Rallying

Rallying

Rallying, also known as is a form of that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. This motorsport is distinguished by running not on abut instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points , leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages,

Pre-war era

The term “rally”, as a branch of probably dates from the first of January 1911. Until the late 1920s, few if any other events used the term.Rallying itself can be traced back to the 1894(s Voitures sans Chevaux), sponsored by a Paris newspaper, which attracted considerable public interest and entries from leading manufacturers. Prizes were awarded to the vehicles by a jury based on the reports of the observers who rode in each car; the official winner wasdriving a although the had finished first but his steam powered vehicle was ineligible for the official competition.

This event led directly to a period of city-to-city road races in France and other European countries, which introduced many of the features found in later rallies: individual start times with cars running against the clock rather than head to head; time controls at the entry and exit points of towns along the way; road books and route notes; and driving over long distances on ordinary, mainly gravel, roads, facing hazards such as dust, traffic, pedestrians and farm animals.

The first of these great races was theof June 1895, won in a Peugeot, despiting arriving 11 hours after in a Panhard et Levassor.Levassor’s time for the 1,178km (732mi) course, running virtually without a break, was 48 hours and 48 minutes, an average speed of 24km/h (15mph).Just eight years later, in the running over the same roads, took just under five and a quarter hours for the 550km (340mi) to Bordeaux, an average of 105km/h (65.3mph). Speeds had now far outstripped the safe limits of dusty highways thronged with spectators and open to other traffic, people and animals; there were numerous crashes, many injuries and eight deaths. The French government stopped the race and banned this style of event.From then on, racing in Europe (apart from Italy) would be on closed circuits, initially on long loops of public highway and then, in 1907, on the first purpose-built track, England’s.Racing was going its own separate way.

One of the earliest of road races, theTour de Franceof 1899, was to have a long history, running 18 times as a reliability trial between 1906 and 1937, before being revived in 1951,

Italy had been running road competitions since 1895, when a reliability trial was run fromand back. The country’s first true motor race was held in 1897 along the shore of Lake Maggiore, from Arona to Stresa and back.This led to a long tradition of road racing, including events like Sicily’s and(Tour of Sicily, 1914), which went right round the island,both of which continued on and off until after World War II. The first Alpine event was held in 1898, the Austrian Touring Club’s three-day Automobile Run through South Tyrol, which included the infamous

In Britain, the legal maximum speed of mph (19km/h) precluded road racing, but in April and May 1900, the(the forerunner of the Royal Automobile Club) organised the Thousand Mile Trial, a 15-day event linking Britain’s major cities, in order to promote this novel form of transport. Seventy vehicles took part, the majority of them trade entries. They had to complete thirteen stages of route varying in length from 43 to 123 miles (69 to 198km) at average speeds of up to the legal limit of 12mph (19km/h), and tackle six hillclimb or speed tests. On rest days and at lunch halts, the cars were shown to the public in exhibition halls.This was followed in 1901 by a five-day trial based in GlasgowThe Scottish Automobile Club organised an annual Glasgow–London non-stop trial from 1902 to 1904, then the Scottish Reliability Trial from 1905.The Motor Cycling Club allowed cars to enter its trials and runs from 1904 (London– London– Londo—all still in being as mud-plugging classic trials).In 1908 the Royal Automobile Club held its 2,000mi (3,200km) International Touring Car Trial,and 1914 the important Light Car Trial for manufacturers of cars up to 1400 cc, to test comparative performances and improve the breed.In 1924, the exercise was repeated as the Small Car Trials.

In Germany, the Herkomer Trophy was first held in 1905, and again in 1906. This challenging five-day event attracted over 100 entrants to tackle its 1,000km (620mi) road section, and a speed trial, but sadly it was marred by poor organisation and confusing regulations.One participant had been Prince Henry of Austria, who was inspired to do better, so he enlisted the aid of the Imperial Automobile Club of Germany to create the firstPrinz Heinrich Fahrt(Prince Henry Trial) in 1908. Another trial was held in 1910. These were very successful, attracting top drivers and works cars from major teams – several manufacturers added “Prince Henry” models to their ranges.The first Alpine Trial was held in 1909, in Austria; by 1914, this was the toughest event of its kind, producing a star performance from Britain’s James Radley in his

Then in 1911 came the first(later known colloquially as “the Monte”), organised by a group of wealthy locals who formed the “Sport Automobile Vélocipédique Monégasque” and bankrolled by the “Société des Bains de Mer” (the “sea bathing company”), the operators of the famous casino who were keen to attract wealthy sporting motorists.The competitive elements were slight, but getting to Monaco in winter was a challenge in itself. A second event was held in 1912.

Two ultra long distance challenges took place at this time. The,of 1907 was not officially a competition, but a “raid”, the French term for an expedition or collective endeavour whose promoters, the newspaper “Le Matin”, rather optimistically expected participants to help each other; it was ‘won’ by Prince Scipione Borghese, Luigi Barzini, and Ettore Guizzardi in an of the following year, which went Japan and, was won by George Schuster and others in a Each event attracted only a handful of adventurous souls, but in both cases the successful drivers exhibited characteristics modern rally drivers would recognise: meticulous preparation, mechanical skill, resourcefulness, perseverance and a certain single-minded ruthlessness. The race of 1909, if shorter, was no easier. Rather gentler (and more akin to modern rallying) was the run by the between 1902 and 1913, which had timed legs between control points and a marking system to determine the winners.