This is a Beginner Friendly Rally, No Tricks, No Traps!

[RallySnake]

Time for the August 4th First Friday Niter in SoCal! Rallymaster Paul McGaffey has written a pure tour course using the Monte Carlo style timing. This will be a great one for first time rally enthusiasts! You will be given "Car Zero Times" at each Checkpoint. Just add your car number in minutes to the Car Zero Time to get your time to cross each Checkpoint. *If you get there early, you may stop or creep without penalty, so long as you do it safely and out of traffic lanes. *The course will take you through the magnificent driving roads of the Santa Monica Mountains and Finish in Thousand Oaks.

This rally uses the Richta GPS Competitor app for timing and scoring, with timing in seconds. *The maximum penalty this month is 30 seconds*per checkpoint. *The app is FREE and easy to use on any GPS-enabled smartphone. *Go to the App Store or Google Play Store, or https://richtarally.com/. *There is no need for additional timing equipment or clocks - your Official Time shows in the app!

Also, if you want to see all the scores at the Finish, download the FREE Richta Scoreboard app also.

See our website at SMSCC.ORG for more info. Please try to register on MotorSportReg. *If that doesn't work for you, you can still register in person at the start. *We start at the Bank of America rear lot, 10300 Sepulveda Blvd (Sepulveda and Devonshire) in Mission Hills. *In-person registration opens at 7:00 pm, with the first car out at 8:01 pm; there is a beginner/Richta meeting at 7:40 pm.*

Finish is at BJ's Restaurant, 3955 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Westlake Village, CA 91362

[saki302]

What time does it usually finish?

-Dave

[RallySnake]

We should get to the restaurant a little after 10 p.m. we will work out the scores and announce the winners and awards and wrap up by 11:00 p.m.

I have run lots of these events in my Arntz Cobra and it is a really fun way to enjoy the car! Hope to see you there.

RS

[saki302]

Sounds good- I'll try! My family will be out of town, it's just a matter of fixing a water pump gasket leak later this week, hopefully it's a simple gasket fix ��

[RallySnake]

GREAT! It will be terrific to have another Cobra out at our event. Hopefully, you will find it so much fun that you will join us every month.

One tip, I have found that it is important to mount the smartphone high on the dash in front of your Navigator. He or she will need to have a clear view of the clock on the Richta Competitor app to count you down into the checkpoints. It is exciting to see your score pop up on the app after each checkpoint! With a little practice, you will be able to get perfect zeros. This is where the responsiveness of a lightweight sports car really helps.

Paul

[Ron61]

Paul,

I copied your post and the picture and put it over on our site with your name on it so any of our members that might be interested and don't see it here can read it. I hope that is OK. If not let me know and I will take it out.

Ron

[RallySnake]

Thank you very much! All of us at Santa Monica Sports Car Club are trying hard to renew interest in road rallies. Over the years, the rules and difficulty levels got much too complicated. It turned a lot of people off. Here we are in the car capitol of the world and only a few old timers were showing up.

This new simple format makes rally events so much more fun. It doesn’t matter if you bring out a pickup truck, Rolls Royce, Prius or Ferrari, driving these amazing roads is exciting. I have found that my little Mazda 3 is an excellent rally car. It is better than the Cobra if the weather is bad.

So please help us get the word out to as many people as you can. We don’t make any money doing this, but it is much more exciting when lots of teams show up!

Paul

[saki302]

How viable is it to complete as a solo driver?
(Assuming I can get my gaskets done in time)

My family will be overseas still..

-Dave

[RallySnake]

It is really not advisable to try that. There are a bunch of instructions that happen quickly and if you try to look down at them while driving you may run off the road. If you stop to read them, you will be late to checkpoints. It really is a team sport. Also, our SCCA insurance requires two people in the car.

Over the years, I have persuaded many of my friends and coworkers to run rallies with me. If they do a good job as a Navigator, I usually let them drive home. After the experience, many of them started coming out to rallies with other friends or family.

I hope you can find a friend to join you. I bet you have a coworkers or neighbor who would be excited to ride in your car? This rally is created to make it easy for anyone to read the next instruction and tell you when to pass the checkpoint.

If you like, I can email you a copy of my last rally so you can see the simple turn by turn instructions?

Paul

[RallySnake]

Sorry you missed this event. It went very well and we had a big happy party at the finish. I am planning to do another one on October 6. It will be the same simple instructions that anyone can follow and enjoy. No complicated math or route traps. Just fun driving roads with enough timed checkpoints to add a touch of competition.

This has been my favorite way to enjoy my Cobra. We have explored many amazing back roads on these rallies that we would never usually find on our own. It has also been a great way to spend time with my sons, wife and friends.

There will also be a First Friday Niter Rally on September 1st. However, that one will be an advanced TSD event. You are certainly invited to join us for it, but understand that you really need to study the General Instructions (available on SMSCC.ORG) very thoroughly to understand what you need to know to stay on course.

Paul