How to navigate a rally

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:33 am

So is everyone all clear on how to navigate TSD rallies? I had expected many questions, but I haven't really received all that many.

As I said at the meeting, Bowie is out to trick you! While I don't think you will get hopelessly lost, a working knowledge of the rules is going to be essential. Bowie and I plan to hold a mini rally class before the event, but in the interest of making sure you come prepared and feeling confident (or at least comfortable) with the rules, why not start the training now?

You may think that the instructions will be very obvious, like: Turn left at "Miami Blvd", and some are (even if the signs are somewhat hard to pick out). But what would you do if the instruction just said: "Turn" and you were approaching a T? If you don't know the answer to this question, you should probably be asking some questions (okay, to be fair I didn't give you some critical information in that hypothetical question, but if you don't know WHAT information to ask for, you still need to get up to speed).

If this is your first time doing a rally, I would not worry about the time aspect as much. It's much more important to be able to stay on course. Once you've had a few rallies under your belt, you can start worrying about the time. Gut feel is plenty good for beginners.

So I will post a few messages on some of the basic rules and getting into some of the more obscure (but important for this rally) rules. PLEASE, ask any questions you would like. Our goal is NOT to frustrate you in the rally, but rather to make sure you understand the rules of rally, yet are challenged by the course. It will be a very satisfying feeling if you avoid some of the traps laid by Bowie!

...Lance

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:27 am

A TSD (Time Speed Distance) is a driving event (not a race!) designed for a team of 2 (a driver and a navigator) to compete in a challenge of navigational (both staying on the intended course and staying on time) and to some extent driving skills (there is a continuum of rally styles that with varying degrees of driving challenge--Goblins Go will not present a high degree of driving challenge as compared to other rallies, but the driver will still likely be heavily involved with navigational duties as well as keeping speed constant).

In layman's terms, the object of the rally is to follow the course directions properly and travel the exact speed indicated at all times so as to arrive at the finish at the perfect time.

The way this is implemented is as follows: you will arrive at the rally start and be given the course directions (known in rally circles as instructions). There are actually two types of instructions you will be given:

1) The general instructions. Which essentially are the governing rules of the rally. They cover very basic things like defining where the start is, what time the start is, the type of competitor classes and some generic material that are either intuitive or "boiler plate". But don't be fooled: the "generals" also contain very specific information you will need to successfully compete in the rally and follow the directions, so please read them carefully! Specifically there are some sections in the Generals that may be unique to this rally, and certainly are important: a) Order of Priority of Instructions; b) Course Following Rules; and even c) the Glossary which defines terms you will encounter in the route instructions.

2) The route instructions. These are the actual directions you will have to follow. They consist of the following types of instructions: a) "Course following" which direct you to change (or maintain) your course; b) "Timing" which direct you to change (or maintain) your speed, or otherwise control the time at which you are traversing the course; and c) "Informational" which require no action on your part, but which are there to let you know that you are still on course.
The main objective of the rally is to "score" the fewest number of penalty points. If you were to drive a perfect rally, you would finish with a 0. The following are ways you "earn" penalty points (these are specific to the Goblins Go rally--other rallies may have different penalties)

The general instructions and/or the route instructions will assign you a starting time, and the route instructions will assign you a starting point. Most rallies usually start from a well-defined landmark near the rally HQ, and the start time is based on your car number (which is usually assigned at check-in time). So for example, the instructions may say to start at 1:45pm plus your car number in minutes. If your car number is 9, you would start at 1:54pm. In this way cars are spread out at 1 minute intervals and should not interfere (much!) with each other.

Hopefully you picked up on the fact that in order for this to work, everyone's clocks must be synchronized perfectly! Not only that, but the way the rally is scored demands that your clock be synchronized perfectly with the rallymaster's. Therefore, at the check-in, you will see an official clock that all competitors must synchronize to, right down to the second (actually rallies are measured in hundredths of minutes--another fact I will talk about later!) You should have a clock, watch or stopwatch that you can set (and read) the seconds on. Obviously digital clocks work better than analog for this, but you can still use an analog clock provided it has a second hand. Again, a word of caution: the official clock will likely read in hundredths of a minute instead of seconds. When it reads 12:15:59, do not expect it to click over to 12:16:00. Wait until it reads 12:15:99 and then watch it click over. Most rallymasters attempt to sync their clock up to official time sources, so if you have one of those "atomic clocks" that sync up via radio to an atomic clock, you should have the right time. But check the official time anyway!

