What happens when you combine a road (or off-road) trip, getting from place to place at specific times while driving a precise route, seeing beautiful places along the way, and doing it all with friends? This is a time-speed-distance, or TSD rally.
Precision Over Speed
Time-speed-distance rallies have been around for a long time and can be done with a myriad of different vehicles. It’s not pricey, it doesn’t require a roll cage or expensive upgrades, and the events are usually held on public roads or established trails. It’s a great way to marry several things: driving, traveling, navigation and enjoying the like-minded community with those around you doing the same thing. It’s a lot of fun and something everyone should try.
TSD rally competitions are based on precision, not speed. Teams drive on open public roads and must follow a specific route book that’s given to them by the rallymaster. They must arrive exactly on time for any given direction or checkpoint (CP), or as close as they can, to do well. Teams can take time allowances for “natural occurrences” like red lights, traffic issues and train crossings.
TSD rallies can be a few hours long and take place during the day. Local Pacific Northwest organizations like Oregon’s Cascade Sports Car Club, Northwest Classic Rally or Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon have been established for many decades and have many events throughout the year. Other groups have nighttime fun, like Seattle-based Northwest Rally Council with their Friday Nighter series.
Some time-speed-distance events are endurance-based and take multiple days. They cover extremely long distances over short periods of time. For instance, the 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally, now in its 40th year and hosted by the Rainier Auto Sports Club, spanned an incredible 5,000 miles over 10 days.
The 2024 Alcan 5000 Rally
That’s where my husband, Andy Lilienthal, and I just came back from. We drove a 2024 INEOS Grenadier Trialmaster 4×4 from a new automaker, UK-based INEOS Automotive for the Alcan 5000 Rally. The SUV had only been sold in North America a short time before we rallied it. This was the perfect opportunity to test its mettle.
Teams traveled from Seattle, Washington throughout Canada’s most remote landscapes before descending on Alaska: the last frontier. There, teams had an optional extreme rally route that took them to Coldfoot (half the way to the Arctic Ocean above the Arctic Circle) or a rest at Fairbanks’ Chena Hot Springs on the competition’s “day off.” Guess which option we took? Fairbanks to Coldfoot, Alaska, and back to Fairbanks in one day, of course!
Teams completed daily TSD rally challenges during the Alcan 5000. However, instead of calling it quits after the TSD and joining other teams for midday lunch together, they had to drive up to 650 miles to the evening’s TSD or to that night’s motel for a short night’s rest. Then, reset for the next morning and go again, and again and again—for 10 days straight of harrowing competition—no matter how bad the weather or road conditions get.
Different Rally Orgs, Many Rally Classifications
Teams can compete in different TSD rally classes but beware, different rally organizations have diverse classifications and regulations. We learned this the hard way after a few years of competition.
Each rally organization has different TSD rally segments or classes for teams to enter. Some have a Novice, GPS, and Equipped class whereas others have SOP (Seat Of Pants class), Unlimited, and Historic classes. Some rally groups allow all kinds of vehicles, while some only allow classics or a specific make or model.
The Seat Of Pants class, the segment I typically run in, means teams don’t use rally computers or apps to help them pinpoint exact times and how late/early they’re progressing throughout each checkpoint. Depending on the rally rules, duos can use an old-fashioned simple calculator and long-form math equations (or a rally app) to help them figure out exact times they need to arrive at specific places noted in the route book before they compete. Other classes, like Equipped or Unlimited, give teams the opportunity to use rally apps or a computer during competition, with the hopeful zero time in sight within each checkpoint.
It’s up to the navigator to help keep the driver on pace as teams can get off their targeted “perfect” time due to local traffic, wildlife, streetlights and more. Teams can take time allowances for these cases but need to calculate how much time they’re delayed to the best of their ability to stay on “perfect” time.
Each organization has specific rules of what equipment is and isn’t allowed in each class, too, and those classes vary from one organization to another. For instance, some groups allow a GPS odometer and simple calculator in the SOP, or Seat Of Pant class, whereas other groups don’t. Check with your local rally organizer to make sure a specific piece of equipment is allowed before using it.
In short: Do your research and ask questions. Learn ahead of time what the differences are between classes and what rally aids, or equipment is available to use before you rally. The most important thing is—have fun! Staying on course when you’re a novice is the most important thing. The ability to arrive on time at specific places will come soon enough.
A quick Google search for “TSD rallies near me” should yield local rally groups near where you live. A lot of them have Facebook groups where you can ask questions and learn how things go. YouTube is also a great resource to see how teams compete.
The biggest time-speed-distance or TSD rally takeaways are to stay on route, have fun, and the rest will come as you start playing the game. Precision rallies are an inexpensive way to get out there, get challenged, and get to know like-minded gearheads. It’s certainly opened our world to a new level of fulfillment since we started TSD rallying in 2018.