It's time once again for the Santa Monica Sports Car Club's First Friday Niter road rally on 5/6/11! This month's rally will run primarily in the Santa Clarita area.

This is a time-speed-distance rally that will challenge your driving precision, navigational skills, and mental agility. Typical rallies cover 50-75 miles of driver-oriented country and canyon roads at legal (but spirited) speeds.

No previous experience is necessary to compete. All you need is a navigator, a flashlight, a pen/pencil, and a watch that can be synchronized with official rally time. Novices compete in a special class, so inexperienced teams don’t need to worry about getting beat up by the experts! (We do offer some basic rally training for newbies before each event.) Trophies are awarded to top finishers in all classes!

Rallies start at the Bank of America rear parking lot in Mission Hills, corner of Devonshire and Sepulveda. Registration opens at 7 p.m., with first car off at 8:01. The finish will be someplace with food and beverages.

Entry fees are $10 for SCCA members. Not a member? You can purchase a weekend membership for $8 per car.

For more info: ffn.smscc.org.

NOTE: At last month's event, the Novice class was won by a team competing in their first rally ever. If they can do it, so can you!

Any questions? Post ‘em here or PM me. Hope to see you there!

 

do u have any pictures or anything from the last event??

 

Nothing from the last event, but I did grab all the photos you'll find in this article at a daytime rally this past February:

http://hooniverse.com/2011/03/04/tim...orts-car-club/

 

is this on paved road the whole time? is the road going to be closed off to all traffic? sounds interesting =)

 

Good questions!

1. 100% paved roads.
2. No closed roads. All of our rallies are held on public roads at legal speeds.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "How can driving around at the speed limit be fun?" Trust me: things happen fast on a rally. You and your navigator will be working constantly to stay on time without getting lost, and under those circumstances the speed limit can feel very, very fast. Plus, most of our rallies have some canyon road component that will allow you to do some brisk driving.

Also, TSD rallies can be great preparation for higher speed events like PROrally or Targa-style competitions. You will get used to working as a driver-navigator team, looking ahead for signs and landmarks while trying to run at an exact speed on unfamiliar roads. These skills are directly transferable to Targa and PROrally.

 

UPDATE: This month's rally will include sections of Lake Hughes Rd, San Francisquito Canyon, Spunky Canyon, and Bouquet Canyon...all very "enthusiast-oriented" roads!

Also, I hear from the rallymaster that there will be NO traps on this event (if you're unfamiliar, we sometimes write "traps" into rallies that will cause you to run off-time if you fall for them.) With no traps, this rally will be very beginner-friendly, so if you've been thinking about giving this stuff a try, this is the perfect opportunity!