Rally is scored by adding up seconds across stages that competitors have driven once, in sequence, sometimes hundreds of miles apart. Nobody watches the whole thing, including the organisers, and the result frequently comes down to a margin smaller than a single corner.
That gives rally awards a set of subjects no circuit discipline has. Seven ideas built from how a stage rally is actually run — with pace notes, a service park, and a couple of hundred volunteers standing in a forest.
1. The co-driver, reading the corner nobody can see
A rally co-driver is not a navigator in the casual sense. They are calling the shape of a corner the driver has not yet reached and cannot see, at a speed that makes the call unverifiable until it is too late to change it. It is the most trusting relationship in motorsport.
Two awards, both named, on the same design. Rally crews are used to the co-driver being treated as luggage by events that should know better, and getting this right is noticed immediately.
2. Put the margin on the plate
Rally results are cumulative times, and the interesting number is almost never the total — it is the gap. Winning a regional rally by four seconds over two days is a story, and it is a story that fits on a plate.
No other discipline this company works with has a headline number that small and that meaningful. Printing it turns a placing into a specific event rather than a generic first place.
3. One family, overall and class on one plate
A rally awards an overall result and a set of class results from the same entry list, and a crew can win a class while finishing well down the overall. Both belong in the same design.
Design once, put the class and the placing on a printed base plate, and a rally with eight classes plus an overall podium stays a single artwork approval.
4. A named stage, cut into the award
Stages have names, and those names carry weight with anyone who has driven them. A rally that runs the same classic stage every year is trading on exactly that.
Cutting the profile of a stage into the award, or naming it on the plate, anchors the trophy to your rally rather than to rallying. It also gives each running an obvious reason to differ while staying recognisably the same family.
5. The seed number as the object
Rally is one of the few sports where the competition number is earned rather than chosen — seeding reflects proven pace, and the low numbers mean something to the people who hold them.
A number-shaped award, or the seed number as the dominant element on the face, uses a piece of rally culture that no trophy usually touches. It works especially well for a seasonal or championship award.
6. The service crew who rebuild it between loops
A rally car returns to service damaged, and a crew has a strictly limited window to make it capable of going out again. Whether a competitor finishes is frequently decided in that tent rather than on the stage.
One award per team for the service crew, on the same family as the crew trophies, is a small line on the order. It recognises the people who did the least visible and most decisive work of the weekend.
7. The marshals standing in the forest
A stage rally needs marshals posted along every mile of every stage, in weather, for hours, mostly with nothing to do and no way to leave. There is no version of this sport without them.
Even a handful of awards presented at the finish, in the same family as the competition trophies, changes how a volunteer team feels about signing up for next year. For most rallies this is the cheapest thing on the order and the highest return.
Putting it together for a rally
One design family, overall and class on the plate with the margin printed, doubles for every crew, a named stage in the artwork and awards for service crews and marshals. That is the whole event in one artwork approval.
Send the class structure and the stage names as they appear in the road book. Stage names and crew name spellings are what get corrected late, so we proof both against your entry list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should the co-driver's award say co-driver on it?
Yes, name the role. Rally crews are scored as a pair and both names belong on their own awards — leaving the role off makes the second award look like a spare copy rather than recognition of a distinct job.
Can we print the winning margin if timing is not final until late?
The margin sits on the printed plate rather than in the main artwork, so it is the last thing set. Where results are provisional at the ceremony, events usually present the design and follow with the plated version.
How many marshal awards does a rally need?
Fewer than you would think for it to work — a small number presented publicly at the finish does more than a token for everyone handed out quietly. Most rallies start with post chiefs and radio crews.
Ready to design your rally awards?
Send us your class structure and stage names and we will build a direction that covers the overall, the classes and the crews before anything is produced.
See rally trophies
