We are looking to start a rally cross group. I have never done something like this before. What would I need? Arm me with the tools so I don't look like a idiot. What are the questions I need to ask? I know that I will need a large plot of land for a venue. And that land needs to be flat, with very little incline changes.
how does one approach the SCCA About be coming sanctioned?
Consider running without the overhead of a sanctioning body. When I was doing local time trial, NASA tried to get us on board but it would have increased costs tremendously. That's because we already had insurance.
Insurance for rallyx is a little more challenging. You may not have a choice. But I'd start by contacting K&K and see why they say about club insurance.
Find "All Florida Rally" on Facebook and get in touch with Josh and Caleb Hartline. They have started up this rallyx group from scratch this year. They are non-SCCA and have a lot more freedom as a result. I'm sure they'd be happy to give some tips.
SCCA is the easy button to get started. If there is a local region that you can align with it can be easier to get started.
Relevant links if you go SCCA:
https://www.scca.com/downloads/47926-rally-cross-field-guide
https://medium.com/@JimRowland/rallycross-zero-to-dirty-a47776060a50
Before land
Before cones
Before insurance
Before timing equipment
Before flags
Before truck and trailer to haul the cones and the timing equipment
You need 5-7 people on board to be officers to assist in organization and execution of set up, take down, course design, inventory of equipment, registration, treasurer duties. I say five to seven, because two to three won't be available at any one time. Without this crew you will put in a full 8 to 10 hours the day before an event and 4 hours the evening after an event just on loading, setup, pack up and load out. And you won't be able to take any registrations day of, or the day prior, as you'll be setting up the day prior. That can shoot you in the foot as often times people wait and look at a weather window unless events are known to sell out.
Another group that I would look for for guidance, is any ice racing group.
Where are you located? Consider approaching the local autox chapter if you haven't already. Many regions share equipment with autox folks. Worst case you can get their old cones and equipment for pennies on the dollar.
Oh man the support here is tremendous. I'm super happy I joined this forum!
I have approached the local autox chapter. They are not SCCA but are interested. They tell me the main problem right now is finding land owners, suitable and willing. My career takes me to a lot of local people everyday.
Vajingo said:Oh man the support here is tremendous. I'm super happy I joined this forum!
I have approached the local autox chapter. They are not SCCA but are interested. They tell me the main problem right now is finding land owners, suitable and willing. My career takes me to a lot of local people everyday.
Finding land seems to be a challenge for many regions. We struggle with the same thing in Colorado. If you find land for cheap, it makes everything easier because that's half the cost of putting on an event.
Owners also tend to "change their minds" after a few events when they see how much the ground is torn up.
In reply to WillG80 :
Is there anything that can be done about the ground chewing? Can you grate a field level again?
side question- do we offer to pay a land owner money for the event?
Lof8 - Andy said:Find "All Florida Rally" on Facebook and get in touch with Josh and Caleb Hartline. They have started up this rallyx group from scratch this year. They are non-SCCA and have a lot more freedom as a result. I'm sure they'd be happy to give some tips.
....Any relation to Cal Hartline?
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
I remember the Dave Rudy method of managing an event. It worked very well.
He did the hardcore nuts and bolts stuff like paperwork and money handling, but the first people who showed up would be told to set up registration, or set up a course, or safety-tech peoples' cars, or any other number of jobs that need to be done before the first car goes out. A very voluntold way of getting things done. But, things got done, even when we basically had a skeleton crew of competitors (10-15 people, usually, even with a 20 car break-even)
You're probably NOT going to get 30-50 car counts right away. Use the low initial counts as a blessing, not a curse, and get to grow a competent core of people (volunteer competitors) who can do all those jobs, in a low pressure setting where they can make mistakes and learn without it being TOO terribly critical.
Vajingo said:In reply to WillG80 :
Is there anything that can be done about the ground chewing? Can you grate a field level again?
side question- do we offer to pay a land owner money for the event?
We've experimented with dragging fields, but in this region you need heavy equipment to get that done. A heavy bar behind a truck is all but useless. It can be done, but $$$.
Yes, landowners are typically compensated for the use of the land. It can get pretty expensive, which is why land remains a big part of the puzzle to putting on an event.
Look at local OHV areas as well, I know a few SCCA RallyX groups run at OHV parks
In reply to MrChaos :
I was just going to ask this. Would I need permission from the forest service/parks and rec? Or, since it is public lands, just send it and time people after a safety meeting?
Vajingo said:In reply to MrChaos :
I was just going to ask this. Would I need permission from the forest service/parks and rec? Or, since it is public lands, just send it and time people after a safety meeting?
most use private OHV areas.
