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TSD Rallies - why do they cost money?

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slugg

slugg

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My local autocross group just started a TSD rally "branch" so to speak. They're charging $30 per entry. When I asked why it wasn't free, they got pissed off, defensive, and avoided answering the question.

I don't understand why I'd pay to drive around public roads? Hell, there's nothing to stop someone from driving on the same roads at the same time... We're not renting a facility like you would in an autocross, so what's the deal? And all the drivers are self-insured... So... I'm confused.

What am I missing?
 
Yeah, organizing these things takes lots of time. Typically, most of the organizers aren't making any money from these events anyway.
 
They need event insurance, to buy or rent all of the timing and measuring equipment, and I think there's some SCCA fee if the event can be scored towards official TSD rally qualifications.
 
(Honest questions here)

1. Why do they need event insurance? Each driver is self insured (public roads, registered vehicles, personal car insurance).

2. So how much does this insurance cost? Is the cost proportionate to the amount of participants, or is it a flat fee?

3. What kind of timing and measuring equipment do you need? The club is already equipped with AxWare, all the autocross stuff, and various GPS's.

4. The club has absolutely no ties from SCCA. The reason why this club exists is because most people in the area don't like SCCA. In fact, the local SCCA chapter folded from lack of interest.


Why I'm so interested:
I brought the price up in our local discussion forum. I got flamed pretty badly, that apparently I'm the "first person to complain about the price." They actually could not justify the price (tried to, but the "expenses" they named didn't really add up in my head. They said printing directions was an expense, lol).

There are a total of TWO (2) participants registered for an event this upcoming Friday. Two. That's pathetic. They blame it on people failing to plan far enough in advance. This is the same club that has completely sold out every registration slot in 4-5 days for autocross events. Bad excuse is bad.

I really do think it's because nobody wants to pay that kind of money to drive around on public roads, especially when the cost isn't justified AND you have no competition...

edit: I want to be clear: my goal isn't to debunk the club or uncover some intricate conspiracy. I'm just trying to learn, that's all. If there just so happens to be a better solution, then learning about this could help me suggest something.
 
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I've seen this a couple of times in the motorcycle community.

They claim that they "know better backroads than anyone else", and that the fee goes towards their time and organizing it all.

IMO that's BS, and people are profiting pretty hard off of the whole thing.
 
Are organizers registered as non-profit entity with tax-id and all that? If that is the case, then its budget, revenue and expense report etc should be available to any member.
 
To be done right a TSD event will be measured by a real rally vehicle with a 1/100th mile accuracy wheel counter. The directions will be many many pages, I think my direction pack was 40-50 pages. There will be people waiting each of the check points with their own synchronized timer and recorder. There were 7 check points at the one I did, each with a hose that you'd run over to trigger the time recorder to print you a slip for that check point.

I'm not sure about how much insurance costs, but when I helped to run a high school robot competition for a single day at a high school our $1Mil liability policy was around $800 for the event, even though everyone signed waivers. This was in 2003 too... I have no idea what it'd be for an event like a TSD rally, but I know that I would never host such an event without a liability insurance policy and a waiver. If lawyers get involved nearly everyone involved with organizing and running the event could be liable in some abstract way I'm sure.
 
JCH; were these done on open public roads?

I have seen and participated in one of these, but the road was closed by the city just for the rally.

I'm fairly sure the OP is talking about a 'redneck' version of this on open public mountain raods.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
JCH; were these done on open public roads?

I have seen and participated in one of these, but the road was closed by the city just for the rally.

I'm fairly sure the OP is talking about a 'redneck' version of this on open public mountain raods.
Click to expand...

The one I did was on public roads, TSD (time, speed, distance) isn't about going the fastest, it's about hitting check-points on-time. Traffic is just another element that makes it more challenging. Your required speed is never (or shouldn't be) in excess of the posted speed limit.
 
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