The April 17 Saturday Rally provided a beautiful scenic drive that started at Milwaukie Lowe’s and ended at the Cruise In Diner in Hillsboro. The route was about 90 miles, took just a bit over three hours, and included a mid-rally break at Bald Peak State Park. The route’s twisty windy roads challenged even the best rally teams to be on time at 17 checkpoints.

Thirty cars ran the rally. A few explored some alternate routes along the way. All arrived at the finish. The route crossed over itself and even backtracked on short sections of road in a few places, so teams had an opportunity to see other rally cars going in the opposite directions. The rallymasters were amused, watching these encounters on the Rallymaster Map, imagining that ralliers were asking themselves, “Are we off course or are they off course?” Good reminder that everyone is running their own rally.

Challenges:
This was a lightly trapped, mostly tour-style rally, meaning it included no route following traps. All the route instructions included official mileage, so following the route was straight forward. But the rally did include a few easy challenges.

The rally included three notes which overlapped the numbered route instructions. While a note is active, you are looking for two things at the same time; you’re looking for the reference in the note while you’re also looking for the reference in the next numbered route instruction. Things can get kinda busy when a note is active.

The first note instructed you to PAUSE 15 seconds at "NUEGEBAUER". There was a sign for Neugebauer Road while the note was active, but since the sign and the note were not spelled the same, the note was not used there. In fact there were no correct opportunities to execute the note while it was active. (Always check the spelling of signs quoted in the route instructions.)

The second note instructed you to PAUSE 15 seconds at FERN HILL CEMETERY. There really is a Fern Hill Cemetery (complete with a sign identifying it as such) along the route while the note is active. Teams that did not see it (or forgot they were looking for it) earned a 15-point penalty.

The third note instructed you to PAUSE 15 seconds AFTER OAK KNOLL WINERY. You drive by the winery (correct sign and everything) while the note is active. However, the Road Rally Rules define AFTER as the first intersection beyond the referenced sign or landmark at which the instruction could be executed. So even though you saw the winery, you cannot pause until you get to the next intersection, which doesn't happen until after the last checkpoint. If you pause before the checkpoint, you earned a 15-second penalty.

Questions:

Q: The Rallymaster Notes state: Also, there are no unintentional spelling errors in the route instructions. What do we do if we find a mis-spelling? Ignore it?

A: Maybe you haven't found the right sign yet. Keep looking.

Q: Please review how and why to take a time allowance.

A: Why take a time allowance? Use a time allowance to “make up” for being late to start a CZT or to “make up” time you lose during a leg for any reason (traffic, off course excursion, nature stop, etc.). It’s the “get out of jail free” card for road rally. If you can calculate how late you are or how much time you lost, you can use a time allowance to put yourself back “on time” as if you were never late. How to take a time allowance is explained in the Competitor Richta App Instructions.

What ralliers said:

• We are having so much fun doing the rally each month. We are learning so much and it is fun learning new roads to travel. As a kid we did a lot of family drives for entertainment. I have truly enjoyed each rally.

• Thank you for planning and shepherding all of us on last Saturday’s rally. We enjoyed it immensely.

• We had a great time! Challenging roads, well placed traps. Thanks for all you do!

• It was great fun! Thank you Victoria and Monte for all the work you do so we can have fun.

• Fantastic roads with great speeds on some twisty bits had a lot of fun today!

• Nice event as usual Monte and Victoria, thank you for all the work you do to bring these together. Great day for a drive and it was fun.

Congratulate the winners:

Congratulations to all 30 teams. You all completed the rally and found the finish. You are all winners.

Finishing first overall and first in the GPS class is the team of Bob Morseburg and Cheri Eddy. They zeroed four legs, got a score of 1 on eight legs, and finished the rally with a total score of 45. That’s an average of 2.6 seconds per leg over the 17-leg rally. This is rally driving precision we all aspire to. Congratulations, Bob and Cheri!

Second overall and first in the SOP class is the team of Marcus Gattman and Kerrie Steffenson. They had single-digit scores on 14 of the 17 legs, including one zero. Nicely done, Marcus and Kerrie.

