Dawn of August 21 arrived under a light overcast. The weather reports spoke of intermittent yet light showers. Fortunately, the rain mostly held off until the last 30 minutes, leaving us with some perfect top-down weather.
The Mini Monte Regional Tour Rallye started and ended in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which has not been used in many years and provided fresh territory. Contestants traveled through the Northern Kettle Moraine Forest, passed by Road America during a Regional Race, and traversed the old Elkhart Lake street race circuit.
We wanted to try something slightly different, so we organized this event with Monte Carlo timing, using the Richta GPS Checkpoints app for scoring. We also used gauntlets of 3 or more closely spaced controls throughout the Rallye, and the route instructions give the exact location and a car zero time for each control. Teams determined the proper CAST to arrive on time. Close gauntlet-style controls ensure that vehicles can’t creep into checkpoints as they won’t be able to reach the next one a tenth of a mile away. Since this was our first Monte in a long time, we tried to keep things simple by using secret CASTS just below the posted limits.
Twelve cars started the Mini Monte, and twelve cars finished. That is always a success for this Rallymaster. We have learned over and over that August is a tough month to schedule a rallye and this year was no exception. We received many emails and calls from regular contestants citing conflicts.
Teams enjoyed the concept, and many developed winning strategies, shown by their zeros. We finished the event with the longest gauntlet — six controls spaced .03 miles apart. At the finish, there was much conversation about coming around the bend and seeing that army of checkpoint signs before them. The event had 88 timed controls, with a 60 max. The top cars averaged around three points/leg, which is impressive for the SOP Class on regional events.
A big thanks to Fred Rosevear, the safety steward/precheck/chair, Jim Crittenden, who did a fantastic job with scoring as usual, and all twelve teams that came out during a jam-packed weekend. This Rallymaster appreciates all you do to support our events.
Note: All pictures taken can be found at http://users.frii.com/cindy/rally/Mini%20Monte%202021/
