It could be done without - timekeeping and special stages at classic car rallies
At most rallies for classic and vintage cars, special tests with time measurements are commonplace. These historicity tests are becoming more and more sophisticated, with interlaced time zones and average speeds that are difficult to calculate. The measurement technology with hoses and light barriers is becoming increasingly complex.
But do we even need these time trials to enjoy a rally? Do we need this excitement and challenge? Is a rally really only attractive because of the timekeeping and the classification?
We asked our readers(Question of the Week 43) and 38% could enjoy a rally without timekeeping and would rather focus on driving and seeing beautiful scenery than looking at stopwatches.
Only 21% think that the competition and timekeeping are the salt in the soup, but these participants are very much in favor of the sporting mode, as evidenced by some of the comments we received.
However, the largest proportion, 40% exactly, find classifications and the special stages quite interesting, but could live without them.
So the good news for rally organizers is that well over half (61%) definitely enjoy the regularity rally mode most commonly practiced today, but the organizers of informal rides without timing stress can also hope for four-fifths (78%) of potential participants.
Here are the results as a graphic:
The next "question of the week" is already in the air, this time about whether historic racing should only be practiced with truly historic racing cars.
And, of course, you can view the results of the previous Questions of the Weekat any time on a dedicated topic page.
