Deb and Stacy's Excellent Adventure

What It's All About

The 2010 Escape To Wisconsin Road Rally took place on Saturday, April 17, 2010 in St. Croix and Pierce counties on the western edge of Wisconsin. The event was hosted by the Alpha Romeo Owners Club (AROC). This type of road rally is intended to provide a fun country drive along with some basic rally challenges.

The route began in Hudson, WI with the halfway point at Ellsworth, WI and finished in Woodville, WI. It covered a total of 108 miles, took about 3:20 hrs and averaged around 32.5 MPH, including all stops.

This was a Time Distance Speed (TDS ) event with prescribed start/arrival times, distances and speeds. The object is to arrive on time at each ECZ, not too soon or too late, otherwise points are levied. It is not a race, but sometimes you need to make up time if you become delayed. Cars should be able to stay well within the speed limit. You depart from the BCZ at the given time according to your clock, drive a specified distance to each control point at the specified average speed or CAST until reaching the ECZ, where a worker hands you a time slip.

The correct course at each intersection is determined by applying the following priority list in the order shown.

1. Proceed as directed by the numbered instruction.

2. Leave the intersection on the paved road.

3. Proceed as straight as possible.

Glossary


BCZ		Begin Checkpoint Zone
ECZ		End Checkpoint Zone
CAST		Change Average Speed To... ( miles per hour )
CZT		Car Zero Time
Odo		Odometer
Curve arrow		Black on yellow warning sign depicting one or more curves
Hill graphic		Black on yellow warning sign depicting a truck on a downhill slope
Squiggly		Black on yellow warning sign depicting four curves
Stop		An official octagonal stop sign at which the rally car is obliged to stop
T		An intersection shaped like the letter T as approached from the bottom

"Escaped" to Wisconsin Road Rally

The class we entered was D/HD, stock - novice (no special equipment or experience). We used a digital clock that displays seconds and was synched to the event master's official time. I picked one up at Walgreen's for $12.99. You need a clipboard, pencils, and a calculator can come in handy. A compass was not required at all with this type of event.

Each checkpoint zone is just a short distance within each leg. You are only timed between the BCZ's and ECZ's. The length of each zone averaged 1.7 miles and that was the only segment on the leg where you had to maintain the specified average speed or CAST. It didn't matter if you arrived early at the BCZ, as long as you departed at your correct time and maintained average speed.

Weather was postcard perfect along the countryside of Wisconsin's western boundary. Rarely saw any other cars on the roads. It was our first road rally and didn't quite understand the sequencing of events. (Helps to read up beforehand.) We were really just out to enjoy the drive and learn about rallying, but soon got hooked. Finding our way was easy thanks to accurate directions, within tenths of a mile, and using your car's odometer. (Yes, some competitors actually use special equipment.)

Turns out, I incorrectly synched our clock and was off by a full minute on almost every leg... woops! Toward then end of the rally we compensated for the lost minute and were able to make an ECZ within :00.02 minutes (or 1.2 seconds).

Subsequently, we finished last. Our hosts told us told we did well as beginners by not getting lost the entire trip. There was a Jaguar that dropped out. However, we won the booby prize for dead last... a six pack of Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

Deb was an great navigator and read all instructions perfectly. We only made two wrong turns but were able to correct course quickly. It was a lot of fun and Deb can't wait to do it again!

The Route

MAP & CHECKPOINTS
Event took place in Pepin and St. Croix Counties in western Wisconsin.
Full Google Map: Escape To Wisconsin

