Rally Clubs

I know there's been talk of rally clubs here but my search hasn't found it.
Anyway,
What is the incentive other than just hanging around and talking (lying) about what you have done?
I remembered a friend's story of a French Flying Club he visited.
The club was formed because no one person could afford an airplane so they ALL own it.
Discussion?
rz

A bunch of Frenchmen with a plane would scare me. There i said it,

i started one here in fargo. we have yet to meet. planning a get together in august before the ojibwe rally weekends.

if there were enough rally teams in one area they could act as mentors to newcomers to the sport.

the club could provide a network of potential workers and service crew members that are knowledgeable and know each other.

the club can help get people local to one another together to help wrench on busted rally cars.

the club can help build positive relationships in the community by doing non rally charity type work.

plus we can all get together and watch videos, drink beer and tell lies.

Randy

Interesting comparison and thought. I think the joint ownership of a car has some merit, but the difference with airplane maint. vs rally car maint. is the high cost of aircraft even sitting still (inspections, licensing, insurance) whereas the rally car maint. is more event based (not a lot to do if it's not being used). So the benefit of partnership is less. Add that to the "event factor" where everybody would want it on November the 2Tall Pines and even more conflict would likely arise.

However, as a lurker here, I often ogle at Grant's workshop space which seems to be a shared resource (I could be wrong) and think that a "great" rally club could devise a system to allow for joint resources to fund a space and storage at an acceptable price (plus a room with beer to tell lies in).

Right now, cheap space, access to big tools and supplies is really the only thing keeping me from rallying again. I have had a few people offer space, but I know that soon the welcome would wear out, and I would be left parking a ratty rally car on the street...

If anyone in the Montreal area wants to park a shitty Justy for a few months, has a decent mig welder, let me know...

Matt

Rally clubs overseas organize events including nationals, train marshalls, organize transportation of vehicles (in most cases for free when they supply an X amount of entries) etc... Since they represent a group of people, they have a say and vote when it comes to decision making at the National Sanctioning body.

I would think the most important thing a club could do is to organize transportation since tows are typically 8+ hours to most events in the US. It obviously won't hurt to organize local events as well.

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

turoc Wrote:
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> Rally clubs overseas organize events including
> nationals, train marshalls, organize
> transportation of vehicles (in most cases for free
> when they supply an X amount of entries) etc...
> Since they represent a group of people, they have
> a say and vote when it comes to decision making at
> the National Sanctioning body.
>
> I would think the most important thing a club
> could do is to organize transportation since tows
> are typically 8+ hours to most events in the US.
> It obviously won't hurt to organize local events
> as well.


Yeah - that's how it's done in Denmark. Generally we have a very strong tradition for clubs of all sorts here in Denmark, so it's quite natural.
Our sanctioning body is organized in such a way that you can't get your license if you are not member of a motorclub. Easy as that...
All events are organized through the clubs, since they are basically the only ones licensed to do so (theoretically one guy outside of the sanctioning body COULD do it - it's legal and possible - but a lot of work).

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Brgrds
Brian

Also, a lot of rallyists run hillclimbs organized by clubs. Here in the US they appear to be totally two different disciplines and its not common to see them mixing it up.

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

Actually, as far as I can see it ONLY the USA does rally without local clubs.
UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, OZ, NZ, Russia, Ukraine, Former Jugoslavija, Czecho, even Canada, you join a club and then get a licence..

The most important thing with a club-centric structure is the club is where all the INFORMAL connections are made, where you meet guys with various talents and can swap assistance etc...Fred's a body guy, Pekka is engine builder, Sven's a mechanic, Enrique is a parts store guy, Jason is a tech-nerd and so on and people can help in their area of expertise for help in other areas rather than the too loose, blind leading the blind or strictly commercial model we have here.

I am convinced that this is the major reason rally remains obscure and tiny here.
(Hence efforts since 1985 to try and build a little less than casual local club here.)

It could be enlightening to explore the reason why WE, us gringo Yanquis, are so out of step with what is the dominant organisational structure in all the areas where rally is a mass participation sport....