At your assigned start time, you will begin the rally (most rallies are self-started, so do not wait for someone to start you!) You should approach the landmark that defines the start and zero your trip odometer as directed by the instructions (I'll explain why later). At your assigned start time, you should begin and you are then competing. Follow the route instructions precisely until you arrive at the end of the rally.

Obviously there is a LOT more to it than that, so I will continue in more detail in later posts.

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:06 am

Ok, Lance, I’ll bite. The problem is that outside of the 2 or 3 couples who have done this before and don’t need to ask questions, the rest of us don’t know enough to even know what to ask. I’ve read the TSD info (as I’m sure everyone has) on our web site.
I found out at the meeting that for unequipped we need a pencil, paper and a watch. That’s the sum total of what I know, outside of show up with a smile on your face and a tank of gas.

Could you give us some examples of what to expect? Could you give us examples of the "rules"? Do we stop at the check points? Do we have ID on our cars to be identified at the check points? Do we get all of our instructions at the beginning, or are they handed out at the check points?

Are these enough to get us started with some answers? Thanks for your efforts. Looking forward to coming, even though I can’t really figure out why I’m looking forward to being hopelessly lost in BFE Eastern NC. Oh yea, probably the beer and friendship at the end.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:35 am

Lance Pickup wrote:

If you were to drive a perfect rally, you would finish with a 0. The following are ways you "earn" penalty points (these are specific to the Goblins Go rally--other rallies may have different penalties)

Great idea to give some "pre-training" on rally technique, Lance! And I think Gwen's request of some concrete examples is a really good idea.

In fact, from reading the text quoted above, I thought you were about to give us a concrete example, but then it never came. Maybe I misinterpreted?

Thanks, and see you Sunday!

Bowie Gray Jr · **Joined:** Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:31 am **Posts:** 98

I'm not dad, but you probably aren't going to get him on here.

An example of a couple of rules that might or might not be in the Generals:
1) If no other instruction, turn right at a T.
This means if you were in Lance's scenario and came up to that T while trying to find an opportunity to "Turn onto Miami Blvd." You would turn right and continue looking for Miami Blvd. Where I get kind of sketchy, as I haven't rallyed in probably 7 or 8 years, is what would happen if you arrived at that T looking to "Turn". I think you would turn right per the Generals and continue looking to turn, but I would have to read up a bit.

2) This rally takes place on paved roads only.
This means if you are looking to "Turn" and you come across an unpaved side road, you keep going. That road doesn't count.

This is the way Rallyists think. Good luck with that!

By the way, Dad loves to confuse people by making the rally double back on itself. That gets you worried that you are going the wrong way and makes you second guess! Get ready to wave at your buddies!

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 11:48 am

Bowie Gray Jr wrote:

Where I get kind of sketchy, as I haven't rallyed in probably 7 or 8 years, is what would happen if you arrived at that T looking to "Turn".

My first thought would be to check if 1 of the legs of the "T" had the same name as the road I'm coming in on. If 1 did, then taking that leg may not represent a "turn" as defined in the Generals. Therefore the other leg would be your only valid choice.

Quote:

I think you would turn right per the Generals and continue looking to turn, but I would have to read up a bit.

Note that this "turn right" thing is just a hypothetical example that BowieJr made up- I'd be surprised if that one was actually be in the rules...

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:00 pm

I know some of you are thinking "more detail?" Well, I apologize for being long-winded, but this stuff really is important! So read on!

Okay, well it would be a pretty boring rally if you just go into your car, followed the instructions, arrived at the finish 3 hours later and were given one score based on how accurately you navigated the rally. So that's not the way it's done!

Instead, a rally is broken up into sections called "Sections" and "Legs" (unfortunately for those stage rally fans, the terminology is a bit different--in stage rallies Legs are basically the different DAYs of competition, and the smallest unit of competition is called a "Stage"--so please disregard your stage rally definitions for now!)