Line By Line Instructions

Official time synchronized with WWV shortwave radio

Control no.	Mileage	CZT	Instruction
1	0.00 / 0.00	1:00.00	Left at stop. Zero odometer
2	0.37		Left on INDUSTRIAL (at traffic light)
3	1.33		Left at T.
4	1.52		Right on COUNTY F.
5	2.49		Left on Red Brick
6	2.88 / 0.00		Begin odo check at "25 M.P.H."
7	0.78		Right at stop.
8	3.20		"WATCH CHILDREN"
9	4.80		Left at stop. Zero odometer
10	5.04		Right on GLENDALE. (quick)
11	6.01		Left at stop.
12	6.28		Right on 1090th. (quick)
13	6.93		Keep right at 840th. (Dead end ahead)
14	9.71		Left on 840th.
15	10.38 / 0.00	1:30.00	End odo check at "STOP AHEAD".
16	0.09		Left at stop.
17	1.60		Left on COUNTY FF.
18	2.24		Right on COUNTY QQ.
19	4.64		Right at stop.
20	5.73		Right on 1170th.
21	5.91 / 0.00	1:41.00	BCZ 1 at "NARROW BRIDGE". CAST 30
22	1.18		Right at Stop. ECZ.
23	2.47		Left at stop.
24	2.90		Right on COUNTY QQ.
25	3.66		Right at stop.
26	3.93		Left at COUNTY QQ. (quick)
27	5.15		Right on 620th.
28	6.14 / 0.00	1:52.00	BCZ 2 at stop. CAST 35.
29	1.60		Left at stop. (CAUTION!) ECZ.
30	2.10		Right on 1200th.
31	3.09		Right at stop.
32	5.29		Left at stop.
33	7.99		Left on 1200th.
34	9.43		Right at stop.
35	10.21 / 0.00	2:08.00	BCZ 3 at curve arrow. CAST 36.
36	1.30		Right at stop. ECZ.
37	2.85		Left at stop onto 35. (Great River Road)
38	5.59		Left on COUNTY E.
39	7.10		Right on 500th Ave.
40	7.73 / 0.00	2:22.00	BCZ 4 at "35 M.P.H." CAST 40.
41	0.74		Right on 970th.
42	2.98		Left on SPRING GREEN NO. 3. ECZ.
43	3.47		Right at stop.
44	4.58		Left on 370th.
45	5.37		Left at stop. (COUNTY O)
46	8.98		Right on 480th.
47	10.27		Left on 830th.
48	10.66 / 0.00	2:40.00	BCZ 5 at curve arrow. CAST 36.
49	1.19		Left at stop. ECZ. (CAUTION!)
50	2.22		Right on COUNTY O.
51	2.67		Keep right onto 560th.
52	4.13		Left at stop.
53	4.39		Right on 570th. (Quick)
54	4.72 / 0.00	2:50.00	BCZ 6 at curve arrow. CAST 40.
55	3.03		"SPEED LIMIT 25". ECZ. (CAUTION!)
56	3.23		Right at stop.
57	4.47	3:30.00	Left at traffic light. (EAST 10)
			gas and restrooms available here. (Ellsworth, WI)
58	5.13		Keep left. (EAST 10)
59	5.30		Keep right. (EAST 10)
60	5.64		Left on MORSE. (just before CENEX)
61	5.82		Keep right.
62	6.60		Right on 570th. (Quick)
63	8.37 / 0.00	3:40.00	BCZ 7 at "NARROW BRIDGE". CAST 40.
64	0.71		Straight at stop. ECZ. (CAUTION!)
65	1.71		Left at stop.
66	2.71		Right at stop.
67	3.71		Left on 490th.
68	4.71		Right at stop.
69	6.30		Right at stop. (G)
70	8.34		Left on 490th.
71	9.34		Left on 570th.
72	10.90 / 0.00	3:56.00	BCZ 8 at "HILL". CAST 36.
73	1.48		Right at stop. ECZ.
74	2.45		Left at stop. (72)
75	5.46		Left on 290th.
76	6.47		Right on 570th.
77	7.46		Left at stop.
78	9.45		Right on COUNTY G.
79	14.00		Left on 710th. (just before 72)
80	15.00 / 0.00	4:20.00	BCZ 9 at squiggly. CAST 36.
81	2.17		Right on 170th. ECZ.
82	2.32 / 0.00	4:27.00	BCZ 10 at "HILL". CAST 40.
83	1.58		Right on 770th. ECZ.
84	1.71		Left at stop.
85	3.52		Right on 850th.
86	3.58 / 0.00	4:35.00	BCZ 11 at squiggly. CAST 36.
87	1.42		Left at stop. ECZ.
88	3.32		Straight at stop. (NORTH 128)
89	3.43		Left on 10th Ave. (quick)
90	5.53		Keep right at stop. (Dead End left)
91	7.33		Left on 27th. (keep right at 8.33)
92	8.93 / 0.00	4:50.00	BCZ 12 at stop. CAST 40.
93	1.85		Left at stop. ECZ.
94	2.70		Right at stop.
95	3.20		Left on OLD CTH B.
96	4.03		Keep left at stop. (CHURCH ST.)
97	4.45		Keep left. (COUNTY B)
98	4.61	(5:07:30)	Wildwood Bar and Grill - Woodville, WI THE END!

TOTAL	107.73 mi	5hr:7m

Results

The prize for "dead last"

Links

Land O' Lakes Region SCCA

Twin City Rally Club

TCRC Website

TCRC Facebook

tcrc