Jason Krieg and Justin Wiezorek finished third overall and first Novice. With just 10 points more than the first place SOP team and 13 single-digit leg scores including two zeroes, this is the Novice team to watch this season. Two rallies into the six-rally Series, Jason and Justin are in first place Novice Driver and first place Novice Navigator for Series points.

To complete the top three teams in each class, Robert Paxman and William Pollard finished second in the GPS class. They had eight single-digit leg scores, including one zero.

The only entry in the Unlimited class was the team of Michelle Rand and Doug Covey. Doug was a last-minute stand-in as Navigator for this team and this was his first road rally. (What’s a road rally?) Nevertheless, they had six single-digit leg scores and only two maxes. Not too shabby.

Brian and Jamie Anderson finished second in the SOP class, with twelve single-digit leg scores, including one zero. Third in SOP was the team of David and JoAnn Gattman, with twelve single-digit leg scores, including one zero. They had just 11 points more than the Andersons. Close competition!

The second place team in the Novice class was Angelique and Kevin Ortega, with nine single-digit leg scores including two zeroes. Third Novice was Robin and Jon McDermott, with eight single-digit legs and one zero.

The top three winners in each class received car wash coupons. Clean rally cars!

Click here for the complete rundown
Click here for Complete Results

Click here for Season Points Standings

The View From Here

The 2021 Rally Season Opener goes to Clark County

THE VIEW FROM HERE

March 20, 2021
By Monte and Victoria Saager

The Saturday Road Rally Series shifted into gear on March 20. Rally entrants started in northwest Portland, traveled north across the Columbia River, through beautiful countryside on fun roads to drive. They spent a few extra minutes at some scenic spots - Venersborg Church, Lucia Falls Park, Cedar Creek Grist Mill - and ended in Battle Ground.

Thirty-two cars registered for the rally, including thirteen Series Passes. Getting 32 entries shepherded through virtual check-in was a bit like herding cats, but eventually everyone was checked in and route instructions were distributed. A Q&A Zoom meeting the night before the rally gave folks a chance to ask questions about the route and rallying in general.

On the rally:

On the morning of the rally, even before the first car got to the end of the odo check, we were busy. One car swapped out a team member. A couple of teams couldn’t get back into their app; their app password had to be reset. (Important note: Set your password to something you’ll remember.) Luckily this is easy enough for us to fix.

Then when cars got out on the course, we watched (on our Richta Rallymaster Map) a car leave the start in the wrong direction - headed toward Scappoose instead of Vancouver. We called them and they were certain they were on course. A short conversation determined they had printed and were following February’s Rally School Rally route instructions. Since they hadn’t printed the March instructions, didn’t have quick access to a printer, and hadn’t run the Rally School Rally, we advised they carry on and enjoy the drive.

Another car fell off the course just short of the end of the odo check. We called them and talked them back to the rally route. They entered the biggest time allowance the Richta app allows - 19 and a half minutes - only to hear from them again a few minutes later. They were off course again. After another short conversation, we determined they were trying to run the rally using only the Rallymaster Notes. (Explanation: Prepandemic, a face-to-face participants meeting was held just before rally start time, where the rallymaster would give last minute pointers and explanations about the rally. Nowadays we issue this information in writing in a document that mentions only those route instructions the rallymaster feels need further explanation. These notes are an incomplete representation of the rally route at best.) So, once they located the actual route instructions, they were back on course.

One car did not show up on our Rallymaster Map at all. We contacted them, determined their app wasn’t running for a reason we could not resolve, so we put them in touch with the app developer. But that wasn’t their only problem. They were befuddled and confused, unable to proceed beyond the end of the odo check. Having heard a similar description of their confusion just moments earlier, we quickly determined that they, too, were trying to run the rally using the Rallymaster Notes alone. Huge laughs from their end of the call when they found the real route instructions. “Oh, this looks a lot easier!”

Things were much quieter for the rallymasters after that. Folks seemed to stay on course, proceeding to the mid-rally break at Lucia Falls Park, a brief stop at the Grist Mill, and then onto the ending location in Battle Ground, Washington.