The first level of division is to break the rally up into Sections. This is usually not significant and merely divides the rally into say a morning and afternoon section with a lunch break in between. The Goblin's Go Rally has 3 sections: the Odometer Correction Section; the first half of competition; and the second half of competition. The important fact about sections is that at the start of each section you will (a) be given a new start time (either implicitly or explicitly) and (b) you should zero your odometer as official mileage reverts to 0.00. For your stage rally fans, this works a bit like a Regroup Control (RGC) in that the start of each section puts you back onto your ideal time. You will be told in the route instructions where each section begins and ends.

The second level of division is to break the sections up into Legs. A leg is basically a timed section of the rally that is scored. The end of each leg is delineated by a CHECKPOINT. A Checkpoint is a point on the rally course where you are timed in and receive a score based on how close to the perfect time you were. You do not want to be late OR early at a checkpoint. Most of the time checkpoints are not identified in your route instructions. Rather they are marked by a checkpoint sign at the side of the road and are a complete surprise to you. You will likely not see the checkpoint sign until you are fairly close to it and will have limited opportunities to correct for any error. It is against the rules to stop (or in many rallies to even slow to half the designated speed) within sight of a checkpoint. If you do, you will be waved in and if you fail to comply you will be assessed a penalty AND timed in at the point you refuse to respond to the wave-in. However under normal circumstances you will continue driving past the checkpoint sign and you will be timed in at the point your front wheel crosses an imaginary "timing line" (sometimes there is actually a real pneumatic hose that clocks you in so the line is not so imaginary) running perpendicular to the direction of travel at the checkpoint sign.

There will be a checkpoint crew at the checkpoint that records your time for scoring purposes. Your time will be compared to a pre-calculated perfect time of arrival at the timing line and you will incur penalty points for each hundredth of a minute early or late you arrived at the timing line. And this point is VERY IMPORTANT! The perfect time of a leg is calculated from the beginning of the leg, not the beginning of the rally.
In other words, if you were slow by 1 minute on the first leg, you do NOT have to make that time up on the second leg. You basically start over at each checkpoint. Perfect times are calculated from the timing line of the previous checkpoint to the timing line of the checkpoint you just crossed.

So, after you pass the checkpoint sign, what do you do? Do you just keep driving? NO! You must stop! And here is what you do:

After crossing the timing line, slow down and find a safe spot to pull over to the side of the road. Please be aware that other competitors will be wandering around the area and cars pulling out, so be very cautious here.
Do not stop AT the timing line (remember, more competitors will be behind you) and do not obstruct the checkpoint crew's view of the timing line. Make sure you pull past them if possible. After pulling to the side of the road, one person on your team should take your scorecard (given to you at registration) back to the checkpoint crew (they are likely in a car parked closest to the checkpoint sign and facing backwards!) Again, please be careful and stay on the shoulder side of cars if possible--there may be some competitors flying across the timing line!) The scorecard has columns for each leg. The checkpoint crew will fill out several boxes on the scorecard: they will write down your arrival time at this checkpoint, they will assign you a new start time for the next leg, and they may assess any additional penalty points. They will also hand you a checkpoint slip that contains additional information including:

1) The perfect time of the leg
2) The current official mileage at the timing line
3) The current instruction you are working on
4) Any additional instructions that you should execute such as emergency instructions and speed changes.

The slip will give you enough information to score yourself for the leg (don't worry if you don't feel comfortable doing this--the scorers will do it for you if you don't). To score your leg, you would subtract your leg start time from your leg finish time (and now you can see why TSD rallies are timed in hunderedths of a minute--it makes the math easier!) to get your leg time. You would then put the perfect time of the leg in the Correct Time box, and subtract your leg time from the Correct time. This gives you the number of minutes you were early or late. For each HUNDREDTH of a minute you were early or late, you will be assessed 1 penalty point.

Here is an example:

Leg 5
------
Arrival Time: 14:26.72 (recorded on your scorecard by this crew)
Start Time: 14:02.00 (assigned by previous checkpoint crew)
Leg Time: 24.72 (14:26.72-14:02.00)
Correct Time: 23.18 (provided on checkpoint slip)
Error: 1.54 (24.72-23.18)
Points: 154 (this is your score for the leg)

If you were assessed any penalty points on your scorecard, you would add those to your leg points to get the total points for the leg.

Note, the general instructions specify that the MAXIMUM penalty for any leg in this rally is 500 (equates to 5 minutes early or late). So if you end up with an error greater than 5.00, you should just record 500 in the points box of the scorecard.

