New guy, New rally?

Ok, first off I am another fresh kid that only has watched vids of other people. So I am not trying to get a sponsorship, not trying to build a crazy turbo car. All I want to do is have fun and go fast. Hopefully I can get started on the right foot with you guys. Now to the business part of my thread. I found some roads near a lake out here in Oklahoma city. The lake is too low for fishing and boating. The place around the lake has a lot of bike/horse trails along with a few dirt/sandy roads. There is a marina parking lot that seems it would be big enough for a service area. I haven't had time to measure the routes or take vids of them, but they are more twisty then straight. I was just wondering if this seems like a viable plan to make one day rally out of the place kind of like they do at perryville. Also is this what the rally community needs? A cheap one day rally to go to? Oklahoma city is pretty central, so I would hope it would bring east and west and north together. Here is the map of the trails.

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I am not an alien

Koolaid on specialstage just an FYI

Hi and welcome! I like your attitude for starters, you seem pretty grounded.

The basic plan as you have outlined it sounds good. Looks like you have access to the ends of the stages so they would flow well. Twisty is a good thing, flat out freeways not so much.

Rally is kind of a 3 part formula:

Usable roads, both from a logistics standpoint and a permissions standpoint. Will they work and will the owner/owners allow them to be used?

Worker base, are there enough people to make it happen? Corner workers, stage crews, timing/scoring, sweep, medical etc.

Competitors, gotta have them. There needs to be enough people in a 10hour radius to make the event work financially.

Idaho Rally is a good example of how this all works. A very energetic chairman got it all started a few years ago. Got the local residents excited. No established rallies or ralliests anywhere around the area. First couple years were a bit rocky but the fun factor was good, the BS factor very low and the word of mouth support very high. Now is is a well established event and a must do on many peoples calendars.

It probably won't be easy but worthwhile stuff usually isn't. There are plenty of people around here to help guide you and act as sounding boards. Some character named Anders is quite helpful!

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heymagic
Hi and welcome! I like your attitude for starters, you seem pretty grounded.

The basic plan as you have outlined it sounds good. Looks like you have access to the ends of the stages so they would flow well. Twisty is a good thing, flat out freeways not so much.

Rally is kind of a 3 part formula:

Usable roads, both from a logistics standpoint and a permissions standpoint. Will they work and will the owner/owners allow them to be used?

Worker base, are there enough people to make it happen? Corner workers, stage crews, timing/scoring, sweep, medical etc.

Competitors, gotta have them. There needs to be enough people in a 10hour radius to make the event work financially.

Idaho Rally is a good example of how this all works. A very energetic chairman got it all started a few years ago. Got the local residents excited. No established rallies or ralliests anywhere around the area. First couple years were a bit rocky but the fun factor was good, the BS factor very low and the word of mouth support very high. Now is is a well established event and a must do on many peoples calendars.

It probably won't be easy but worthwhile stuff usually isn't. There are plenty of people around here to help guide you and act as sounding boards. Some character named Anders is quite helpful!

I used to always think good roads were the no1 thing.
Gene's right.
Bodies who show up is No1

And following advice of those who are open and friendly who organize..
That guy Anders is the guy to talk to..But you have to say it more like ON-ders
or AHNders..

He'll forward you some scary budget approximations....it takes money to pull off an event..

Whatcher got for a car?
A lotta love for for solid simple RWD cars round these parts, seems like a lotta people who have done the other ways have been figuring out that the best fun to dollar ratio is like in the past, so its the way of the future.

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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.

yeah on following Idaho's example, reach out to motorcycle and UTV folks to bump up the numbers. Also make friends with your local HAM radio guys, they are key for setting up an event.

uhm for a car, well i have a legacy turbo that i got for 1000 bucks, but trans is being worked on. So at the moment I am not neck deep in a car. I would love to do what caswell did and grab an old bmw. I haven't done much research on what car to mess with to be honest. I have just had my first kid and first house, but I am starting to get back into the swing of things. Just can't wait til the kid can hold his own bottle!

I am aware of the money factor. I just figure since these roads are closed a lot (they have gates on them) and the fact that they are maintained and they are actually owned by the lake it should be pretty straight forward. My major concern is actually getting people to come to the event. Would anyone even be interested, and how do I find that out?

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I am not an alien

Koolaid on specialstage just an FYI

I think that if you can pull something off in Oklahoma City and make it a good solid rally, it'd be a great boon. You've got a few small markets to draw from: the Missouri group that get pumped up from 100AW, the Colorado group who're jonesing for events since there's no more Colorado Cog Rally, a small Texas contingent, and there's a growing ABQ group because of some recent RX activity there.

The trick, as mentioned above, is to get people excited about coming to your event. That means both competitors and volunteers. It's a lot of work putting on an event. Most of it isn't terribly hard, but there's a myriad of small chores to keep up with. Chasing permits, doing event paperwork, handling the budget, reminding person A that item X needs to be done by Y date, making sure all your i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

Don't try to do it all yourself. From experience, I can tell you that you'll either forget something or burn yourself out trying to keep up with everything. Find a good core team who you can get excited about putting on an event. Find some people who've got experience with events and ask their help. Go to other events and volunteer - as many as you can - and pay attention to what they're doing and if you can, ask why they did something a particular way.

