| Rally cars race on different courses from other | | | | removed from their street model counterparts. |
| motor sports: rather than racing on a specially | | | | Rallying has a long and distinguished history, |
| created circuit, as for example with most Formula | | | | stretching back all the way to the nineteenth |
| 1 races, rallies take place on public roads, from | | | | century. The first rally to be so called was the |
| surfaced roads to rough dirt tracks or mountain | | | | Monte Carlo Rally of 1911, and rallying soon took |
| roads. | | | | off as a sport. The next few decades saw the |
| The second main difference between rallying and | | | | great city-to-city races of Europe, such as the |
| most other forms of motor sport is that instead | | | | Mille Miglia in Italy, involving competitors from |
| of competing directly in head-to-head races round | | | | Britain, France, Germany and Italy in particular. |
| circuits, rally cars compete indirectly over timed | | | | Longer races included New York to Paris and |
| stages, setting off at regular intervals in an | | | | even, in 1907, Peking to Paris! |
| attempt to record the fastest time. Rallies consist | | | | After the war, as rally cars became more |
| of a number of stages and the team with the | | | | powerful and reliable, rally races spread around |
| fastest time at the end of the final stage win. | | | | the world, and modern rallies such as the |
| The final major difference between rally cars and | | | | Acropolis Rally and Finland's Rally of the 1000 |
| the cars used in most other forms of professional | | | | Lakes were established. Today the annual World |
| motor sports is that the rally cars in which drivers | | | | Rally Championship takes in 16 races around the |
| race are very close in design to production cars | | | | globe, from Scandinavia to New Zealand, and |
| that the public drive in everyday life - indeed, rally | | | | drivers from all over the world compete for the |
| cars are licensed to drive on normal roads | | | | title, with the most successful in recent years |
| out-of-competition, though of course that is very | | | | coming from Finland and France. Rally cars are an |
| uncommon. Of course, rally cars are adapted to | | | | important sideline for major manufacturers such |
| take account of the conditions under which they | | | | as Citroen, Peugeot and Subaru, whose |
| have to perform, which can vary from snow and | | | | advertising for their latest models often trades |
| ice to choking heat and sand, but in their basic | | | | heavily on the successes of their rally cars. |
| design and specifications they are not far | | | | |