So what are these penalty points? For Goblin's Go, the following penalties are defined:

1) Missing, failing to stop at a checkpoint or more than 10 minutes early or late: 750 points
2) Stopping in sight of a checkpoint or failing to respond to being waved in, unless required by law or route instruction: 100 points (plus timing penalty--time in assessed at time of infraction)
3) Entering a checkpoint from the wrong direction: 200 points (plus timing penalty--time in assessed as you cross the timing line)
4) Opening Bail-Out Evenlope(s): 1000 points per envelope

FYI, the bail-out envelopes are envelopes you can open if you get really lost that will help you get back on course. Sealed envelopes must be handed in at the conclusion of the rally. For each envelope not turned in and/or opened, you will receive the penalty.

As previously mentioned, the checkpoint crew will assign you a new start time (or out time). Your out time will be at least 3 minutes after the time you crossed the timing line, but possibly not much more. So you don't have a LOT of time to get back to the checkpoint crew and then get back to your car for the new start. Your out time will always be on a whole minute (i.e. 0 seconds or .00 hundredths) and only one car will start on each minute, so once again, synchronization of your clocks is important here too!

At your assigned out time, you should again start and proceed along the course. One important note: your out time is when you should leave the imaginary timing line, so if you had to drive down the road 100 yards to park, remember that you are 100 yards ahead of where you should be at your assigned out time.

When you get to the last checkpoint of the rally, the checkpoint crew will keep your scorecard for scoring. You should then follow the instructions to the post-rally party location.
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Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:04 pm

Carl Fisher wrote:

Lance Pickup wrote:

In fact, from reading the text quoted above, I thought you were about to give us a concrete example, but then it never came. Maybe I misinterpreted?

Nope, you interpreted perfectly...I'm just breaking it up into relatively "small" posts, and I can only type so fast.

But hopefully these provoke some good discussion and keep the questions coming! There are some good ones out there already! I'll respond to any questions that come up.

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 1:46 pm

In many ways, a lot of the difficulty---err--challenge in rallies is based on precise rules and meanings of words. A rally is designed such that there is only one possible unambiguous way that you can execute all the instructions and stay on course and on time. If you ever come to an intersection or landmark and it is not completely clear what to do (albeit it may take you some time and analysis to figure out what to do!), then that rally is flawed and you would be justified in flaming the Rallymaster. Not to say that all rallies are perfect, but many don't try to be overtly tricky and debates over subtle rules don't generally come up. And those that are on the tricky side are checked by experts to make sure that they do follow the precise rules.

Now given this constraint, the Rallymaster's job is work within the confines of the rules and create a challenging rally that tests your knowledge of these rules. Sometimes the rally is not intended to be tricky so there will be few cases where you have to an expert on every nuance of rally. As I've mentioned, Goblin's Go does have a few tricks in it, so while I won't cover every last rule in the book, I will attempt to cover those that you will need to successfully navigate this rally.

So obviously a good working knowledge of the rules and meanings of rally terms is necessary. However, as a magician would never give away his secrets, it's not my intent to give specific examples of how rules are applied, but rather simply make sure you know about the rules. Figuring out how they are applied is your job!

Let's start out with rally terms and then work our way up to some of the rules in the next lesson.

The general instructions contains a glossary of terms used in the generals themselves and the route instructions. I won't cover them all because many are self-explanatory. But I will focus on some that are especially important for you to know.

CAS: Change, Commence, or Continue Average Speed. This is the primary way you are told how fast to go and one of the most important terms in TSD, which is why I start with it. You will be told, for example, to CAS 46 MPH in an instruction, which means you should then change your speed to 46. Some rallymasters use the term CAST (the T stands for To), but it means the same thing.

IAS: Increase Average Speed by the specified amount.

RAS: Reduce Average Speed by the specified amount.

After: Any distance past the object referenced. This term is usually used with respect to a landmark of some sort that you must execute the action of an instruction.

At: For course following instructions (such as turn at X), this means "in the vicinity of". It should be obvious where the turn is indicated. For speed/timing changes (such as CAS 46 MPH at STOP), at means "even with", or in this example you should change your speed as your front wheels are even with the STOP.

