Auto

The Coker Tire Challenge is an vintage, classic, and collector car competitive controlled-speed endurance road rally on scenic back roads and public highways. It is not a test of top speed. It is a test of a driver/navigator team’s ability to follow precise course instructions and the car’s (and team’s) ability to endure on a cross-country trip. The course instructions require the competing teams to drive at or below the posted speed limits at all times. You can drive your everyday modern car but we encourage you to get out and drive your collector car if you have one.

This is a great experience for someone who wants to learn how to rally race, the expert who wants more practice time and the car enthusiast who just wants to drive a beautiful course and meet some other enthusiasts. The Coker Tire Challenge is a three-day event, that starts and ends at Coker Tire in Chattanooga except Saturday night when Corky Coker invites everyone to his farm for big cook-out. Thursday is all about event Registration, while Friday, Saturday and Sunday are days of competition. 

Each day the driver and navigator team receives a set of course instructions that indicate every turn, speed change, stop, and start that the team must make throughout the day (usually 220 to 250 such instructions per day). Along the course route there will be from 4 to 7 checkpoints recording the exact time that the team passes that point. The objective is to arrive at each checkpoint at the correct time, not the fastest. The score for each team is the result of the team’s ability to follow the designated course instructions precisely. Every second off the perfect time (early or late) at each checkpoint is a penalty point. This format is much more mentally demanding than a flat-out cross-country race. Also, GPS, cell phones or computers are not permitted and odometers are taped over. This is a test of human mental agility and endurance as well as classic car endurance, rather than programming capability. The course avoids timed segments on interstate highways, opting instead for scenic local, county, and state highways whenever possible through some of the prettiest country surrounding Chattanooga.

It’s a fun event that never fails to show the beauty of the Southeast, and gives car guys a good excuse to get out and drive their machines! Oh, and did I mention there's Trophies!

September 15-18, 2016