Rally America rules interpretation help, por favor

Jimbo

New member
So I'm reading the Rally America rules and regs, and it appears that in order to get a competition license you can either attend a sanctioned rally school, OR you can attend three "novice orientations". What are these novice orientations?

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Nigel, I'm looking directly at you for help, monsieur expert (pronounced ex-pear, like Colbert).

 
For Rally-America - you can get a provisional novice license (restricts you to Production, G2, or Open Lite classes) simply by putting in an application. The class restriction applies only to drivers by the way. Novice co-drivers can sit for folks in any class.

As a Novice (driver or co-driver), you are required to attend the novice seminar prior to your first few events. It's just a 45 - 60 minute class where they go over procedures, rules, etc to make sure you have an idea of what is going on. There is a lot more to rallying than simply driving fast in the woods. You have to attend these regardless of whether you have gone to a rally school or not.

As a driver, after finishing roughly 6 - 9 events (18 co-efficients to be exact), you are upgraded to an unrestricted license and can compete in any class you want.

Approved rally driving schools (i.e. Team O'Neil) can be counted toward your coefficients to get an unrestricted license. If you have gone to a "licensing" class at O'Neil's, they will undoubtedly count that toward the novice class requirements so you don't have to sit through as many of them.

Tim

 
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Thanks, Tim. A couple friends of mine and I are in the VERY embryonic stages of putting a team together, and the initial budgeting phase (which will determine how im/possible this will be) will generate more reliable data if we know everything we'll need to do
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If you're putting together an initial budget, then work in the funds to go to Team O'Neil. It's expensive, but it will more than pay for itself in getting you going and teaching you how to drive the car so that you don't break and/or destroy it at your first few events.

I don't think you will find anyone who has gone to the school that will tell you it wasn't worth every penny they spent to do it.

My advice, find yourself a logbooked Group 2 car with a good history, buy it and don't look back. And double any budget you do come up with - I have yet to meet anyone who went through a budgeting exercise when getting into rally for the first time who wasn't way under on their estimates.
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Tim

 
"Novice Seminar" means you will be forced to strap in with J Cassidy or T Pastrana and get your hiney hurled down some squiggly skeery-ass little dirt road with beaucoup jumps and blind crests. If after this experience, you are still cuckoo enough to want to continue, you can get a provisional license as outlined by Tim above.

It's maybe a bit self-serving for me to recommend Team O skoolin (because I work there) but I believe in thier program so I will recommend it anyway. Yes it's expensive, but that money was the most cost-effective spending we did while getting LDR up to speed, literally. You learn so much in such a short time. Learn-it-yourselfers often have a very expensive learning curve...they crash the car they just spend months building, and often don't even know why they went off.

 
Good advice, to be sure. For the record, we are building in two seats at the four-day school
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Next step is to beg, borrow, and/or steal. If anyone knows of a mk2 GTI with a cage and a logbook that's being given away, please let me know!

 
check the special stage classifieds regularly, something will come up, there are a few good deals on there right now

 
consider a FWD Impreza too--ask the Turners, these cars can be wicked quick on dirtt
Interesting...plus that would mean that the service crew wouldn't get all used to vw craziness only to have to learn subie stuff after the inevitable switch...

 
We had the Connellys up to Team O the week after NEFR. Yes the ones that ran at NEFR. The told Al they learned sooo much, and they have been rallying. Like Nigel, I work there, but definitely recommend it!

good luck and feel free to ask questions

kat

 
^ You also had Sir Kenny Block up there too, apparently spanking the hell out of an old Ford
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We'll be in touch, for sure!

 
^ You also had Sir Kenny Block up there too, apparently spanking the hell out of an old Ford
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We'll be in touch, for sure!
and Chris Atkinson. that thing sounded so mean.

 
Seriously...how come I wasn't informed that this was happening. Its not like I really have anything better to do anyway...and even if I did, I still would of hung around. I might have even tried to make myself useful, haha.

 
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