P3PPY
Dork
2/25/23 5:57 p.m.
I'm going to give this rallycross thing a try because it looks awesome and isn't such a time commitment like road rally. My main goal is driving hard on non-pavement so is a "tarmac" rallycross strictly on-pavement? I'm looking specifically at the March Madness one in the Detroit region at Milan.
And besides rallycross scoring differences, if it's solely on-pavement is there any other reason it's not the same as autocross?
Maybe that's just acknowledging the quality of Michigan pavement :)
EvanB
MegaDork
2/25/23 6:26 p.m.
As far as I know that one is all on pavement, the main difference would be it's not necessary clean or good condition pavement and they run at times where there could be snow, ice etc. Also I believe that one is closed with about 10+ on the waitlist.
Yeah basically what Evan said. It's asphalt, but old, rough, dirty asphalt. And with the ability to drop a wheel or two in the dirt on some corners. It still uses rallycross cumulative timing which is why it's not just an autocross. And that event in particular is very sold out.
That sounds like a lot of fun. Wish I'd known about it earlier!
That's what I get for not paying attention to the local rallyx scene.
Are there any videos posted from events at that venue? Central Florida autox recently lost a venue due to asphalt degradation. You can see the grass growing in the middle of the runway in this video: https://youtu.be/eIR0W-kcMbo
I wonder if we could hold a rallycross there. I heard something about moving the course because it got too bumpy and messing with the pax competition on the last autox there.
Technically rallycrosses may not be held on paved surfaces.
In 2008 or so, the GLDiv Championships was held at a site that got so much rain that the intended surface (a horse track) was unusable even if the site owners would have allowed it. So some gravel paths out back behind the site were used instead, including an asphalt road going up a long hill. It was a lot of fun. Pego was there, and IIRC she said that they could use the asphalt because it was so degraded that it no longer counted as a paved surface I am sure that needing to accommodate people having driven from as far away as NER had something to do with it.
That was a real fun event. I vividly recall the roads to the site being so flooded that the water washed over my hood at one point. Setting up my tent was fun, trying to find high ground that wasn't rocky.
P3PPY
Dork
2/26/23 10:53 a.m.
Thanks all. Yeah, I wasn't married to this event in particular, but I've seen the phrase "rallyx tarmac" tossed around on motorsportsreg a few times.
Also, 2000th post. Apparently I spend a lot of time on the toilet.
So it’s basically autocross on marginal pavement with every run counting. Yeah, that event format does sound fun.
And for any Central Florida locals, maybe that’s a way to go back to DeLand.