Acute & Bear: Just like in geometry class, acute refers to a turn of substantially more than 90 degrees at an intersection where there exists more than one opportunity to turn in the direction indicated. Bear refers to a turn of substantially less than 90 degrees at an intersection where there exists more than one opportunity to turn in the direction indicated.

Intersection: The meeting of two or more roads where a change of direction can be made. I will offer one hint here: add the words "in compliance with the rules" to the end of this sentence. While we haven't covered the rules yet, the point is that there may be something that looks to you like an intersection, but technically is not because of some rule. I will also add the phrase "without making a U-turn" which is in some rally rulebooks, just for completeness.

Jog: To make a turn in one direction followed by a turn in the opposite direction. Speed changes (if any) are to be made at the second part of a jog.

Opportunity: A possible place to execute the required action. Again, add the implicity words "in compliance with the rules" to the end of this definition. It will eliminate a few circumstances that would otherwise look like opportunities.

Pause: To add the indicated amount of time to your elapsed time for the leg you are currently on. You would be given a pause, for example, at a stop sign to account for your deceleration, any time you had to wait for traffic, and your acceleration. But there may be other reasons as well. Be careful! Unless otherwise specified, Pauses are specified in hundredths of a minute! However, I think in this rally Bowie specified the units for all pauses and they are in minutes or seconds.

STOP: A white on red octagonal sign requiring the rally car to stop.

"STOP": The word STOP, which may appear on any sign, building, roadway or structure.

T: An intersection in the general shape of the letter T as you approach it from the stem. Your current route number must end at the intersection for it to be considered a T.

Turn: Bowie and I changed the definition of this one slightly due to an ambiguity I detected in the instructions. I don't have the final wording of the definition, so I'll just go with approximately what I recommended: To make a change of course or direction at an intersection which would not have been made in the absence of the turn instruction. A turn cannot be executed by going straight and must be unambiguous as to which direction to proceed.

That's a lot to chew on and very legalistic, but there is one key point in there: to execute a turn instruction, you would have had to go straight or in a different direction if the instruction had not been there. This will probably become clearer as we go over some of the key rules, but keep this point in mind for the future, as it is a key point.

The following items are things not in the glossary but which are important terms and phrases:

Straight as possible (sometimes abbreviated SAP): To go straight as possible through an interesection. This is usually an implied instruction specified in the generals to cover intersections for which there is no formal route instruction.

S-O-L: No, it's not what you think it is! This stands for Sign On Left and is used to indicate that the landmark you are looking for is on the left side of the road. Note that there is no obligation for the Rallymaster to include this designation--it's just sometimes put in to be helpful. That doesn't mean you don't have to look on the left for signs that don't have this designation. It just means if you see it, it will definitely be on the left.

Route number: An official designation of a County, State, US or Interstate road by number. Sometimes you are put onto a road specifically by number. This is the route number (e.g. Turn Left ONTO Route 98). The main reason I bring this up is that there is a rule in the generals that says: "Follow the present route number", meaning if the route you were put ONTO turns at an intersection, you are obligated to turn to stay on that route UNLESS there is an instruction that would direct you off that route. Now I don't think there are any traps based on this rule in this rally (it is a wonderful trap though!), but I wanted to make sure you understood what that was saying.

SR: Stands for State Road. This is somewhat of a North Carolina thing, so I am not completely familiar with this, but this is generally DIFFERENT than a Route Number. Basically all roads in NC appear to be numbered. Here in the big city they aren't necessarily all labeled, but out in Bailey they sure are! Sometimes you are directed onto an SR, so it will pay to become familiar with how they are marked (I saw at least two different examples) I have a picture that I will post and also have at the rally for your review that illustrates how these roads are typically marked so you know what you're looking for.

Quoted material: This is getting somewhat in the rules, but it's also partly a definition. Words, numbers, or letters appearing within quotation marks refer to written material encountered along the rally route. Spelling is precise, but capitalization and punctuation are to be ignored. The portion of a sign quoted should be readable under rally conditions, and must be used with the same intent as that of the erecting agency. Individual words and numbers are always quoted fully and in the order in whey the appear with spaces as appropriate. However, the entire sign need not be quoted. Quotations in route instructions will never refer to written material or symbols on vehicles; painted on the road surface; on or directly attached to mailboxes; or utility pole numbers (although I have seen this rule broken in rallies I have done!). Quoted material may or may not apply to the road you are upon. You will not have to look backward to read any quoted material (unless of course you missed it as you passed it!); however, you may have to look everywhere else.