Congratulate the winners:

Finishing first overall and first in SOP class was Car #18, the team of Marcus Gattman and Kerrie Steffenson. They zeroed one leg and had single-digit scores on twelve legs. Marcus and Kerrie are rallymasters for the August Saturday Series Rally. You are sure to enjoy their event.

Second overall and second SOP were Dave and Kathleen Sacry in Car #21. They also zeroed one leg and had eleven single-digit leg scores.

John and Robby Elkin in Car #25 came in third overall and placed third in SOP. John and Robby zeroed three legs and had an additional nine single-digit leg scores. Welcome back to Cascade rally, John and Robby. We’re impressed.

SOP honorable mention goes to fourth place overall and fourth place SOP finishers Car #28, David and JoAnn Gattman. They zeroed two legs and had ten additional single-digit leg scores.

In the Novice class, John and Susan Lucas in Car #14 finished in first place (one zero). Second Novice was Car #8, Jason Krieg and Justin Wiezorek (four zero leg scores). And third Novice was Car #31, Jan Bliss and Dave Stauff (one zero).

In the Equipped category, first Unlimited was Car #20, Larry Lefebvre and Simon Levear (four zero leg scores). Michelle and Jon Rand in Car #17 finished second Unlimited. And third Unlimited was Car #19, Chris and Kristy McCarty.

Congratulations to Andrew and Coralee Brewer for finishing first in the GPS class. The GPS class allows GPS-sourced odometers. Congratulations to the Brewers!

What ralliers said:

• Just want to say that was so much fun. You guys did an amazing job!!!

• Thanks for putting on a great drive today. I really like the idea of having the drive for a good experience, as opposed to a style that would add aggravation to the novices and perhaps others. Keep up the good work.

• Today’s rally was great! Thank you so much for a great time!

• Thank you very much! We had fun! First time ever event like this for us, we will be back. We surprised ourselves with a decent score :-)

• That was quite fun!!! Thanks for a super day!!

Click here for the complete rundown

Click here for Complete Results
Click here for Season Points Standings

Rally School 2021

With the Pandemic still in focus, we offered our first ever Zoom Rally School combined with a next day road rally to put those new skills to the test!

RALLY SCHOOL 2021

February 26/27, 2021
By Monte and Victoria Saager

Cascade’s road rally season opener, the Rally School Rally was a practice event designed to help novice road ralliers learn to play the game. For rally veterans, it was a chance to tune up rally skills for the new season.

Registered teams received invitations to attend a virtual rally school review the night before the event and an after-rally debrief virtual meeting after the rally. Attendees had plenty of questions for the organizers.

The Rally School Rally was originally scheduled for Feb. 20. The checkout was scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 13, but snow kept us in our driveway, so we tried to run the checkout the following Tuesday. There was snow on the roadsides, but road surfaces were clear and mostly dry. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country.

Until we encountered a road closure due to downed trees. The County couldn’t say when it might reopen. The road was a vital link in our planned rally route with no easy workaround.

We postponed the event to the following Saturday, Feb. 27, in hopes the road would reopen. By Tuesday, the 23rd, the road remained closed and it was obvious we would have to reroute the rally. By Wednesday the new route was measured and calculated, and the new times were entered into the Richta Rallymaster app. Whew!

Unfortunately the delayed rally date cost us some entries. Eight of the 25 registered teams were unable to attend on the rescheduled date. Still we were happy to have 17 teams run the event.

For 11 of the 17 teams, this was their first CSCC rally.

We asked them how they heard about the rally:

• Audi club member forwarded the Facebook invite

• I have been on the lookout for driving events around Portland and found out about your club

via an internet search.

• From the CSCC newsletter.

• Thirty years ago, my girlfriend married a man who worked for Toyota and was big into rally. I was

intrigued then and have wanted to do it all this time. The time is now!!!

• Wife & I heard about the rally's when we learned about & volunteered for a track event last year.

• I always wanted to get involved with the SCCA which is headquartered just up the road from where I grew up in Topeka, KS. Viewing the PIR/SCCA schedule, I noticed CSSC had quite a few events as well. My CSSC research then led me to the TSD Rally! I’m really looking forward to it!