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Self-righteous douche canoe

And fill in the real name and real location thing, We all --except a couple of people ---use real names and locations so we don't act like anonymous trolls--except a few who have never once contributed a single particle of useful information.

Knowing names becomes important when the community is as small and slintered as it is.

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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.

I'm in Wichita. In Rally, a 7 hour drive is considered close, so you're within spitting distance. Anders Rally in a Box is the ticket. I'm in for what ever you need. There are a number of SCCA grass o cross minded folks in south kansas, southwest MO, and tulsa/okc for workers. The texas stuff, esp. B.Corns, is a bit far for the STL crowd for a one day IMHO, but OKCish is straight on interstate easy.

(this is going to sound like I'm trying to discourage you - I'm not, but rather trying to show what I'm thinking in terms of putting on events)

how many "active" stage cars are there within a 2-3 hr drive?
how many potential participants (grass-o-crossers, etc) are there within a 2-3 hr drive?

North America already has plenty of 'national' (2+ days, 100+ stage miles with limited repeats) rallies that the majority of the competitors are driving hours and hours to get to.

As Tony points out, Ander's Rally Sprint in a Box ( http://www.nasarallysport.com/main/RallySprintInABox ) is a great idea - BUT - it's got to be viewed a little differently than a "national" rally - very few folks are going to tow 7+ hours for a sprint event.

New events really need to be built around existing (or potential) communities of rally drivers - obviously suitable roads need to be found too, but participants are really key.

Having some really bitchin' roads with few-to-no local competitors can work, and even start to grow a 'community' - AFAIK, before Idaho Rally started, there was 1 active competitor (family in this case) in the area - now there are a few more, with a few others actively building cars. However, I'd guess there are more events following this tack that have either faded away or struggle on stubbornly.

just IMO and all that.

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

right, well that is what I am here to figure out. Is who I can find that has a rally car within a decent distance. Or I will have to find more stage miles to make it a bigger event. I will probably take some vid of these roads tomorrow just so you can see what I am on about

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I am not an alien

Koolaid on specialstage just an FYI

Reece, you want to engender trust in a community that you hope to draw volunteers from?

Look at virtually everybody's signature and sidebar thing.
Do they just have their first names?

Do you not want people to associate what your "on screen persona" writes with you in relity/

We need to change rally--not the gravel or the basic format but the stinking separatists politics based on ego and control manias.

And we need to stop with suspicion and fear and pretending re online vs offline reality.

Share more.

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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.

John, sorry about that. I didn't know this was a tin foil hat community

https://www.facebook.com/reece.a.pryor

that is my facebook if anyone is curious, has sideways civic on the front. Yes that is me.

Anyways I realized this is shorter stages then once first thought. I have two 5 mile stages and one 2 mile stage. They are super twisty though. Not a lot of 6's. I don't know how much abuse the roads can take if I were to try and get them ran through twice.

Quote
john vanlandingham
Reece, you want to engender trust in a community that you hope to draw volunteers from?

Look at virtually everybody's signature and sidebar thing.
Do they just have their first names?

Do you not want people to associate what your "on screen persona" writes with you in relity/

We need to change rally--not the gravel or the basic format but the stinking separatists politics based on ego and control manias.

And we need to stop with suspicion and fear and pretending re online vs offline reality.

Share more.

---

I am not an alien

Koolaid on specialstage just an FYI

the tin foil hat people are the ones who steadfastly cling to anonymity and worry about if people know their name.

---

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.

Hi,

There are a number of Missouri folks who'd be interested.

I don't think anyone mentioned Mike Halley, but he's in OK and you should pick his brain.

And Tony Wood has been coming to 100AW since 2004? Pick his brain also, he might be a good candidate for Rally Master.

Someone mentioned ham radio folks,... YES! make friends with them, and perhaps even earn your license.

I came up with a list of 18 potential entrants from MO, KS, AR,NE and TX.

Good luck

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It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge

TANSTAAFL

Planning and Rally event is in my mind "ambitous" if you have never planned events before.
c
When I was 24 I started planning Jet Ski racing events (Stand up, hole shot, bouy masher type - I was a competitor). It was a lot of work and it took more than a couple of bucks... There was significant financial outlay, and there's no guarantee that anyone will show up. You'll find a lot of people "may" express interest, but actually putting their cash on the barrel is an entirely different thing.

The first thing you need to do (I'm guessing here, as I've never planned a rally event) is to align yourself with a sanctioning body and determine if you can get insurance. Without insurance, you're dead in the water so that I think should be step #1.

I imagine another big for the cool roads hugging the banks of the meandering lake is... how do you address environmental issues incase of a fire, oil spill, etc.

You'll need first aid, and likely an ambulance on stand by.

How far away is the closest hospital?

I'm guessing again here... I imagine an insurance company will want to know the time it would take to get someone to a hospital. If it's too great, will an air ambulance be available?

All big issues, and most equal big initial financial out lay.

Perhaps start with less of an event? A rally cross? If it's your first kick at the can of planning a motorsport event.

Other people will be your biggest asset, find a partner or two.

When I did my first Jet Ski event, I did everything by myself from the planning to obtaining corporate sponsors to etc... It was a full time job and after the event I made less than I would have made working at McDonalds for minimum wage.

The experience was awesome, I learned a lot, and those skills have benifited me later in life.

If you're doing it to make money, I would exit now.

Just my $.02