Parenthetical material: Words within parentheses are provided for information only and are not to be considered official instructions. These are another example of your Rallymaster being uncharacteristically friendly.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:31 pm

Lance,

I am not able to attend, but after reading this I have some comments/questions that might help others. About 20 yrs ago when I was with the SWVR SCCA we used to do about 5-6 TSDs per year and I was pretty active in the TSD program.

I think you are probably planning on covering these topics, but here are my questions and suggestions…

Examples of Route instructions

It might be good to include some example route instructions and glossary in advance so that people can read up on them. With the example route instructions it would be good to maybe even include a map indicating what the intended course it as well as when change of speed actually happens.

Example of a trick

In my opinion it is not a TSD if you don’t have some tricks! But I am guessing the newbies may not know exactly how a TSD trick might work. Some examples might be good. Here is a quick example. Note, I am NOT using correct “Route Instructions” style notation

Imagine that you have a road “Oak Lane” that is a short loop that has two entries onto a single road “Rt 48”. So as you drive down Rt 48, you will see two ways to turn off onto “Oak Lane”. Lets say that these are 2 miles apart on Rt 48 and there is a speed limit sign between the two entances.

A typical TSD trick would be to ask you to turn right onto “Oak Lane”. But only after changing your speed at the speed limit sign. As you are driving down RT 48 you know your next two instructions are…

1. Change speed at speed limit sign
2. Turn right onto “Oak Lane”.

You suddenly see the “Oak Lane” sign ahead. You and your partner start to argue about if you missed the speed limit sign or not. You decide that you must have missed it and turn right onto Oak Lane. A competitor behind you decides that they didn’t miss the speed limit sign and ignore the first entry onto Oak Lane. They drive past. Travel a mile, see the speed limit sigh, change speed and then keep a look out for the “Oak Lane” sign. They see it and turn right. Eventually you will pass the first team who made the wrong decision going the wrong way. Confusion erupts as both teams see each other and try to figure out if anyone screwed up. You could even have the team who did it correctly turn around and undo their correct action. To make things even more fun, you have your checkpoint on Oak Lane and have people drive through the checkpoint in the wrong direction. To pile on top of this, those who go the wrong way may end up hopelessly lost. But if the person who designed the route did a good job, he may try to keep both teams back on the right direction (such as getting them both back the right way on Rt 48 ) after the trick is over.

People may not understand the importance of or "why" you do of the ODO run.

Like the route instructions, it all might be a lot to learn as you go and understanding what the ODO run does and how to adjust for ODO differences might be good to understand in advance. The newbies could do their own test ODO correction calculations in advance so when the real deal happens they will not be under stress to figure out how to do to the correction calculations.

Instructions for competitors for what to do if the local law enforcement becomes interested.

I have never had this happen to me, but we always told competitors what to tell the local law if they are pulled over and quizzed about what is going on. The last thing you want is someone accidentally giving the law the idea that something like the “Cannonball Run” is going on in his jurisdiction.

Two additional things to mention. First it is interesting about stopping after the checkpoint. We used to never stop, but like I said it was 20 years ago and things probably have changed or we just did things oddly in that club. Whoever was working the checkpoint would just denote the time and the car number. But I can see how you describe as being a better solution (but with potential issues with getting car parked, etc.) The second is that I don’t know how long the Rally is supposed to last. Ours usually ran all day long with a break in the middle for lunch. If I remember correctly the instructions usually let you know exactly where the meeting place was for the lunch break. And you had a set “out time” that was something like your original start time + 3 hrs. So if you got lost on the first ½ of the day, you didn’t have to open the “bail out” directions. You just met for lunch and did your second part of the Rally.

Good luck with Rally and hopefully we will have more and I can attend the next one!

Richard

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:34 pm

Okay, I'll hit on a few of the main rules of rallying. There aren't many I'll cover, but what I do hit on will be important! Note that I am leaving some very important rules out that simply don't apply to this rally, so don't rely on these as the gospel of rallying if you intend to do other rallies. If you are interested in more details, let me know.

