Hi Folks:
I'm the co-organizer of both the Frazier Mountain Rally and the Gorman Ridge Rally (my name is Brian). Huge thanks to Stephan, Rhys, James, Cain, Brent, and their co-drivers for coming out this weekend. Big thanks to Matt for bringing his film crew.
I've been involved with rally for 17 years and this is a very interesting twist in "our" sport (rally) that I believe will have major ripples, but it may take a little while to catch on at the national level. While change may not be embraced by everyone, I think one really positive thing from the rally perspective is that some of those involved in the pointy end of the stick either started or spent a good portion of their careers in rally, so we're seeing familiar faces again.
I also serve as the Director of the California Rally Series. While my events were not the first ones to include SxS, I was the one who convinced my series to create 2 new SxS rally classes to be included as part of a meaningful championship.
It might be useful to give you a little back story on the rally world, since this can get really confusing (just like when folks on our side of the fence try to decipher SCORE/MORE/SNORE/BITD/MDR/WORCS/TORC/DEARGODNOTANOTHERSERIESACRONYM/etc)...
There are currently 3 major sanctioning bodies in the US, with 2 of them crossing the border to various degrees into Canada. The current fracture is not good for us as a sport -- ARA is essentially a recent break away contingent of former Rally America folks, while NASA Rally Sport has existed since 2003 or so and attempted to fulfill a more grass-roots role. RA took over when SCCA exited due to concern about exposure after tragic and successive deaths of spectators and then competitors (Subaru factory team of Lovell/Freeman) around the same time. NASA is split into 2 regions -- West and East -- and just like the geographical divide, tends to exhibit a bit of a cultural divide.
The reality from my perspective is that sanctioning bodies are vendors to the organizers. They provide event liability insurance, sanctioning (a set of uniform rules and oversight via impartial stewards), and may provide a championship structure. NRS West has the Pacific Rally Cup, which covers any NRS event West of the Mississippi -- but note that they only have 2 classes: 2WD and AWD. Because NRS is grass-roots focused and recognizes the challenges inherent with each type of vehicle, there is not an emphasis on overall event winners.
Anything provided by the sanctioning beyond that is icing on the cake (so long as it's not onerous IMHO). NRS West does a lot of social media, they provide registration software, etc. Frazier and Gorman are sanctioned by NRS. NRS created a set of technical SxS rules for 2017 with our input. However, and this is important because this is complicated, they don't yet have a SxS championship.
Cue the California Rally Series. An overlay championship (we don't care who sanctions your event, we just provide some standard classes and some basic rules that supplement the technical build and operations rules provided by the sanctioning body), the series does get a bit more granular with its classes. CRS is currently made up of 6 events throughout the Southwest (not just confined to CA). This year, they all happen to be sanctioned by NRS, but there have been splits before. These events would likely self-describe as being focused on regional competitors. Fiercely independent, the CRS might also be described as "fair pirates". The Idaho Rally, which has been a CRS event for a decade, has run SxS for several years. This was largely due to the fact that one of the organizers was deeply involved in the local motorcycle scene and because SxS are road-legal in Idaho, so it was practical. In 2016, Gorman Ridge also decided to include SxS, but this is because we're based out of Hungry Valley SVRA (a state-run OHV park), and alternate transits for the otherwise California road NON-legal SxS could be put together. So we ran it. Despite a lot of interest, we only got 1 SxS entry, but that was a great proponent from UTV Driver who wrote some great coverage of his experience. (Thanks to Cain Smead).
So going forward, you need to be cognizant that every rally is run by a different set of organizers, whose style and culture of executing their events are as varied as the roads upon which the events are run. CRS is a bit of a cult, but in a good way. NRS backs us up with the legal stuff and the rules. In the end, we all want to have fun testing our limits on closed roads with excellent safety, operations, and scoring teams, on courses ranging from forests with 700 year old trees to desert runs to whatever we can find in-between.
Here's some insight on the current CRS events:
High Desert Trails (early May): Very fast, sweeping stages on county roads near Ridgecrest (adjacent to Jawbone). Does not currently offer SxS, but it's not uncommon to hit 100+ mph. Lots of stage miles.
Frazier Mountain Rally (May 20): SxS EVENT, based in Frazier Park, CA. The most technical road in CRS, a 1500' elevation change through the trees, operating on the only US Forest Service permit in the United States issued in the past decade and the newest event in the series. (Heard of Rim of the World? Been a while since we've had a real forest rally like this in the Southwest). Due to changes in the Forest administration and staffing issues, we were unable to add the second road we were after, Grade Valley. This road has a completely different dynamic and is fast and flowing. Maybe next year.
Idaho Rally (June 8-11): SxS EVENT. Based out of Boise and running to Placerville, the roads are fast and flowing through the forest. It's a long rally, with many stage miles.
Gorman Ridge Rally (August 19): SxS EVENT. The oldest consecutively-running rally in CRS, based out of the Hungry Valley SVRA in Gorman, CA. Regional folks are likely very familiar with this OHV park, but when was the last time you ran flat out with these roads closed, racing over the span of 12 hours with night stages? We've been told the atmosphere is like a family reunion more than a rally. With both highly technical and fast stages, an SxS could be extremely competitive in the overall. Easy spectating for certain stages.
Prescott Rally (October 6-7): SxS EVENT. Fast roads through the Prescott Forest, with one stage running an old mining railway bed up to historic Jerome. SxS are road-legal in AZ, but speeds may favor the rally cars.
Mendocino Rally (October 28): SxS EVENT (non-points for rally cars). Flowing roads in the BLM Cow Mountain OHV area outside of Ukiah, this compact event with essentially no transit could be perfect for SxS. Given its location in NorCal, could also attract a new group of SxS enthusiasts from an area not used to SxS desert racing.
So that's the initial deal. At this point, we're all doing a little improvising, adapting, and overcoming. Neither ARA nor RA have any plans of which we're aware to add SxS. The regional SouthWest Rally Cup series (which had been part of the CRS at one point) has included SxS in their series, but some of their events have either been cancelled or rescheduled, and so far those events that have included SxS have only allowed them to run on select stages as I understand it.
Here's the TL;DR: generally in the Southwest, each Event is put on by an Organizer, sanctioned by NASA, and recognized as a championship via the California Rally Series in one of two classes -- SxS Production Turbo or SxS Production.
Hope that's a good jumping off point. We're stoked to have the cross-breeding begin and look forward to the results. There will be events in which SxS will have the advantage and others in which they will not. Us regional rallyists welcome the new competition and look forward to having some new friends on the stages.
EDITED: (now that I can provide links):
NASA Rally Sport General Rules Page
GRR Sections 1&2 - Event Rules
GRR Section 6 - RallySxS™ Rules (technical build & operational rules)
California Rally Series Rulebook
CRS SxS (championship rules): See Appendix B
Happy to answer any questions. Cheers!
