quattro Magazine Feature: One Lapp of Ohio

[by: Steve Johnson]

Photos: Aaron Krott and Paul Gazella

If an image could define autumn, it would be what greeted the nineteen teams that took part in this year’s One Lapp of Ohio on the morning of October 25th. Not far into the RallyTour’s first stage, the route headed slightly downhill into a broad left-hand sweeper. To the left was a harvested farmer’s field illuminated by low-angle sunshine. A small fog bank hovered about 50 feet above the field, which itself was framed by all types of foliage near their peak fall colors. This scene didn’t just say autumn—it shouted it. Beautiful views like this were repeated many times along the 317-mile route taken by this year’s RallyTour across southeastern Ohio.

Each year, Rallymaster Jeff Lapp creates a course better than the last to challenge the driver-navigator pairings who strive to arrive at checkpoints on time. This year’s route ran counterclockwise, reusing roads included in past RallyTours but now running them in the opposite direction. To string together the best roads, Jeff employed three long transits—untimed sections of the course—between one stage’s checkpoint and the next stage’s starting point. That made for a 248.1-mile-long timed route divided into seven stages. Arrival time at the stage-ending checkpoints forms the basis for how a team’s score is calculated.

Those all-important scores are the sum of how many seconds early or late a team arrives at each checkpoint compared to their ideal arrival times. Each second early or late equals one point. The arrival times at key locations along a stage are a function of distance divided by speed. The seven stage checkpoints were joined this year by four hidden or surprise checkpoints, which also added to each team’s overall score. Sound complicated? It’s really not.

You learn everything you need to know during the Rally School, presented by Rallymaster Jeff after Friday night’s pizza buffet. Teams are walked through the process and calculations required to determine their ideal arrival time at key numbered route instructions along a stage. Prior to attendees’ arrival, they are sent the rules and regulations to learn the basics beforehand; then Rally School takes it to the next level. There’s plenty of time for rookie teams to ask questions, and for veteran teams, it’s a helpful refresher. The next morning, at one-minute intervals, teams set off to use what they’d learned, beginning with an 8:30 Key Time.

This year’s ten-page Route Instructions, handed to each navigator one minute prior to departure, contained a turn or two that were easy to miss—and they also prompted some unintended ones. A few teams misinterpreted instructions intended solely to change the average speed for the next leg and took a turn when they shouldn’t have. Another easy-to-misinterpret—or perhaps mishear—instruction was “Right Seventh.” Ohio Route 7 was about a third of a mile before 7th Street, and if the navigator told the driver to turn right on something that sounded like “seven,” well, you get the idea. These are the kinds of stories teams commiserated over during Saturday night’s Social Hour and at most tables during the buffet dinner.

The real world threw a few curveballs at teams this year as well. An emergency response by fire and police vehicles blocked a road in stage two, holding up car numbers one through nine for a time. The lowest-numbered cars, which arrived at the scene first, suffered the largest impacts—unfortunately reflected in the final scores. In the afternoon, cars numbered in the mid-teens were also delayed by a blocked road. The culprit this time was an oversized tractor-trailer attempting to make a tight turn in a small town. In what was described as the Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery golf cart turn scene, teams had to wait out the delay and then push to make up time.

As customary, an Awards Breakfast buffet started the day on Sunday. Afterward, Jeff Lapp presented an analysis of the checkpoint data, and this year’s competition was tight. There were 40 single-digit checkpoint scores, including three perfect scores—far surpassing last year’s 28 single-digit scores. Only 88 points separated the top five teams, or just under a minute and a half’s worth of points. Apparently, people paid attention during Rally School.

The first award presented was for Rookie of the Year, given to the lowest-scoring team among this year’s four rookies. That award went to the team of Nikolaus Witzler and Clifford Hart. Next were two less-desirable awards given each year: the Tow Strap Award for the team with the highest point total, and the Golden Calculator Award for the team with the most inconsistent checkpoint scores. This year’s Tow Strap went to Bruce and Cynthia Kolsun, who were among the teams held up by the aforementioned emergency response. But as Cynthia proclaimed, “We did better than last year!” The team of Mark and Susann Sulzmann took home this year’s Golden Calculator. They had a few excellent scores in the morning but followed up with some large scores in the afternoon, earning them the distinction.

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