It’s not a Race

Long distance. Precision. Grit. This is Rebelle Rally.

By Rivian

October 19^th, 2020

The first thing to know about Rebelle Rally is that it’s not about speed. It’s about endurance. Competitors must navigate 2,000 km of rough, unforgiving terrain over eight days. Judged on accuracy and route, it’s a test of both driving skill and mental stamina – oh, and there’s a twist – the course itself is invisible.

While some checkpoints are physically marked with flags, the most valuable ones are just dots on a map. Finding them in the vast desert landscape requires superior navigational skill and a vehicle that can get you there.

It’s a format we love. Charting the unknown is pretty familiar territory for Rivian.

Setting off

Rebelle Rally is the first women’s off-road navigation rally in the United States. It’s also the longest. For this year’s event, two-time champs Emme Hall and Rebecca Donaghe wanted to tackle the course in a way that had never been tried before — 100% electric.

If you’ve been following Rivian’s progress, you know that our engineers have been validating our R1T development fleet in some of the most demanding environments out there. So when Emme and Rebecca – aka “Team Killer Watt” – proposed the idea to us, we couldn’t resist.

Totally analog

As if an invisible course through some of the toughest terrain in California and Nevada didn’t present enough of a challenge, the two-person teams at Rebelle have to navigate using only a map and compass. No GPS. No Internet. No radios. Not even binoculars. Competitors have to triangulate to establish their exact position and find their bearings all by hand. Then they have to follow the course they’ve plotted across the trackless desert.

This is where experience comes in. When locating checkpoints, teams need to strike the right balance between charting a direct route and avoiding impassible dunes and cliffs. When following their roadbooks, one wrong move could mean a blown tire or getting bogged down in soft sand.

Emme and Rebecca required a vehicle that could tackle every hill and sand trap that stood in the way with confidence while maintaining pace over eight grueling days of competition.

Hard-earned data

We were in the 4x4 class as a Bone Stock vehicle, competing without any modifications or upgrades. While most others had custom suspension, rock rails, shocks and aftermarket tires, our R1T was a straight production vehicle. Or more accurately put, a straight pre-production vehicle.

Our engineers were able to monitor progress remotely, analyzing velocity, efficiency, battery status, thermal data, suspension and charge performance. The R1T was also outfitted with a LTE-equipped data logger with a one-way audio channel to get real-time feedback from Emme and Rebecca while out on the course. We were excited to have our vehicle in the hands of someone outside Rivian, and everything was geared to gather as much information as possible.

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Predicting range on an unpredictable course is always part of rally strategy, so Emme and Rebecca had to know exactly how far the R1T would take them each day. Driving from sunup to sundown in punishing real-world conditions, the R1T logged hundreds of kilometers with ease, putting the team strategically on par with the rest of the competition. No special treatment here. With mobile charging stations provided by Power Innovations, while others refueled, we recharged.

Rally on

Rebelle Rally provided the perfect real-world laboratory – one that just happened to be incredibly exciting to follow. The rally concluded this past Saturday and our “bone stock” pre-production R1T finished in 6th overall. More than just where we placed, this was about how much we learned. We leave the rally energized to capture the feedback to continue refining the R1T before customer deliveries start next June. And we already have our sights set on next year’s rally. :)