Orientation rally
Event format where finding the correct route from tricky roadbook instructions matters – not speed (often abbreviated Ori).
The orientation rally (German Orientierungsfahrt, abbreviated Ori) is an event format in classic car and grassroots motorsport in which speed does not count; what matters is correctly finding and driving a prescribed route. The task is to deduce the right way from instructions that are often deliberately tricky.
The navigation tasks are varied: from reading classic roadbook symbols such as the arrow signs and the herringbone to A-B tasks and map sketches. Misinterpret an instruction and you drive a detour or miss a compulsory passage – which costs penalty points in the end. Often signs or markers must be noted along the way, with which organisers check whether the correct route was driven.
The orientation rally thus foregrounds different skills from the regularity stage: a good sense of orientation, clean map reading and a well-rehearsed interplay of driver and co-driver. Many events combine both worlds, linking orientation tasks with regularity or target-time stages.
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Related terms
Star rally
Event format in which participants start from different directions and converge on a common destination.
TSD rally
Time-Speed-Distance rally: a regularity format in which prescribed averages, derived from time, speed and distance, must be kept exactly.
Trap
In Anglo-American 'course' or 'trap' rallies, a deliberately misleading instruction designed to lead the crew off the correct route.