Okay, here's a bit more info in point form to (hopefully) get everyone excited and provide some insight:
- rally is divided into sections
- checkpoints can only be located at the ends of sections (EOS)
- there is a given maximum time to complete each section
- if there's a checkpoint at the end of the section, you can arrive early or on time without penalty
- if you arrive late at a checkpoint, your fuel economy score is penalised 2% for each whole minute
- if there's no checkpoint at the end of section, any "spare" time carries over to the next section
- the instructions are super-easy, even for novices (distance to turn with tulip diagrams)
- the maximum time to complete any section is based on between 70% to 90% of the posted limits
- about half of the rally is in hilly terrain on not-so-straight roads
- the other half of the rally is on level terrain
- mostly rural roads/highways (70-90km/h) with a bit of urban (30-50km/h) and two short autoroute transits (100km/h)
The start of the rally is in Celine Dion's hometown of Charlemagne. So if you ever needed a reason to convince your wife or girlfriend to come out... There's also a great rally-sympathetic restaurant at the end with a nice big parking lot on the water for a photoshoot of the cars (let's hope it doesn't rain).
I'm really not sure which cars will do best. The small urban component should make the hybrids happy, and the diesels should be pleased with the hilly sections. But given that a few sections are fairly brisk, a good-handling gas car may have some advantage (at least in the fun department). I suspect that competitors going for maximum economy will have to take small time penalties in the hilly sections.
I'm really hoping to get some Smarts out and also some Kei cars (the little 600cc Japanese Domestic Market cars). There are a bunch of those that have been imported to Quebec.
I think that the most fair scoring system takes into account vehicle weight (the net weight value written in the door is good enough). For instance litres per 100km per metric tonne. But at the end we'll calculate the stats (at least) three ways:
- litres per 100km
- litres per 100km (including time penalties)
- litres per 100km per metric tonne (including time penalties)
And then subdivide into as many categories as we see fit. But at the least, gas, diesel and hybrid.
The 5.7L/100km I got with my 1090kg car converts to about 41mpg. Shouldn't be hard to beat that!