How Rally Driving events are structured and organised

Like many other motorsport events, rallies are run in classes, so that results and wins are on a reasonably equal footing. So for instance, there may be an 1800cc to 2000cc class and that would not normally compete with a 1400cc - 1800cc class. In many rallies, competitors are looking for a class win and the overall rally is usually won by someone in the most powerful class of car.

You're not alone in the car. Competing in a rally also requires a navigator, otherwise known as a co-driver and you communicate using intercoms. The rally navigator has a 'stage map', which shows the route through the stage and where key corners and junctions are, together with their severity. In a multi-venue rally, there is also a 'road book', which is used by the navigator to get from stage to stage.

Cars compete to be the fastest in their class through a set of rally stages. These are not like a race circuit. A stage can consist for example of 3 miles along a marked out airfield track or 20 miles through a forest in Wales. Stages are closed to all other traffic.

Unlike F1 or any circuit racing, the cars set off at 1 minute intervals, separately and there is no overtaking, unless one car catches another in a stage, in which case the car ahead has to give way. The rally is a test of you against the stage and you'll only know how good your time is when you see some intermediate results, which is often after a few stages have already finished.

These are generally of two types: single venue and multi venue rallies. In a single venue rally, the stages are all at the same location, often repeated with slight changes throughout the day. This could be an old airfield or a privately owned track.

In a multi venue rally, the stages are separated by road sections, along which there is no racing and a strict time allowed; if you arrive early at the next stage you can get penalised. This is the format of the World Rally Championship which you may have seen on television. Usually there will also be some service halts, where you have a specified time in which your crew can fix anything on the car, renew tyres and refuel.

On a day rallying, the cars need servicing to keep them going, even if its just for refuelling or a change of tyres (you can easily get through 11mm of tyre tread in 20 miles of forest rallying). More often than not though, in gravel rallying, the cars may need attention in other ways if they've hit any rocks or got damaged from gravel flying up. If you're less lucky, you may have had a rally driving day in which you "visited the scenery" - a rallying euphemism for going off the track and damaging the car. Perhaps resulting in a buckled wheel, a wing knocked in and rubbing on the tyre or some bent suspension. These can often be fixed.

So during a day of rally driving, you have your own rally service crew, in a van, complete with tools, jacks, spares, tyres etc. On a multi venue rally, the team meet you at different "service areas" during the day where you have a set penalty free time in which to fix anything. Go over that time and precious seconds or minutes are added onto your competitive times as a penalty.