MOUNTAINS to the SEA 

Classic TSD road rally!

2025 MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA
Beach Trip!

60th Anniversary Mountains to the Sea Rally Results
Cascade Sports Car Club’s 60th anniversary Mountains to the Sea Rally is in the history books. Twenty-three teams entered and eighteen teams ran the rally on May 10. The 180-mile route took about seven hours to complete. A ferry crossing and a Monte Carlo finish at the Rogue Brewers on the Bay in Newport were highlights.

The route was easy to follow, with mileage on every numbered route instruction. Speeds were set below legal speed limits. and pauses were provided where needed. For each of the 34 scored legs, penalty points were earned for being early or late, one point per second, up to a maximum of 60 points. Being more than a minute early or late earned 60 points. Being exactly on time is a score of
zero. Knowing this helps put the winning scores into sharp focus. First overall finished with a total error of 13 seconds over a seven-hour rally.

Leveling the Playing Field
Although there were no navigational challenges on this rally, the event was not without challenges. As mentioned, every numbered route instruction included a mileage identifying exactly where that instruction is to be executed. Using that information, along with the speeds and pauses specified in the route instructions, a rallyist can calculate exactly what time they should execute each instruction. In other words, they can pre-calculate the rally before they run it. Then as they drive the route, they just make sure they hit the time hacks.

To blunt that advantage somewhat, the rally rules included some speed changes that did not appear in the route instructions. The speed changes were triggered by speed control signs along the rally route which could not be anticipated (calculated) in advance.

The rally rules included the following Automatic Route Instruction:

CAST the posted legal speed limit minus 5 mph at “SPEED”. Ignore presence or absence of “LIMIT”.

In addition to the speed changes that occurred in the Numbered Route Instructions, each time you passed a speed control sign you were to change your speed to 5 mph less than the posted speed.

Another slight timing impact was included in the glossary of the rally rules. The term LOOK when used in a route instruction was defined to mean: Direct attention briefly in the indicated direction and PAUSE 10 seconds. For example, the route instruction:

OM 7.40 NIR 49. LOOK right (Crimson Clover)

Means that at Official Mileage 7.40, Numbered Route Instruction 49 directed you to look briefly in the indicated direction (right in this case) and pause 10 seconds. Those who read the rules for this rally noted this new defined term and paused at each of the five LOOK instructions. Missing all five added 50 points to your total score.

So… Gravel or no gravel?

Rally Development

Rallymasters Monte and Victoria Saager started thinking about this rally route almost as soon as the 59th Mountains to the Sea was put to bed. We had some ideas about the 60th anniversary of this event. We knew we wanted to end in or near Newport. We wanted to consider including some gravel roads. A ferry crossing was on our list. And we wanted an indoor, civilized ending location, out of the rain and wind of the open beach.

So… Gravel or no gravel? A few years ago, we made the decision to use only paved roads for Cascade’s rally program, thinking that folks who want to take their nice cars on a rally for the first time probably don’t want to drive on gravel. However, there are folks who don’t mind (perhaps even enjoy) the challenge of unpaved surfaces, if they know about it ahead of time so they can make the best choice of vehicle.

Part of our preferred route included gravel roads. Should we or should we not include them in the rally? We did, and the feedback from rallyists was minimal, no complaints.

Huh. There were a couple rough spots, but mostly the unpaved road surfaces were smooth.

Will the ferry be open? The Buena Vista Ferry was closed a few times while we were working on the route. On those occasions we drove the 20-mile one-hour detour to regain the route on the other side of the river. We worried that a spring storm might raise the water level enough to close the ferry on rally day.Luckily the weather remained calm and the ferry stayed open for the checkout the week before and on rally day.

But what about the trophy dance around the beach fire? Put bluntly, the whole beach fire thing is an

activity best organized by much younger organizers. Your current rally chairs prefer the comfort of a restaurant to being out in beach weather.

The Rogue Brewers on the Bay Restaurant was a fine ending location. The room overlooked the marina on Yaquina Bay directly under the iconic bridge. The highlight of the gathering was RDale Kraushaar’s reminiscence of his running of the first Mountains to the Sea Rally 60 years ago and several after that in the early years. We were honored that RDale chose to come out of TSD rally retirement to run the 60th anniversary of the rally.

Congratulate the top finishers

1st overall and 1st Equipped -- Sheldon Coles and Yulia Smolyansky
2nd overall and 2nd Equipped -- Paul Eklund and RDale Kraushaar
3rd overall and 3rd Equipped -- Bob Morseburg and Cheri Eddy

Other top finishers in their class:

1st SOP –David and JoAnn Gattman
2nd SOP –Marcus and Kerrie Gattman
3rd SOP –Alex Castaneda and Eric Hanson

1st Novice –Steven and Courtney Tellman
2nd Novice –Renee Loreen and Chelsea Funk
3rd Novice –Bill Kaplan and Judy Kraut


Mountains to the Sea Results
Click here for the complete rundown
Mountains to the Sea Entry List
Mountains to the Sea Rules
Mountains to the Sea Flyer

THE HISTORY

Mountains to the Sea through the years - an ongoing chronicle

RESULTS FROM BYGONE YEARS

2024              2023              2022              2021                2020              2019               2018                             
            
2017              2016              2015              2014               2013               2012               2011                  

2010              2009                 

ADDRESS
PO Box 4304
Portland, OR  
97208-4304

CONTACTS
rally@cascadesportscarclub.org


LINKS

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