subject: Rally Races And The History Behind Them [print this page] Rally driving by definition is a type of auto racing which is performed on public or private roads with modified cars or specially built road legal cars. The major difference between race car driving and rally driving is that race car driving is done on a circuit and rally races are in a point to point format has become very popular around the world. In this article lets look at the history of rally driving. The history of rally racing dates back to the early 1900s. The first ever rally race was held in Paris in 1894 and was sponsored by a French newspaper called The Le Petit. The winners of this race were decided on the judgment of the observers who traveled alongside each driver.
After this race, rally racing became a regular occurrence across France and other countries in Europe. One fact that most people do not know is that the Tour De France which is the most important cycling race in the world today was originally a endurance rally race which took place every year between 1906 and 1937. However during this time the most important rally race was the Monte Carlo rally which debuted in 1911 and since then continued to set the bar for rally racing the world over. This race is still one of the most significant races in the World Rally Championship (WRC) held till this day, the only time the Monte Carlo Rally did not take place was during the world wars.
Even other countries like Italy, Germany and England started hosting their own rally races. Italy started their rally races in the late 1800s, these races required drivers to steer their way through mountains and islands. Germany started their rally races in 1906, which involved driving up hills under a time restriction or time trial as its called. Englands rally race was called the 1000 mile trial, which was a 15 day long race that spanned across all the cities.
Today the rally racing world has reached new heights and is popular the world over. The WRC comprises of a 13 race schedule which is scattered across Europe and one race which is held in Mexico. All these races are the ultimate test of endurance for the drivers and the cars as they span across the back roads of the countries which include all sorts of terrain right from gravel to ice and snow. The WRC spans across the summer and winter, so the drivers get a taste of the extreme heat and cold.
Even in India the rally driving scene has really picked up and there are a few rally events held across the country every year. A few of these events are the raid de himalaya, the desert storm rally and the dakshin dare. Another rally in India is the IRC (Indian Rally Championship) which is the Indian version of the WRC.