Course following:

1) Roads marked in such a manner to indicate that they are not public or through (e.g. Private - Keep Out - Dead End, etc.) do not exist.

2) Roads which are illegal for the rally vehicle to enter do not exist.

3) Any road which clearly ends in a garage, a plant entrance, a parking lot, etc. does not exist.

4) U-turns are never required without instruction.

5) Unpaved roads will be considered non-existent for any purpose.

6) If the rally route encounters road construction, contestants will assume the road to be paved, unless otherwise instructed (hopefully this won't happen!)

7) In the absence of other course following considerations, contestants should take the road that appears to go straight or as nearly straight as possible through an intersection, e.g. slant T's and multiple intersections. The determination of which road is straight or nearly straight is made at the intersection in question. Roads are judged on their merits as you enter the intersection, now how they look as you approach the intersection. Note: we are not expecting you to break out the protractors to measure road angles. If it looks "close" to you, you are probably missing some other instruction that would take precedence (or you're lost!)

When a route instruction references a road name without the use of quotations marks, and suffixes are included, they can be used interchangeably with their appropriate corresponding abbreviations (e.g. Road/Rd, Drive/Dr, etc.)

Exeuction

1) Usually rallies consist of Numbered Route Instructions (NRI's) and are listed and executed in ascending numerical order. This rally also uses Lettered Instructions, but those familiar with rallying in other parts should ignore what they know about Lettered Route Instructions (LRI's) as these are different. The lettered instructions in this rally simply indicate that there is no course following component to the instruction. There may be, however, speed changes and other timing instructions. They too are to be executed in the order listed both with respect to themselves and to the NRI's.

2) When a route instruction contains more than one part (or action), the parts (actions) will be executed fully in the order in which they are presented. For example, sometimes there are multiple parts of an instruction linked by the word AND.

Mileages

1) An official mileage is the distance from the start of a section to a point along the rally route truncated to 1/100 mile. These may be indicated in the route instructions on the left. They are also indicated on checkpoint slips. I realize that many new cars these days have digital odometers and it is impossible to read or interpolate to the hundredth of a mile. The rally is designed so that it is not necessary to be able to read mileages to the hundredth of a mile to successfully navigate it.

2) When an instruction is accompanied by an official mileage, it MUST be executed at that mileage.

I am not certain whether Bowie got this into the rally or not, but the following 2 rules are in use by SCCA and other clubs is as follows. I will clarify whether or not this rule applies in this rally. This is known as the call-back rule and its purpose is to help you know when you're off-course.

3) The maximum distance between the first action point of an instruction and the first action point of the next listed instruction is 3.00 miles with the exception of the use of an asterisk as noted in the next rule.

4) An asterisk (*) in the left margin of an instruction indicates that the distance between the first action point of an instruction and the first action point of the previously listed instruction is greated than 3.00 miles, but no greater than 5.00 miles.

What this means, basically, is if you have gone more than 3 miles from the last instruction, unless you see an asterisk, you are probably lost and should turn around and go back to your last known on-course point. If you see the asterisk, the limit goes up to 5 miles.

Time Allowances (TA)

I am not sure we will be using Time Allowances in our rally. I will clarify this at the rally. But here is how they work. A time allowance is used in case you get behind on time (by going off course for example). Rather than speed to make up time (which rarely works out by the way!), you are encouraged to take a time allowance. This allows you to estimate the time you are behind and claim it as an allowance on your score card. The claimed allowance will be subtracted from your actual time to create a net time that will be compared to the correct time.

1) The time allowance must be requested in writing by the contestant on the scorecard in the appropriate box prior to approaching the checkpoint crew. In addition, it will be incumbent upon the contestant, immediately upon arrival at the checkpoint crew to ensure that the checkpoint crew make note of the allowance claimed.

2) A time allowance must be in the amount of 0.50, 1.50, 2.50, 3.50, ..., 19.50 minutes (i.e. always a whole minute plus 30 seconds). This is to ensure that two cars are not stacked up on each other. Procedurally the way this would work is if you think you are 5 minutes down, you would stop at the side of the road for another 30 seconds to make you an even 5.50 minutes down and then proceed, taking a 5.50 minute TA at the next checkpoint.

3) The maximum time allowance claimed at any one control is 19.50 minutes.

4) The maximum total time allowances claimed for each section is 19.50 minutes. Any more than this and you will arrive at closed checkpoints.

