We participated in a rally once. Christ it was awful. No, it wasn't a WRC style affair with mud bogs, suicidal fans and ten-foot jumps. In fact, our wheels never left tarmac, let alone the earth. You see we took part in our local rally club's weekend event. It worked thusly; we showed up, paid three-dollars (or whatever), were given insanely, unnecessarily complex directions that ran us in circles all over the Los Angeles basin and (quite) eventually wound up at the Tommy's in Valencia where we watched in horror as the socially inept and morbidly obese feasted on triple chili-cheeseburgers while being given awards for the night's efforts. We placed fifth of seven in the beginner/moron division. Jump (like above) for more.
See, the trouble was, what we were doing was not racing like we thought but rallying. Which means that you lose points not only for being late to a checkpoint, but for being early. Meaning that if the clipboard said, "Go 7.2 miles at 45mph," they docked us for keeping up with traffic. Which was dull. It probably also didn't help that our "navigator" flung the instructions in the back seat out of frustration. Repeatedly. Why do we mention this? Because Top Gear just published a handy guide to WRC and we were shocked to learn that the drivers must shuttle themselves between stages in their firebreathing hoon-mobiles, obeying all the rules of the road. Ha!
World Rally Championship: a guide [Top Gear]
Related:
Super-Duper Hoonage Potential; Suzuki To Take On WRX & EVO [Internal]