SA National Rally Championship

Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called “rally racing”), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. Rallies may be short in the form of trials at a single venue, or several thousand miles long in an extreme endurance rally.

Depending on the format, rallies may be organised on private or public roads, open or closed to traffic, or off-road in the form of cross country or rally-raid. Competitors can use production vehicles which must be road-legal if being used on open roads or specially built competition vehicles suited to crossing specific terrain.

Rallying is typically distinguished from other forms of motorsport by not running directly against other competitors overlaps of a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants leave at regular intervals from one or more start points.

A Rally is a race against the clock. A field of cars is set off in 2 or 3-minute intervals apart to complete a stage. Stages vary from between 4 to 40 kilometres in distance.

A start time is recorded on the Teams (comprised of 2 people, Driver and Co-Driver) Time Card which is managed by the Navigator. A start time is recorded and when the crew passes over the finish line, called a Flying Finish, another time is Recorded. Once the Crew reached the Stop Control at the end of the stage, the Current time is Deducted from the start time to determine the actual time the Crew took to complete the stage.

The crew with the fastest time through the stage Wins.

There are many Stages (Competitive Sections) on a Rally. 12 to 14 Stages split over 2 days. Events normally take place on Friday and Saturday.

The National Rally Championship takes place in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Western Cape. There are approximately 7 Events throughout the year.