I have not rally crossed in about two years. Our local scca club has done events in land owned by a drag strip and at a private motor club. The private club is really generous, and lets the cars run semi next to the road course. I know events where they will travel across the road course, no studded tires are allowed. I dont' know where you are from, but these types of venues, as well as fair grounds are used here in New England.
In reply to thedoc :
+1 on tracks and fairgrounds. I have a fairground location ready to go, that I'll likely have to organize and run independently of the SCCA as it's within a region who isn't interested in running there by 400 yards, and the region who would like to run there doesn't have the territory rights.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to thedoc :
+1 on tracks and fairgrounds. I have a fairground location ready to go, that I'll likely have to organize and run independently of the SCCA as it's within a region who isn't interested in running there by 400 yards, and the region who would like to run there doesn't have the territory rights.
Has interested region asked the other region for permission? In my experience permission is normally given.
In reply to moxnix :
It's been a few years since they last inquired, I'll reach out to them again as they're having site issues again. I also understand why region A isn't interested as the location is roughly 2 hours from organizers homes, and they already have multiple venues, whereas it's less than 45 minutes from the organizers of region B. The primary issue is an SCCA jurisdiction issue not an issue with either individual region, region A has far more geographic area and higher population than any surrounding regions, and could honestly stand to be fractured into 2-3 regions, each of which would still be larger than surrounding regions.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to moxnix :
It's been a few years since they last inquired, I'll reach out to them again as they're having site issues again. I also understand why region A isn't interested as the location is roughly 2 hours from organizers homes, and they already have multiple venues, whereas it's less than 45 minutes from the organizers of region B. The primary issue is an SCCA jurisdiction issue not an issue with either individual region, region A has far more geographic area and higher population than any surrounding regions, and could honestly stand to be fractured into 2-3 regions, each of which would still be larger than surrounding regions.
Given your location there is a good chance that I am one of the organizers in region A.
In reply to moxnix :
You are 
and I'm not throwing slight or shade at region A. My feelings regarding breaking up WDCR, go back over 15 years, and it is in part due to how well run it is. But if you look at the size of all the other regions within division one, both in terms of population and geographically, WDCR is absolutely massive. The organizers and staff within WDCR are solid and know how to do and operate things exceptionally well, to the point that some of those people could assume positions and newly formed regions and WDCR would not take a major hit. As you're aware, autocrossers and rally crossers travel and compete outside of their home region with regularity. I have no doubt that Richmond and Baltimore could each have separate regions that would field and host active autocross and rally cross groups without negatively affecting entry numbers within WDCR. And the venues that WDCR has for both autocross and rally cross, would only be topped by convenience but not in terms of size or quality. There's a good portion of the population within WDCR who live more than a 6-hour drive to one of the active rally cross locations, there are ice racing venues closer. That's not proclaiming anything regarding the venue or the quality of it, That's simply highlighting the physical geographic size of the region, is too large and hurts it's members as other potential venues go un-utilized.
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
ah the big region joys, Im not even a member of the SCCA Region I live in since everything is held 2+ hours away. I am a member of the neighboring region since all their events are closer by over an hour, and they have rallycross. Rallycross is still 110 miles away at the minimum though. there is a non scca affiliated group running Rallycross in the SCCA region I live in, that takes all the people who would want to rallycross so they see no need to have rallycross.
Also locally we have a non SCCA affiliated club for AutoX that holds event closer to me(30 mins away).
For me its 110miles to where ETR SCCA runs Rallycross, then the next closest is where TVR region runs at 3.5hours away, then its the Atlanta/Middle Georgia Region SCCA combined rallycross.at 4 hours away.
Vajingo said:We are looking to start a rally cross group. I have never done something like this before. What would I need? Arm me with the tools so I don't look like a idiot. What are the questions I need to ask? I know that I will need a large plot of land for a venue. And that land needs to be flat, with very little incline changes.
how does one approach the SCCA About be coming sanctioned?
Try and get a hold of someone with Tarheel Sports Car Club,https://www.thscc.com/ They are a large non scca affiliated club that runs rallycross.
Also see if there is a non SCCA affiliated club near you that is just running autox and see if they would have interest as well.
In reply to MrChaos :
You have more than three sanctioned rally sprints closer to you than you have SCCA rally crosses.
It's a national level issue within SCCA, not a regional one. No region is going to stand up and say fracture us we want fewer people and less geographic area, even though it better serve the members. And even though regions partner and support each other. I interviewed with the SCCA about 18 months ago for a position that oversaw solo competition, and with all due respect, their collective heads (at the national level) are up their asses regarding this issue.
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
AMEC (Adirondack Motor Enthusiast club inc.) has run various forms of rally cross over the years. With reduced ice,no aces last year, this might show more interest
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