Last updated January 17, 2012. Copyright © 2012 by Jim Robison.  All rights reserved.

An Active Celebration of Vintage Rally Cars

Come along! Hop up here! We'll go for a jolly ride! The open road! The dusty highway! Come! I'll show you the world! Travel! Scene! Excitement! Ha ha ha!

Mr. J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq., The Wind in the Willows

A Jolly Ride in a Motor Car!

Historic competition is not simply another formula in which to acquire trophies, it is a discipline apart, in which one of the essential ingredients is a devotion to the cars and to their history. Historic motor sport enables the active celebration of the history of the motor car.

Sec 1.1, App K, International Sporting Code of the FIA

Historic Competition

The Vintage Rally Car Championship, VRCC, is an “active celebration” of historic, classic, and vintage automobiles competing in modern performance rallies. Our objective is to encourage as many vintage rally cars as possible to participate in as many performance rallies as possible. It’s all about participation.

VRCC Mission Statement

Historic Rally Cars and Vintage Rally Cars

We chose “vintage” rather than “historic” for the name of the Championship for two reasons. The first was to avoid any confusion with the Historic Class offered by Rally America. Our classes are not the same as the Rally America Historic Class and we don’t want anyone confused as to “which historic class” we are talking about.

The second reason we chose vintage over historic is that, historic rally cars, in our opinion, are cars that actually competed in performance rallies 30, 40, 50 or more years ago. Not just the same model, but the same exact car down to the VIN plate and the log book. Due to the nature of performance rallying, and probably automobile racing in general, very few of these historic cars have survived. If you are fortunate enough to own a true historic rally car, we think you should enjoy it responsibly, and that may or may not involve entering it in performance rallies. Your car, your decision.

There is a good supply of pre-1990 potential rally cars available at affordable prices. Pick one up on your way home today, add safety equipment like seats, harness, and a roll cage (see the sanctioning organization rule books for specific requirements) and you have a vintage rally car. Since you are beginning with a stock car, you can keep it that way and run in the stock or production classes, or you can modify it and run in faster (and more expensive) classes. Again, your car, your decision, and again, check the sanctioning organization rules for specific requirements and restrictions.

In contrast, vintage cars, like vintage wine, are “of a specific year or period.”  For now, we are going to define vintage rally cars as those of model year 1989 and before. At some point in the future, we will probably include the 1990 - 1999 crop, but not just yet. They need a bit more time to properly age.

If you are not fortunate enough to own a true historic rally car, you can still enjoy competing in, and against, older cars, in the Vintage Rally Car Championship.

Tom Burress (d) and brother Don Burress (cd) in their 1985 VW Gti at the 2009 Wild West Rally.  Tom took third in VRCC class M8, 2010 Western Region. Love that dust! More info at demonrally.com.

Welcome to the 2012

Vintage Rally Car Championship

The Vintage Rally Car Championship, VRCC, is an overlay series open to drivers and co-drivers of vintage, historic, or classic automobiles participating in performance rallies in the Unites States and Canada. A North American championship and three regional championships are included. All rallies are sanctioned by Rally America, the Canadian Association of Rallysport, the National Auto Sport Association (NASA Rally Sport) or Targa Newfoundland. With six classes and more than 70 rallies, drivers and co-drivers have ample opportunity to earn VRCC points wherever they live.

The top picture is of Mark (d) and brother John (cd) Huebbe, 2010 and 2011 VRCC Winners, Class M7, Central Region, in their vintage Rally Bug at the 2011 Roxton Rallye de Paris. Photo by Mical Davis of MicalDigital.com

VRCC Vision Statement

Someday vintage rally cars will be common at all performance rallies in North America. Organizers and sanctioning organizations will welcome vintage rally cars for their spectator appeal and as a valuable source of additional entries. Competitors will see vintage rally cars as logical training vehicles leading to more powerful cars, as an affordable alternative to more expensive vehicles, or as an enjoyable end in themselves.

In addition to competing for fastest time, vintage rally cars will compete informally with regards to appearance and period correctness. Owners of vintage rally cars will proudly display their cars at rallies and other automotive events. Vintage rally clubs will form in some regions, providing a social network and a range of local activities for vintage rally car enthusiasts, and vintage race car clubs will welcome rallyists into their organizations.

J-F Coulombe (d) and Christian Levesque (cd) in their beautiful 1975 BMW 320 (e21) at the 2011 Rallye de Sanair. This was the first rally for Christian and the BMW, and the first for J-F since the 2003 Targa. Photo by Martin Huot.  Inboard video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrAaHv5Lpw

Matthieu L.Gagné (d) and Valérie Dubé (cd) in their 1988 Volkswagen Jetta Trophy at the 2011 Rallye Fjord Saguenay.  Photo by Toan Nguyen.  More info at http://www.rallyexy.com/.

Vintage driver Bob Cutler at the wheel of his 1973 Porsche 911, with John Atsma as co-driver, at the 2005 LSPR Ottawa Regional Rally. Splashing through water in the dark, in a vintage rally car. It doesn’t get much better! Great photo be Pete Kuncis of Onalimbracing.com.

Ian Toppind (d) and Jeff Secor in their 1980 Volvo 242 at the Black Bear Rally held at McArthur Mills, Ontario.  Photo by Jacek Gielas.