Bat City Rally in Austin, Texas

"Torque Affair" (torqueaffair) 06/10/2014 at 19:45 • Filed to: rally, cruise

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The question is not what is the Bat City Rally but rather, what is it not ? The core mission of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is all about driving with purpose. But the rallies have so much more to them than that - it has something for everyone.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I talk about what it takes to create Bat City Rally and also what it's about. But until I actually attended the event, I really had no idea. There is a lot that goes into not just creating the event, but the entire event itself. There are tons of challenges like deciphering complicated clues, completing checkpoint challenges and watching your time closely.

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If you are even slightly competitive by nature, you would enjoy this thorougly.

The day started off at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It is an awesome warehouse that can be basically used for anything...ideal for kicking off the rally. There were some pretty cool classic cars parked inside in addition to a bar, stage etc.

There were about 20 teams that showed up (a driver and navigator). What's cool about MOTOGUD's rallies is that they're open to everyone. As long as you have a passion for cars and driving (oh, and competing also), you'll want to be a part of this. There were all kinds of cars from an AMG to a Pontiac.

You don't need to own a certain kind of car to compete.

The point of this rally is not to get from A to B in the fastest possible time. You have to rack your brains to figure out cryptic directions to find the checkpoints. Speeding can backfire because you don't want to get somewhere too quickly. You also compete in various challenges and you can decide whether or not buy things. You'll have to consider a variety of things as you rack up points and at the end of the race, of course, the one with the most points wins.

The coolest thing about these rallies is that all the money raised goes straight to charity. No better way to spend your time than to have fun and also do some good on the side!

Also, don't forget all the fun you have with each other with all the mingling, camaraderie and messing with each other. A full day of activities is enough time to find your new best friend...or drive someone completely crazy.

K1 Speed

Before the race, the drivers and navigators have no idea where to go. They're all given super complex clues before the rally begins.

You would think that the job of a navigator is boring – just sitting there, trying to figure out complicated clues and then telling the driver where to go. But guess what? For the Bat City Rally, the navigators actually raced go-karts on the track! Who said only drivers get to have all the fun.

In between checkpoints, there were some amazing hill country roads to drive on. Ryan (founder of MOTOGUD) did an excellent job planning the route. So all drivers got to experience some fun driving which left a smile on everyone's faces.

Here is a highlight reel/trailer of what people experienced.

Some fun at a winery

Nope, there was definitely no drinking and driving.

But, there was a challenge at the winery that involved a slalom where you had to run/walk around barrels of wine without spilling. You could either run fast and spill a bunch or walk slowly without spilling a drop. The winner completed the challenge in the fastest time with the least spillage. So it was up to you as to what technique suit you best.

And no , you couldn't drink the whole glass and sprint.

One thing that was quite amazing about the rally that I witnessed was the chance for dads and sons to bond together with their sons. There were a couple teams like that and they had the best time.

So you can see that even though this is for car lovers, there is much more to this event than just cars.

Parade laps

That being said, one of the most fun events about the rally was driving some laps at the Central Texas Speedway. It was a relatively small banked oval track but I don't think many of the drivers had ever been on a track before. So it was pretty fun to do that for all the participants; obviously, we weren't racing but the folks in the bleachers were still cheering us on!

The entire event ended at the Oasis restaurant in Austin, Texas with a nice view of the sunset on Lake Travis and a live band. Prizes were given out and the occasion gave a chance for many of the teams to relax and enjoy themselves. I must say that for an inaugural event, the Bat City Rally was as good as it could have been. It was fun for all drivers/navigators involved and a great way to start something new in Austin.

There will be many more events coming, since we're just getting started!

Check out more posts at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Lots of other stuff on the site besides MOTOGUD events.