Racing with rally cars?

[Ruralman]

After looking at the Otago Rally photos in the paper I couldn't help think and wonder - why not have a class for bikes?????

Are there any rally drivers out there who also ride bikes? - I don't reckon we'd be able to compete with a turboed 4wd rally car but surely we'd set similar or better times than some of the smaller engined 2wd cars??

It would be a great addition to 2 wheel motorsport and a great chance to really stretch some of the big fast dual sport bikes.
While having a go at this has a lot of appeal to me I suspect age and greater appreciation of the likely effects of a fall (that comes with age) would render me a "bit off the pace" - however I would really like to watch some of the guns having a go at it.

What do you reckon? Would the car boys make space for us?

[Laxi]

see also race to the sky for local stuff

[Jantar]

Not a chance of having bikes included in this rally, even as a seperate class.

There could be a possibility of ressurecting the origional motorcycle rallies, which were simply motorcycle versions of this event. We even had a national championship event run as an NZRCU santioned championship. The last one was held in 1989 and was won by a rider who now lives in Otago, not too far away from you.

[Peril]

Years ago they used to run the Twizel Offroad event,which included buggies,bikes etc in together.
I think a rally style event for bikes would be a lot of fun and something your average adv rider could compete in with their bikes,provided there is different classes.

[Motu]

I rode in a rally sprint our dirt track club put on - I raced bikes on the dirt track,so a couple of us did the rally sprint on bikes.I used my XR200 because it was a there and back,with an off road loop turn around....it was rough and I thought the extra suspn travel would be a bonus...it wasn't as the trees were low and I had to sit down.I did the same time as a MkII Escort 2.0 rally car...pretty good I thought for such a small bike.Not being able to over cook it on a bike like you can in a car...I reckon I could have got my times down much lower with a couple of more runs.

Next year I thought a bit more power was better than suspn travel,and put my XS650 on my dirt track tyres.I did a couple of practice runs down the road during the week,and it was damn fast.But someone must have seen me - when I turned up for scrutineering....they said no bikes allowed.I had asked the day before and was told no problem.

If you get friendly with members in a rally club,you could find out how they feel about it.

[Toot Toot]

It's what they do in the Dakar, I cant see any reason why bikes could not be allowed to go through the stage first.

[cooneyr]

Not sure if combining it with the car rally's is a good idea or not but the idea of a rally type even on bikes appeals to me. I can see advantages of including it with the cars, road already closed and monitored etc, but also disadvantages, two governing bodies that would have to work together. From what I've picked up around the place I recon there would be a reasonable number turn out to a 2/3 day event (say 4/6 stages?) like this.

I started a thread over on Advrider a while ago about a time trail type even and there was a fair bit of disucssion. The benefit of the time trial is that road closures don't appear to be needed but then again you dont really get to hang it out like you would in a rally type event.

Keen to see where this tread goes.

Cheers R

[Ruralman]

Not sure if combining it with the car rally's is a good idea or not but the idea of a rally type even on bikes appeals to me. I can see advantages of including it with the cars, road already closed and monitored etc, but also disadvantages, two governing bodies that would have to work together. From what I've picked up around the place I recon there would be a reasonable number turn out to a 2/3 day event (say 4/6 stages?) like this.

Keen to see where this tread goes.

Cheers R

I also thought the fact that the road was already closed was a big plus.
I'm not a member of a club so I hadn't thought of the governance issues but I think there would have to be one "head body" - probably the current organisers - who maybe hand over the scrutineering stuff for the bikes to a bike club. The timekeeping, marshalling etc should be doable by existing systems but helped with a bit more voluntary manpower from the bike clubs and other supporters.
Interesting comments about pace vs cars - I reckon the acceleration out of corners compared to lower powered rally cars would see the bikes set better times.
The sprint events are quite different in that they are so short allowing a different set up and suit different bikes (eg motocross bikes) - the Otago rally had 256km of special stages and you need to be road legal to drive the transition sections between stages.

[Ruralman]

It's what they do in the Dakar, I cant see any reason why bikes could not be allowed to go through the stage first.

Personally I think I'd rather go after the faster cars have been through and swept the road

[JayRacer37]

From a Road bunny's point POV, I've often looked at the Targa's and gone "'hmm...My bike could do that...". Would be a hell of a lot of fun either dirt or Tarmac to mix it with the cars, and that type of racing (against the clock) really appeals.

[Padmei]

Nice to think about however humans love politics & the thought of trying to amalgamate bikes into an existing event would go down like a lead balloon.

A bike only rally would be very cool though. Imagine a forest with closed roads with only you hooning around. All different classes - including battleships. Need to have a governing body to have a public liability insurance, then red tape after red tape....


sigh

[Peril]

One could try contacting one of the car clubs,just to get an idea of the logistics of such an event.
Locally (Canterbury) it is hard work to get forestry roads due to the forests having individual owners nowdays.RATEC used to run their own rally in Ashley Forest every year,was always a good,well run event with pretty much one service area and the cars came back to that point after every stage which makes it a lot easier.Since the forest has changed owners over the years,that rally has gone the way of the dodo and they're left with the famous rally sprint and thats about it bar the odd sprint every couple of years on some of the other roads in there.
I think it's doable,especially if you can have the "Rally" in one area and return to the same point for refuelling etc to save touring distances.

Edit - Just sent an email to the President of Ratec to see what his thoughts are.

[Padmei]

Looks like the aussies are thinking along the same lines

advrider oz forum

[warewolf]

Nelson m/c club runs gravel hill climbs, which are fairly close to what you are wanting. Usually have long fast sections where the MX bikes top out. Maybe ask for a battleship class next time?

Battleship Class Supplementary Regs

1. must have current rego & wof
2. no trailer faggots
3. must have road legal not NHS tyres
4. must take 'scenic' photo of your bike on the course every lap
5. photo will be scored
6. must not drink your latte before the start flag drops
7. espresso machine must be carried (does not have to be in working condition)

[young1]

I remember thinking this a few years ago when a friend used to rally a car. I do think though that cars would be a lot quicker than bikes.

One thing though - on a bike where would you put the navigator!!