It’s hard to beat a great road rally. Road rallies give driving enthusiasts the ability to come together with like-minded individuals, make new friends, explore new places, and push our vehicles to their limits at times. Of course, not all road rally events are created equally. Very few are great, many are good, and others are downright awful. You can recognize a great rally event once you’ve attended one. These events are built upon hours and hours of planning by the dedicated individuals who organize them. A critical piece of that planning process involves utilizing a top-notch road rally app, and we’re here to explain why RallyGrid is the go-to app for car guys and gals across the country.
What is a Road Rally?
Those who aren’t die-hard car enthusiasts or are new to the hobby may be unfamiliar with the concept. Others may have heard of it and immediately think of events like the legendary Cannonball Run, made famous by the 1981 Burt Reynolds film (and later explained pretty well in the 2019 documentary “APEX: The Secret Race Across America” that was put together by Alex Roy).
While we certainly love and respect these high-stakes, timed runs across the country and the rich history associated with the tradition, that’s not exactly what we’re talking about here. The road rally we’re referring to is certainly related – the underlying spirit ties all the way back to the Cannonball Run – but is much more accessible and relatable to average car enthusiasts.
The core idea is simple, really. Not all car enthusiasts are the same. Some have a baseline appreciation for unique vehicles. Some love looking at them, owning them, and keeping them clean. For others though, their true passion lies deep within the connection forged between man and machine while driving a car within the forth quartile of its limits on a winding road with very little civilian traffic.
Before there was a single road rally app, the proliferation of easily accessible GPS-based technology and social media leading up to 2010 opened up a whole new world for driving enthusiasts. People all across the country were starting driving clubs and rally groups, mapping out their favorite roads in Google Maps, and organizing spirited drives through areas once forgotten by most of modern America. New life was breathed into the driving enthusiast community as we had a new way to organize drives and connect with others who have the same passion.
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What Does the RallyGrid App Do?
The RallyGrid application is a full-scale rally planning and event management platform. Anyone can download the free app from Google Play or the Apple App Store, create their account, and link out to their social profiles if they choose. In that way, the app serves as a way to quickly find and connect with other driving enthusiasts in your local region so long as they have their profiles set to public. But RallyGrid is so much more than just a networking tool. Let’s dive into some of the features that make it the go-to road rally app for drivers.
Custom In-app Google Map Creation
Early on, avid drivers quickly discovered some of the limitations associated with planning drives on Google Maps. First and foremost, you can only build routes on desktop. Secondly, and perhaps the biggest hurdle, is the limit on the number of waypoints you’re able to add. By default, Google Maps places an upper limit of 10 waypoints on any single route you create in the interface. Depending on the complexity of the roads in question, this may or may not be a huge deal, but more often than not, it creates a headache for rally event planners.
The strategic addition of waypoints to a custom map is the secret sauce that makes the process work. By default, Google Maps is optimized to deliver you the most efficient route possible from A to B. Waypoints are your way of explicitly dictating where you’re going to go. It was through this frustration that RallyGrid was born.
The very first feature that we built out was the in-app custom Google Map creator interface. Simply pick a starting location, an ending location, and then add unlimited waypoints by touching the map or entering an address. The map automatically updates with mileage and duration metrics. Once you’re finished, you can save it either privately or publicly, with the latter option giving other drivers the ability to browse and find your routes in the public database. Any custom map created in RallyGrid can be launched immediately into Google Maps for live navigation and shared with other drivers via custom QR codes.
Rally Group and Road Rally Event Management
Regardless of whether you currently manage your rally group in Facebook, your own website, or some other platform, organizers can benefit from the reach and feature-rich platform offered by the RallyGrid Group Admin interface. Creating a rally group within the app is completely free and takes only a few moments to complete. Better yet, you can link out to all of your existing profiles on the web and allow users to follow your group for mobile notification updates whenever new events are planned.
Road rally events can easily be scheduled in-app. For the drives, you can either select from the custom maps you’ve already created, or add new routes on the fly. In terms of driver registration, you can create either free or paid drives in the RallyGrid app. For paid events, you can choose to take payment in-app, or direct registrants to your own external site. When using the external payment option, you can simply open the app and add drivers to your rally once you’ve received payment in your own site.
Using a Road Rally App to Supercharge Your Growth
Without a doubt, mobile applications will be the dominant tool of choice moving forward. The RallyGrid app has been designed with drivers in mind. It seamlessly integrates all the social, navigation, and logistical tools needed to plan a top-notch driving event. When you consider that it is free for all to use, it only makes sense to try it out. Best of all, RallyGrid was built for drivers, by drivers. The app only continues to grow and evolve through the feedback of other driving enthusiasts like you. So if you have an idea for a new feature, let us know!