The high speed Rallies of today, such as World Rally Championship and the NZ Rally Championship, were born from Navigation Rallies (called Trials before 2010).

Navigation Rallies are a road legal form of motorsport designed to test the brain of the navigator, the crew’s sense of timing and powers of observation as well as the driving skills of the driver.

Canterbury Car Club (usually in association with the Ratec club) run monthly events, generally on the 3rd Thursday, on the country roads of Canterbury. The road rules must be obeyed at all times but we learn the value of observation whilst driving and the skills of night driving and driving on every type of road surface in all weathers, even snow. Our navigators (passengers) also learn to give clear instructions to the drivers and they must also act as observers. It’s a lot like Orienteering in a car.

Crews’ are provided with Supplementary Regulations prior to the event to be read in conjunction with the Navigation Rallies handbook on the MSNZ website. 2 minutes prior to leaving the start each crew is given the travel instructions (CRI/running instructions) and they leave the start at the correct time. These instruction may have mistakes/misspellings that are intended to be “Traps” which, if spotted, are worth 60 points (a penalty to be avoided). Other traps will only be noticed “on the road” like a missing sign or a hidden road.

Competition is intense as crews, some of whom have been competing for up to 40+ years, test themselves against each other and the increasing number new comers.

One of our Club Captain’s persevered over a 5 year period to start getting reasonable results and is so addicted to this most social and mind testing form of Motorsport that major surgery could not keep him from his monthly night time jaunt.

Usually for 60 – 90 minutes we finish with “on the night” results back at the starting venue.

Starts: Check before showing up as start locations vary. Get in touch if you would like to be put on the mailing list.

Cost: $10.00 per car + $5.00 per person (eg a crew of 3 persons pays $25 total)

Must have: Driver with current licence, any Road Registered Car, Torch, Pen, Clipboard or similar and at least one passenger.
Latest Results: Click Here

For more details please contact:

Navigation Rally coordinator – Ian McKee
e-mail: ianrmckee96@gmail.com