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2010 11:43AM by john vanlandingham.

lets explore that.

i think a big part of it is geography. we are way too spread out. we have small pockets of rallyists here and there but none of those pockets are very close.

i also think that there is a mindset of i can do it by myself and dont need anyone to tell me what to do.

i remember reading about an autocross club that owned a couple ford pintos that newcomers could race for a small fee. i am not suggesting owning pintos to rent at rallycross, however, the idea isnt totally insane at its core. the problem is getting people to put money into something they dont "own".

it would be pretty cool if a club picked up a couple cheap-o econo boxes and got them road worthy. if a club got two cars there is 4 new people that can rallycross that might not have before. the care and prep of the cars would teach people valuable skills and help build the aforementioned networks. you could restrict the rental of the beaters to new drivers.

i had the crazy idea of getting together with 4 people to build a rally car and race at the nemadji trail events. they are an event where there are two C1 events in one day. one pair races the car in the AM and the other car races in the PM. then the next event day they swap seats. that way over the course of 4 C1 events each "owner" gets to drive one C1. sure it is only one event but it is better than nothing.

due to the unique nature of NT it is possible to run on stock struts if you dont enter the event that uses the very rough two track stage. cost per "owner" would only be around 800 bucks to prep a basic car. adding some fancy green suspenders would bump the cost to around 1300 per owner.

it isnt a perfect system and probably wouldnt work in reality. but iam just tossing idea out there. one obstacle is what to do when one wants to quit or if one pair wants to do a bigger event. or what to do when (not if) the car gets wrecked.

here is what i view as the key to rallygrowth:

1. 6-8 events with in 3-4 hours of 15-20 competitors.

2. the bulk of those events need to be single day events with no need for hotels. perhaps a 2 day "season finale" to wrap it all up.

3. the events need to be low cost.

4. the events cant be known as "car breakers"

here is the big one.

5. the series needs to be reliably sustainable and be able to happen with out cancelled events for several years.

i have been watching the nemadgi trail events here in MN and there are people building cars for those events. there are a couple new cars every season. i think that we could see the entry list hit the 20s next season. they have been in the mid teens this year so far.

I have rallied on and off since 1966. TSD thru Pro. My rally partner and I built a car for Divisional Pro rally back in 1986. We shared all costs.
We flipped a coin for who would drive first and alternated at each event except when he was in travel mode for his job. It can work. 4 or more "OWNERS" would lower the costs even more. Go for it.

Nick

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Nick Leone
Former scca member

Oh another thing I forgot to point out about clubs which is common practice:
The higher budget teams give away used(barely in most cases) tires so the grassroots guys could run them.

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rally gods would turn in their graves if they ever knew Lada's were now part of EU rallying!!!

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The most important thing with a club-centric
> structure is the club is where all the INFORMAL
> connections are made, where you meet guys with
> various talents and can swap assistance
> etc...Fred's a body guy, Pekka is engine builder,
> Sven's a mechanic, Enrique is a parts store guy,
> Jason is a tech-nerd and so on and people can help
> in their area of expertise for help in other areas
> rather than the too loose, blind leading the blind
> or strictly commercial model we have here.

^^^ This.

Thing is, without a decent amount of events in the immediate vicinity, it's hard to get people together to do much more than bullshit, watch WRC downloads, and maybe throw the beaters around out in the desert.

I think I'll start calling it the Wyld Stallynz Dilemma.

We will not have a successful band until we get Eddie Van Halen.
But we will not get Eddie Van Halen until we're a successful band.

I'm thinking about seeking out club leaders elsewhere in the world to interview them about how their clubs got started, what they do beyond actual race events, and how they bring people together or something. I've got a couple leads into UK motorsport clubs. If you guys had any questions you'd like to ask them, please let me know and I'll do so.

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

I'm the awesome kid.

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

turoc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh another thing I forgot to point out about clubs
> which is common practice:
> The higher budget teams give away used(barely in
> most cases) tires so the grassroots guys could run
> them.


Sounds like a bunch of un-american socialist commies to me!