Pioneer Rally Company Newsletter 1

March 2025

Hotels

Any competitors wishing to have additional rooms for the Rocky Mountain Vintage or single occupancy, please contact Pioneer Rally Company.

We have negotiated a rally
price for Cheyenne Mountain Lodge for any competitors wishing to arrive early or extend their stay, get in touch and we would be happy to make all the arrangements under our group rate.
Trailer parking for the duration of the event has now been agreed. We have exclusive use of an overflow car lot at the rear of Cheyenne Mountain Lodge for those wishing to leave vehicles or trailers away from the main road and reception area.

Other Pioneer News

The company is growing, and we’ve been fortunate to receive inquiries and offers of help from across the USA. To that end, we’re delighted by the welcome addition of Hatcher to handle aspects of social media and promotions. The response to his hard work is quite noticeable in the promotion of Pioneer Rally Company leading beyond 2025 and into the exciting schedule of 2026.

Future Events

Route planning for the 2026 events is ramping up with Sarah’s planned route for the Sunbelt Vintage.
The route embodies the spirit of Robert Frost’s path less traveled, highlighting the best scenery, quirkiest small towns, and the most challenging roads the American Southwest has to offer.

The rally cuts a 4,000‐kilometer swathe across 5 states, taking in bucket‐list destinations, off the radar race circuits, twisty backroads, and the small‐town charms of this arid geological wonderland.
High desert mountains abound, alongside miles and miles of some of the best gravel anywhere.
Timed to capture the climate and weather at its best,
competitors can expect warm days and cool, star‐filled nights. Hotels will be a mix of 5‐star extravagance, quirky luxury glamping, and the
occasional vintage motel in one horse‐towns, allowing the rally to visit places that are truly off
the beaten path.

New Website is Live!

We are pleased how the new website has been received. Sean, our in‐house tech guru, is getting up to speed with the workings of the new site and is
constantly coming up with tech innovations regarding the site, timing possibilities, and some
impressive ideas towards making the event procedures and results service super quick and smooth. We look forward to more of his ideas.

Club Membership, Anyone?

We are also working on a membership scheme that will be sent out soon. With the membership scheme, you will receive additional information, priority entries, and discounts for future events. More
information regarding membership will be forwarded
soon.

New Class! Anybody can
rally with us!

A new class is being considered for the Rocky Mountain Vintage 2025 and likely to be an ongoing class for future events, as it is apparent that people are interested in a non‐ competitive version of the
event.

We’re pleased to introduce the Pioneer Class.

Sponsored by Classic 200, this class will traverse the entire route but will not be timed on the regularity sections or at the test venues.

The Pioneer Class is a class for those who want to “Run What You Brung” . This class will not be restricted to the vehicle age categories in the regulations.

Designed to be an opportunity to “Test Drive” the sport of Endurance Rallying, there is no need for a wheel‐driven trip meter or having a car in strict
compliance with original homologations. It would be
recommended that a simple GPS tripmeter app be installed on a mobile phone or tablet for
route purposes.

This class falls outside of overall and other class awards but allows people who wish to sample endurance rallying without the strict timing
schedules, the purchase of an expensive car, or the need to force a non‐compliant car into
compliance with difficult technical regulations.

While we are still working out the details, it is likely that these participants will only be governed by a daily time schedule, leaving the hotel in the morning, timings at lunch and the Main Time Control at
the end of the day. Pioneer class entrants are still eligible for finishers awards and will be very much a part of the event.

Pioneer class entrants may choose to formulate their own route between hotels but should be aware that if alternative routes are chosen, they are unlikely to have the mechanical assistance crews follow behind when they do this.

Pioneer Class entrants will still be able to avail to full
mechanical assistance at the MTC and TC Locations

We are making this class available to promote the sport and make it as accessible to interested competitors as possible.

The Pioneer Class is not to be used to enter private support vehicles for main competitors, and this will be monitored to ensure fairness for main class
competitors.

As always, should you have any queries regarding technical or competition regulations, reach out to us early. We’d be delighted to talk you through them!

ROCKY MOUNTAIN VINTAGE 2025

Last details and arrangements are being finalized for the Rocky Mountain Vintage Rally, September 2025. With less than six months remaining until the green flag, the whole team is buzzing with excitement.

We have an extensive 3rd and final recce for the whole route planned in early June where Jamie and Sarah will spend a few days revisiting and double checking the fine details, ensuring the absolute best venues and wildest roads for each day, and a smooth run into the rally hotels and most importantly, the bar each night! The route is mostly finalized now, though we are still working on the finer details for day 4, as this is very much dependent on test venues that we are exploring. Please Enjoy some of the spectacular scenery and roads we will be using on the Rocky Mountain Vintage 2025, while catching up on all the latest route updates, and a recce report from Sarah below

“Thousands of tired, nerve‐ shaken, over‐civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a
necessity.”
— John Muir
(Our National Parks)

The morning after the inaugural Pioneer Rally Company Holiday gathering, my husband Mark and I headed south from Denver to the beautiful Cheyenne Mountain Resort in the hills above Colorado Springs.
Our mission was to do a quick double check of the first day of the Rocky Mountain Vintage route pieced together by Jamie Turner and Taylor Still over the summer. Jamie prepared us with turn‐ by‐turn tulips, an overview of what needed a second look, and detailed maps showing the route. At a glance, I could tell we were in for a great couple days of driving.

