In the auto sport category, the rally is probably one of the most spectacular event.
A rally is an auto racing event dating back to the late 19's century: in 1894, several horseless carriages raced the roads from Paris to Rouen.

Nowadays, rallying has become strictly regulated: a rally race is a multi-stages timed competition.
Drivers usually take all at the same time off the starting line, but often finish the race with huge time discrepancies between them.
Not to mention that sometimes some drivers get lost at some point in the race and never manage to cross the finishing line!
There are roughly two forms of rally: stage rallies and road rallies. Rallying can also be practiced on any kind of non “handmade”tracks such as asphalt, gravel or ice tracks.

Stage rallies are professional events. Roads are closed from normal car traffic for the drivers to speed up on road portions. Stage rallies are timed off course and rely mainly on the drivers' capacity to deal with timing requirements and challenging driving conditions.
Road rallies are set up on normal roads opened to traffic. They emphasis mainly on the driver's strategy and capacity to handle parameters such as their car's capacity to be reliable, timekeeping...
The rally-raid “Dakar” is a stage rally.

A stage rally is a two-head course run by a driver and a co-driver.
During what is known as a reconnaissance, the co-driver takes notes on the roads singularities and characteristics and on what he thinks will be relevant to say to the driver during the course.
Reconnaissance is a real asset. TV spectators may sometimes, providing they listen carefully, hear the voice of the co-driver.
Speed is limited to 31 Mph.

The WRC ( World Rally Championship) is the most famous stage rally that is held each year, even though most countries have regional and national events as well.
The longest-distance for a rally was covered in 2007. Drivers borrowed the silk road for a 10 days course. 50 teams driving 2CV run from Paris to Pekin on a 19000 mile distance!