The Rebelle evolves and grows alongside competitors and even fortunate observers, with a new course every year. Four years ago, I spent a day driving behind Rebelle Rally founder and fierce international rally competitor Emily Miller while we chatted. Talk about being brave.
At the time, Emily revealed some of her innermost thoughts about the extraordinarily difficult process of organizing each year’s course, which lasts the whole year prior to the Rally. Future racers should spend a moment at each checkpoint because many of them are unique and Emily sent you there with a purpose.
It’s not a race; scoring in rallies is based on talent and strategy, to put it simply. Along the course, three different sorts of checkpoints are placed; some have large flags, others have little signs, and some are invisible. The latter are by far the most valuable because they can only be found with careful navigation and driving. In a word, the objective is to locate as many checkpoints as you can while driving carefully and precisely.
Because of this, the teams should be considered the true stars of the show, whereas the vehicles are merely tools. The growing repute of the Rebelle as a testing ground for automakers is yet another significant aspect of its history. Although the manufacturers have their own test tracks, facilities, favorite remote locations for putting new models through the ringer, and specialized procedures, the Rebelle’s extreme conditions have proven useful for an increasing number of automakers and have even led to some changes to vehicles that are currently on the market. In addition to improving people, the Rebelle Rally also improves vehicles.
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Honda A car firm must support a Rebelle Rally team at all levels because it is a significant commitment. Although the entire company supported the team, all the way up to the upper management suite, only about 10 to 15 Kia employees personally contributed to this year’s efforts, including members of the communications, engineering, product quality, and design divisions.
Similar circumstances transpired at Honda, where staff members with backgrounds in manufacturing, facilities, testing, and design contributed to the thorough planning and preparation, which included instruction in off-road driving and navigation.
According to Hillary Tate, Administrator of Design and Construction for Honda Facilities, a rookie at the Rebelle Rally and Liz Long’s teammate this year, “Motorsports not only helps our engineers transfer learnings into the development and manufacturing of next-generation Honda and Acura vehicles, but it also helps all associates develop leadership and project management skills.”
Although it might appear that manufacturer teams are at a disadvantage to their rivals, this is not how things actually work out. Rivian’s teams had assistance from coworkers throughout the organization during training and preparation, but they were aware from previous experience as mechanics that once the competition began, they were on their own regardless of what transpired on the course.
