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by Peter Schneider

In 2016, NNJR has decided to step-up it’s road rally program in association with the Motorsports Club of North Jersey and Raritan Valley Sports Car Club.  As you may know over the past 26 years NNJR has been hosting the longest running charity event with the annual US Marines Corps Toys for Tots Gimmick/GTA rally.  In addition they have hosted a dozen or so Pine Barrens Express events, which was an evening TSD rally in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, great sand roads with mileage to each instructions and closed controls.  A zero hero event, if you understand tire slippage in ‘sugar’ sand and water holes.

This year NNJR is hosting five events all of them Gimmick/GTA road rallies. These events are based on the same principle as the Toys for Tot rally.  25 points for each incorrect answer to a question and 100 points for each mile over or under the official rally route.  The questions are mostly used to determine your knowledge of the General Instruction or to provide additional penalty points for off-course loops.

The July event (Rallymaster Michael & Pepi Brooks), was held of July 24^th, started out with a standard Odometer leg, followed by six legs containing five route following traps.  The traps included a ‘Straight as Possible’, ‘Onto’. Hard to see signs and being able understand the difference between a quoted road sign and the actual road itself (Turn Right after “AIRPORT ROAD”).

Using an expanded mailing list (a combination of three local clubs and the SCCA mailing list of three regions) and Facebook ads, there was 28 teams participating in the event. Fifteen Novice teams of which twelve claimed to be first timers to the sport, which provided them with a $10 discount to the $30 entry fee.

The last trap of the rallye was an easy to see “STOP” sign, but you needed to know that since it was a quoted sign and not a STOP intersection, it could be located anywhere along the route, and it happened to be in a side yard of a house along the Delaware River.  Not a single Expert or Intermediate team saw it, makes you wonder.

Our next three events are charity rallies, September 10, October 9 and December 4.