Photo by Patrick Strong.

On May 12, 2012 the Santa Monica Sports Car Club hosted The 2012 Spring Classic Road Rally. It was billed on the pre-event flyer as:

An SCCA Regional Tour RoadRally. Rallymaster Patrick Strong brings you a fun-to-drive, trap-free
TSD rally that will feature a blend of driver-oriented canyon roads, urban segments certain to keep
navigators busy, and some of the most dazzling vistas that Southern California has to offer.
Run to the Santa Monica Sports Car Club’s First Friday Niter generals, The Spring Classic will be a
treat for veteran rallyists and novices alike.

Patrick Strong was the events Rally Master and we want to thank him for submitting the pictures and following write-up. For more information about the Santa Monica Sports Car Club and it’s rally activities (past, present and future), please visit their Facebook page.

The Spring Classic was my first attempt at writing a long-format, daytime rally (having written only a pair of 90-minute night rallies previously.)  I had three goals in mind in writing the Spring Classic:

1. I wanted to put on a rally that would be extremely beginner-friendly, as I think that the perception of our rallies as being “too hard” is keeping some would-be competitors away.  Consequently, I stuck to a “tour” format, as opposed to a “course” rally with a bunch of traps.

2. Since the name of our club includes the words “Sports Car,” I wanted to include roads that would tempt serious driving enthusiasts to come out to play.  So, the first part of the rally covered some popular canyon routes in the Santa Monica Mountains.

3. Our rallies tend to stay north of the Santa Monica Mountains; being a resident of South Bay, I wanted to design a course that showed contestants a part of L.A. County that they don’t typically encounter in our events.  Specifically, I wanted to run the rally through the Palos Verdes Peninsula for its gorgeous oceanside vistas and fun-to-drive roads.

McGaffey/Richardson thunder into checkpoint 7. Photo by Patrick Strong.

The rally drew eleven entries, mostly local, but we did have a few national-level competitors come down from Northern California (and one from Arizona.)  The response was very positive; the selection of roads delivered on the promise of driving fun and great views.  If there was one common complaint, it was that the middle third of the rally (which linked the canyon segment to Palos Verdes via the traffic-and-stoplight infested Westside) was a bit tedious…it was slow, and the road conditions were pretty poor.)  In the future, I’ll work harder to write rallies that DO NOT have large urban sections

Class A winners Karl Broberg and Stu Helfer. Photo by Patrick Strong.

Class C winners Larry and Jenny Boone. Photo by Patrick Strong.

Class D winners Lazlo Fodor and Rob Flores. Photo by Patrick Strong.

Other Event Photos by Patrick Strong:

The site of Checkpoint 5, which would have made for a fun rest stop…had it been open. — at Automobile Driving Museum.

Hitting the hose, Checkpoint 5.

The marine layer couldn’t completely ruin the great views on leg 6.

Jorge and Weena Lopez get the final handout at CP7.

Jared Leadbetter and Revere Jones.