People don’t have to purchase tickets for the auto show, which is being held at the convention center, unless they plan on touring the show floor.

Awards — Club Racing and Solo – will be presented from 3 to 5 p.m. followed by an hors d’oeuvres reception at 5:30 p.m. Winners who would like to just pick up their award may do so without purchasing a banquet ticket if they will not be attending the banquet – just be sure to check with your race chair to confirm the time of your program’s award ceremony.

A buffet dinner will begin at 6:30, and Region awards will begin at 7:30 during dessert. A cash bar will be available throughout.  

There will be plenty of open seating, but arrangements can be made in advance for groups of four or eight only. If you would like to reserve a table for a party of four or eight, please send the details (names of each person to sit together) to Eric Kriemelmeyer.

A discounted group rate has been made available for attendees at four nearby hotels. 

For parking, directions and other information, see the convention center Web site.

The Catoctin Monte is a Monte Carlo style rally, which means contestants have the mileage and time they should arrive at each control throughout the day. In addition, mileages are given to every turn, which makes it an ideal event for beginners and experts alike!

The National Rally
The National rally has registration open at 8:00 AM at the Sleep Inn, 501 Silo Hill Parkway, Emmitsburg, MD 21727 (about 30 minutes north of Frederick off US 15). First car starts running the rally at 9:01 AM, and the overall event is just about 200 miles in length.

The Regional Rally
The Regional rally has registration at the lunch break for the day-long event, at the McDonalds at 854 Jefferson Pike, Knoxville, MD 21758 (Southwest of the roundabout intersection of Maryland 17 and 180, about 15 minutes southwest of Frederick off US 340). Registration opens around 12 noon and after a regional odometer check starting approximately at 1:00 PM, contestants will follow the same route as the National contestants.

All Contestants
All contestants will get to the Braddock Inn at approximately 5:00 PM, where scoring, awards and dinner will take place.

Historic Challenge Trophy
In addition, for those with historic cars, a challenge has been made by Steve McKelvie of Franklin, MA for a separate challenge trophy in both the full day and half day events. Teams that want to compete for this trophy must also abide by the following rules:
The car driven must be more than 25 years old (1985 or older).
No electronic digital displays anywhere within the car.
Mechanical odometers (Halda, Bellmog, stock non-electrical, etc) and electro-mechanical odometers (Brantz Retrotrip) are permitted.
All timepieces must be analog, including wristwatches. Battery powered clocks/watches are fine, but no digital display.
No electronic calculators of any kind, but rally slidewheels, rally tables, Alpena, and Curta calculators are permitted. Halda Speed Pilot machines are fine as well.
Adjustable analog electronic speedometers similar to the Great Race requirements are permitted but no electronic digital display during the rally after odometer calibration.

Please let the registration personnel know that you plan to run for the challenge trophy in addition to your regular SCCA class.

For More Information
There is an event flyer and registration form for both the National and Regional events located on the Washington, DC SCCA website (www.wdcr-scca.org). Click the RoadRally link on the left side of the page.

At the bottom of the page will be a link (Click Here!) for the rally. In addition, you can contact Steve Gaddy (nittany1995@gmail.com) or Chris Bean (c_bean@verizon.net) for more information. We would like to know you plan on coming prior to October 21st so that we can plan on enough materials for all contestants,

DON’T WANT TO DRIVE BUT PARTICIPATE AS A VOLUNTEER WORKER?

In addition, for people who aren’t interested in running The Catoctin Monte, we could really use some additional workers for it. You don’t need any experience.

We give you the clock to time cars as they enter the control, instruction on how to use them, directions for where to go to shortcut the course, and dinner at the conclusion of the event. For a Monte Carlo event, you can work alone and the more workers we can get to come out, the higher percentage of the controls we can man.

Given that this is a part of the US RoadRally Challenge, we would like to get as many people out to work as possible. It is a really great way to see how strong National level rallyists perform at the highest level of their sport.

If you have questions or are willing to help us out on October 23rd (either part of the day or all day), please contact Chris Bean (c_bean@verizon.net).

Click here to download the USRRC (US Road Rally Championship) Flyer and Entry Form.

Click here to download the Catoctin Monte Flyer and Entry form

Warm and clear spring weather greeted the 29 crews contesting this year’s event. Some of them were out for a day of low-key sport with like-minded friends while others were there to accumulate points toward the 2010 Road Rally National Championship. Neither group was disappointed. This year’s event was a Monte Carlo style rally, or Monte as it is called. On a Monte, the exact location of the checkpoints and the exact tome you should arrive there is right in the route instructions. All you need to do is actually get there when you are supposed to. It sounds easy and it is……unless you are competing with twenty other teams trying to do it better than you.

The event started at Rallymaster Eric Salminen’s farm in Kingsville Maryland and finished at the Mount Felix Estate Vineyard and Winery in Havre de Grace. In between, the teams traversed some of the best rally roads in Baltimore and Harford Counties.

The entry was interesting in terms of vehicles and people. Fifty years of sports cars were represented, from a 1952 MGTD to a 2001 BMW Z3. In domestics, the scope went from Jeep Wrangler to Saturn. The presence of three modern Minis may indicate that the Mini club has discovered rallyes. In human terms, the entry ran the gamut from three National Championship winners to novices just out of rally school. Everyone finished and everyone had a smile.

The scores were equally remarkable since each penalty point represented one-one hundredth of a minute (yes that’s 1/100)! Heading the lists for the fourth straight year was the team of Teter/Head (past national champions) with two penalty points for first overall and first in class E. Second O/A and first in class L with four penalty points were Miner/Gezon (another national champion). Third O/A and first in the stock class was Wakeman/Haas (more champions) with 10 points. From there the scores dropped off, but one notable result was Lytle/D’Andrea with 20 points and FOURTH OVERALL AS NOVICES! This shows that it can be done. Further awards were given in two historic classes, SOP and novice. Full results may be seen on the WDC Region website.

Not to be left out was the wine tasting and picnicking that went on all over the winery grounds.

The next series event is Steve Gaddy’s “Historic Bridges of Frederick County Tour” Flyers are available on the WDCR website.

The 2010 Road Rally season provides a unique opportunity for Washington DC Region members. In one year, you can progress from being a beginner to participating in the United States Road Rally Challenge, and do it right here in our own backyard. That’s right, you can do it all without even renting a motel room. It is indeed a unique opportunity for WDCR members. Never before has this been possible!

Check out the calendar on the Region’s website, and you will see that it is possible. This month, the season begins with a rally school where you will be taught the fundamentals and be given a textbook to use as a reference. There is also a short rally included in the school to test the skills you have acquired in a fun atmosphere.

Here is the really great part! There is a style of event called Monte Carlo, or Monte for short. On a Monte, the locations and times of arrival for all the checkpoints are given in the route instructions and the route instructions are simple. No one gets lost on a Monte.

The Rally School will teach you all the techniques you need to know about competing on a Monte. Then, we have several events throughout the season that are Monte Carlo style events. The “Get-the-Dust-OFF” and the “Historic Bridges of Frederick County” are both Montes that give you opportunities to hone your skills. Finally, you can wrap up your year with the “Catoctin Monte”, your Region’s award winning National Rally.

The “Catoctin Monte” is the keystone event in the three event weekend known as the United States Road Rally Challenge, the most important event on the SCCA’s calendar of National Rallies. It is held just north of here in the beautiful Catoctin Mountains during the season when the trees will be at high color.

Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. Check out the Road Rally calendar and plan out your season.