We set out from the hotel at a brisk pace, taking interesting backroads to avoid traffic, and in no time found ourselves taking a right turn out of a nondescript neighborhood and up onto a narrow ridge road leading into Garden of the Gods. The geologic features of the park are breathtaking ancient sedimentary beds of deep‐ red, pink and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted into “fins” by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and the Pikes Peak massif. The brief run through the park provides both spectacular scenery and a low stakes opportunity for competitors to tune up their in‐car communication and shakedown any surprise automotive gremlins before the rally takes to the mountains.

Westward then, up into the mountains via the quiet US 24, it wasn’t long before the first opportunity for a diversion came into sight. A quick right hand off the main highway, and we arrived at our first regularity. 10 kilometers of flowing gravel, lots of topography, and a necessity for precise navigation will entertain and exasperate driver and navigator alike. Back on the main road for a minute, the altitude increases, so does the quality of the views, and it felt like no time before we arrived at the second regularity of the day, a brisk run on wide, smooth gravel with straightforward navigation; a sort of a salve for those caught out by the navigational complexities of the first.

rally plans on stopping for a brief TC in Cripple Creek, with arrangements still being finalized, but Mark and I skipped the call of coffee and a hot meal to press onward towards Salida. A left turn took us onto a beautiful, deserted backroad, and for the next hour, we hardly saw another car. The route then runs parallel to the Arkansas River, and interesting roadside views kept us amused and entertained on the last of the run into Salida. A brief stop to check out a few locations for the Lunch Halt TC, and we were back on the road, now headed south into the San Louis Valley.

The San Louis Valley is shaped by the Rio Grande rift and flanked by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and on the west by the San Juan Mountains. We located another stretch of road for a second trip meter calibration, to allow those who didn’t quite get it dialed in in the morning to perfect their distances for the rest of the rally. A third and fourth regularity
beckoned . . . the first of them on fast, beautiful gravel. The next started out very promising, but then the road gradually degraded to the point of impassibility, and we had to turn around and carefully backtrack. We idled by the side of the road for a while as I worked out a possible solution. Thanks to the help of my tattered DeLorme Atlas, Garmin, and trusty Monit tripmeter, we soon had a delight of a regularity worked out, with big scenery that the navigators, tragically, will not get the
opportunity to appreciate.

Further down the road, we stumbled across a possible test venue completely by accident, and are in talks with the owners to see if we can arrange something special for the rally when we visit. A final blast over Wolf Creek Pass, which was made famous in 1975 by C. W. McCall’s spoken word song of the same name, in which the pass is described as “37 miles o’ hell – which is up on the Great Divide.” Unlike C.W. McCall, we found the drive to be very pleasant indeed, and after topping out at nearly 11,000 feet, we enjoyed an easy run down into the welcoming town of Pagosa Springs. The hotel that will welcome
the rally is a delight, and the natural hot springs and many micro‐breweries will provide some measure of respite to road
weary competitors.

We’re so excited to share the very best of this beautiful state with you all next fall!

Getting the Word Out!

We have an advertisement campaign starting this month with Classic Motorsport magazine www.classicmotorsports.com and Grassroots motorsport. Feel free to hop onto their website or read the magazine publication to see the advert. We are also in talks with other major publications for editorials and articles planned over the spring/summer periods.

Entries Are Healthy and Growing!

The entry list is increasing, with a fabulous mix of main characters, raconteurs, adventurers, and heroes. We are thrilled to have representatives from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK making the long journeys to sample the Rockies in their glory. This is shaping up to be great fun, with big laughs and a distinctly international feel to the event.

Meet Our Chief Sweep, Nelson

The mechanical assistance team is also looking of a high standard. Under the leadership and watchful eye of our experienced Chief Sweep Nelson, the mechanical team will certainly rival some of the best ‘bush mechanics’ in the world! Nelson comes to us with a diverse professional background and personal passion for automotive engineering. Growing up in a family of car enthusiasts, he developed a deep appreciation for mechanics and design, which fueled his hobby of building cars, trucks, and Jeeps in his spare time. This hands‐on experience and professional background allows him to approach challenges with creativity and professionalism.

Having worked in various professional settings in everything from 911 and air medical dispatching to various team lead roles, Nelson possesses a comprehensive understanding of logistics and problem solving. Nelson’s blend of technical expertise, leadership skills, and passion for cars not only enhances his role as our lead mechanic but also inspires those around him. He believes that every vehicle has a story, and he takes pride in being a part of that narrative. Clients can trust that their vehicles are in capable hands, with a mechanic team lead who truly loves what he does.

You’ll be in good hands for unexpected mishaps, unplanned navigational safaris, and evening fettling and fine tuning during the event. We will be providing some basic vehicle preparation tips over the coming months so these cars should ride the gravel roads and test venues with confidence and exhilaration . . . more to come.

Avoid Ignominy, Learn to Navigate from the Best in the Business.

A reminder to everyone that we are very lucky to partner up with Graham from www.rallynav.co.uk for any training or refreshers before the event. Graham is a seasoned and highly accomplished navigator who has helped numerous crews over the years; it’s highly recommended that his experience is utilized.

Plan Your Logistics Ahead and Avoid Disappointment.

It has also become apparent that around the time of the Rocky Mountain Vintage 2025 several concourse car shows are happening around the USA, so it may be prudent to start looking into shipping options earlier rather than later.

A Closing Thank You:

Thank You to all of you for your support, your enthusiasm, and your faith in us. Together, we
can build something great. The Pioneer Rally crew are looking forward to seeing everyone in
September!

The Pioneer Rally Company team at our Holiday Gathering.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous,
leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into
and above the clouds.” ‐ Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

www.pioneerrally.com