STL RoadRally Rally School #4 July 27: Event Report and Results

The fourth St. Louis Region, SCCA, Rally School Series event was held Saturday, July 27, at Sunset Overlook in Columbia, Ill.

The purpose of the 2024 Rally School series is to gradually introduce TSD (time-speed-distance) rally concepts to novice competitors using short-distance events (about 60–70 miles) that can be completed in two or three hours.

Rally 4 expanded on the Main Road Determinants (MRD) concept introduced in Rally 3, adding “protected” intersections and directed turns at T intersections (in this case, left), to the “Onto”, “Curve Arrows”, and “Straight as Possible” Main Road Determinants introduced earlier.

Four teams took part on a day that saw the weather go from partly cloudy and calm at rally start to pouring rain by the end. The second of the six legs that made up the scored part of the rally was discarded from scoring due to organizer error—a downed (missing) street sign caused all four teams to miss what should have been a turn governed by the “Onto” MRD to stay on course, in this case onto Steppig Road. All competitors were directed back onto the rally route without undue fuss, and continued through to the end of the rally.

The fifth and final event in the Rally School series will be held on Saturday, Aug. 24, and will again start and finish at Sunset Overlook in Columbia, IL. Registration will start at 2:30 p.m., a competitor meeting/Q&A session at 3:15 p.m., and cars will take to the course after 4:00 p.m. This rally will introduce “Transit Zones” and “Free Zones” to competing teams, as well as include all other TSD rally concepts used in the four pervious events.

For additional information on the 2024 St. Louis Region, SCCA, Rally School, contact Tom vonHatten at tom.vonhatten@gmail.com.

See you Aug. 24!

Tom vonHatten
Chairman/Rallymaster

Results, Rally School #4:*
Position, Driver/Navigator (Marque), Score
1, S. Kammer/R. Kammer (Acura), 39
2, R. Biggs/M. Biggs (Chevrolet), 105
3, R. Bowes, Sr./J. Bolton (BMW), 218
6, A. Siman/J. Meyers (Polestar), 272
5, P. Young/K. Young (Hyundai), DNS
6, Wahba/TBA (Lexus), DNS
* Scoring: 1 penalty point per second early or late at a control up to a maximum of 60 points per control.