• How did you hear about this rally? PCA

• My husband is interested in auto cross and he was looking at different events surrounding his interest in that he and I could both participate in.

The rally route was about 70 miles from the start in northwest Portland to the ending location in Scappoose. It took under two and half hours to complete the event. The route included a lap around Sauvie Island, a drive up Cornelius Pass to Skyline, down scenic Rocky Point Road (an exciting drive even at 23 mph), a low-land tour of the Scappoose dike, through the backroads of Warren past the House of Many Stones, west into the foothills of the Coast Range to Spitzenberg and up Pisgah Hill, finally emerging out of the forest onto Dutch Canyon, with the final GPS checkpoint just inside the Scappoose city limits.

The rally included 11 timed legs with five CZTs after the start. A CZT is a specific time of day at which an instruction is to be executed. Official mileage was reset to zero at each CZT, which was helpful since all of the route instructions included official mileage.

A fun drive. But a path with purpose.
The rally introduced new ralliers to the fundamentals of Cascade TSD road rally. The rally school portion of the event started with homework - review the Cascade Geargrinders Novice Guide and become familiar with the Road Rally Rules. Then study the Rally School Handout which included the Rallymaster Notes and Route Instructions for the rally. All this reading led up to a virtual Q & A meeting the night before the rally. The virtual Q & A was so successful that attendees requested a virtual debrief after the rally.

Questions before the rally focused on use of the Richta app, trip odometer resets (/0.00), managing your time at a CZT, and best practices for handling materials and devices in the car. The predominant discussion at the after-rally debrief was about time allowances, specifically how to use a time allowance at a CZT.

So, let’s review. Here’s how to use a time allowance when you are late to leave a CZT (time-of-day restart). You arrive at the CZT. What time is it now? What is your restart time? Your restart time is the CZT plus your car number - it displays in your app when you arrive at the CZT. How late are you? Subtract your restart time from actual time. That’s how late you are. Bump that up to the next half minute and that’s how much time allowance you need to take.

For example, say you arrive at the CZT at 12:11:15pm. Your restart time was 12:10:00. You are 1:15 (one minute 15 seconds late). Round that up to the next half minute, so take a time allowance of 1:30. Assuming it took no more than 15 seconds to calculate and enter the time allowance, leave the CZT as soon as you enter the time allowance. If you need more time, add another minute and wait until that time expires before leaving.

In practical terms, you don’t have to stay at the CZT location to perform this calculation. You could just pull up to the CZT, note your arrival time, zero your tripmeter, and continue to execute the route instructions, maintaining CAST, while you calculate and enter the required time allowance. Just make sure you enter it before you reach the next GPS checkpoint (PC). This time allowance is applied to the leg that starts at the CZT and ends at the next PC. As soon as you arrive at that PC, a new leg begins so the time allowance displayed on the app reverts to zero - it’s already been used. Since you started a new leg at the PC, you are on time and you don’t need to re-enter the time allowance for subsequent PCs. However, you do need to repeat this exercise at each subsequent CZT, asking - what time is it now, what time was our restart, are we late, do we need a time allowance? Easy peasy.

What ralliers said after the rally:

• It was fun!

• Looking forward to the next one.

• Thanks for doing this!

• That was really fun!

• We had a great time!

• The Richta app is really easy.

• Beautiful drive and perfect weather!

• We had such a great time.

• Thank you for putting these events on.

• We had a lot of fun!

• That was awesome. Most intense 30-40 mph drive I’ve taken.

• Thanks for the great time. Some pretty countryside up there.

Congratulations to the top finishers:

Finishing first overall and first in the GPS class was the team of Steve Perret and Kathryn Hansen.

Second overall and first in the SOP class was the team of Brian and Jamie Anderson.

Third overall and first Novice was the team of Jan Bliss and Dave Stauff.

Click here for the complete rundown

Click here for Rally Results

Here Comes Spring!

SPRING COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR

The View From Here

THE VIEW FROM HERE

Rally School 2021

RALLY SCHOOL 2021

PAST ROAD RALLY SEASONS