Neutralisation
Route section without scoring in which timing is suspended – for example for town transits, breaks or to restore the start interval.
A neutralisation is a section of a rally in which scoring or timing is deliberately suspended. In this zone the elapsed time does not count towards the result; the field can gather or regroup. Common reasons are town transits, fuel and lunch breaks, ferry crossings or hazards.
Neutralisations serve safety and an orderly flow. Often a time is taken at the start and a fixed neutral time or a new start time is assigned at the end, so that the original start intervals between teams are preserved. After the neutralisation, regular timing resumes.
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Related terms
Regularity rally
Classic-car motorsport where precision counts, not speed: hold prescribed average speeds and target times as exactly as possible.
Star rally
Event format in which participants start from different directions and converge on a common destination.
Light barrier test
A regularity test in which timing is controlled by photoelectric light barriers. Timing starts at the first barrier and ends at the second, triggered by the front of the car rather than the wheels.