Zing Goes the Springs
of My Heart

The March Saturday event was the first-ever TSsD (Time Speed social Distance) road rally. Recognizing that we’re in a coronavirus emergency, the entire event experience was designed to eliminate contact with other humans outside of your own car. The rally was promoted as an opportunity to get out and go for a fun drive in the country, while maintaining social distancing.

Online registration was required. Day-of-event on-site registration was not available. (We stayed home.) All check-in procedures and transmitting of route instructions occurred via email.

Teams timed themselves out from the start location and followed the instructions through the route. All timing was done using a GPS app, so there were no manned checkpoints.

The rallymasters used data from the GPS app to monitor each car’s progress through the rally and to monitor the scoreboard. (We sat at the kitchen table, following along on our laptops.)

At the mid-rally scenic break at Bald Peak State Park, total scores up to that point were emailed to the teams.  They had a chance during this break to order take-out from the Cruise In Country Diner where the rally route ended.

The rally route included some simple rally traps. A misspelled sign offered an opportunity to incorrectly pause 30 seconds (how do you spell NEUGEBAUER). An ONTO trap elicited another 30-second penalty. What do you do when told to change your speed for 0.5 mile? You go back to the previous speed after the half mile - or not for more penalty points. A note told you to pause 30 seconds at a sign reading “CEMETARY”. Who knew there was actually a sign like that on the route.

Congratulations to first Unlimited and first overall Paul Eklund and Yulia Smolyensky. First SOP and second overall was Bill Ferber and Simon Levear. Robert Paxman and Will Pollard finished first GPS and third overall. First Novice was Ben and Kyle Overton. Congratulations to all the teams! And a big thank you to Brandon Harer and Ben Bradley for checking out the rally.

CSCC 2020 Saturday Series Season Standings