces events. (If it does that would
>include all roadraces.)

Sorry, but the notice from Mr Kosmides and Mr Johnson specifically suspends "RallySprint operations that are sanctioned as coefficient 1 or higher."

No ProRally stage in this country is as safe as that fenced sort yard in Hoquiam, but there's no SCCA sanction for the Rally Worker Rally Sprints. I don't think we can call them races, maybe you should try for a Solo 1 sanction.

Jim Culp
prorallypix.com