Added:

5) You are assessed a penalty for taking a TA (what, you thought you would get it for free?) If we offer this option, Bowie and I will have agree on the penalty, but traditionally it is 1 point for every hundredth of a minute you are early or late, up to a maximum of 50. In other words, your score is doubled for the first 50 points (half minute) when you use a TA.

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:54 pm

Richard, thanks for your post. I will take the time to respond to this right away because I think you have some good points that I want to highlight immediately.

FYI, my upcoming sections are:

5) Mechanics - start, odo check, breaks

6) Preparation - what to bring, what you will receive at check-in

7) Sample Instructions

Misc - answers to any questions that come up

So I think I'll probably hit the points you brought up.

TRICKS/TRAPS

Like I said, I'm not going to give away any secrets myself (I'll only hint at them!) But if others want to illustrate some of their traps, I am all for it. That will give a good flavor of the kind of thing we're talking about.

One comment on your trap illustration: I mentioned previously that most of Bowie's traps are failsafe, meaning you won't get lost. If you imagine your scenario with the following THREE instructions:

1. Change speed at speed limit sign
2. Turn right onto “Oak Lane”.
3. Turn right onto Rt 48.

Then you can see no matter what, you will end up back on Rt 48 going in the same direction you were. Of course those that executed it incorrectly will have their mileage all screwed up and likely arrive at the checkpoint going the wrong speed and at the wrong time. This is what I mean by a failsafe trap.

STOPPING AT CHECKPOINTS

The controls you refer to are known as closed controls, vs. open controls where you do stop. Closed controls are certainly another alternative, but aren't used that commonly now (but I wouldn't say they are extinct) I ran an all-night winter rally (in Vermont) that essentially used closed controls. You did STOP, long enough to run back to the checkpoint to grab a sticker to put on your scorecard. Your out time was exactly 1 minute after your in time (which you were responsible for determining). Now 1 minute is NOT long considering stopping distances on snow and ice. It is basically JUST enough time to run back to the crew, get your sticker and run back to the car and take off. Like a closed control, this method did not help unstack cars that may have gotten behind each other, so from that perspective it worked like a closed control. The only reason they did this I think is because it was night time and they couldn't effectively read car numbers as you went by, so you had to jump out in the order you came over the line and they would hand you the time, without ever knowing what car # you were (you had to check your sticker to make sure you didn't get someone else's!)

When closed controls are used, it is common for the rally to include something called "key times" which is the perfect time of car 0 along the rally route, and you have to basically match the key time plus your car number. In a sense they are giving you the answer, but usually they don't give you many key times and they really use the key times like the open controls: it gets cars back into their one minute spreads.

Finally: this rally is basically 3 hours in length with one relatively short break in the middle. I like the morning/afternoon format myself, but that's a bit much to ask for beginners, so we are starting out slow.

Thanks!

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 3:44 pm

Okay, here I will get a bit specific as to the mechanics of the rally, as this can be confusing for beginners.

So first, there will be a check-in starting at 12:00noon at the Hardees in Bailey, NC. This registration will take place from noon-1:00. At 1:00 we will have a team meeting/rally school for those of you that aren't reading this fabulous tutorial! There is a lot to cover obviously which is why I wanted to try to start the dialog early. The day of the rally you will be nervous anyway and I don't want to try to throw a lot of information at you then that you won't remember anyway.

So you get your instructions and it says to leave at 1:45pm plus your car number in minutes. Let's assume you are car #9. That makes your start time 1:54pm. So besides the drivers meeting at 1:00, what else do you do?

A few of the things I would do would be:

1) Sync your clock up with the official clock

2) Read through the general instructions and make sure you understand them. If not, ask an experienced rallyist who would be glad to help.

3) Check for any corrections to the instructions that may have been posted and note them on your copy.

4) Check out your route instructions. First of all, make sure you have all pages and they are in the proper order! I usually go through them and highlight things like speed changes, pauses, cautions and start times (in different colors if possible). Where mileages are specified, I look for any instructions that differ by less than 0.2 miles and highlight that.

5) While the navigator is doing #3, the driver can be affixing the car numbers in your packet to your car. Instructions will be provided as to where to affix the numbers.

6) Fill in any other information you can on the route instructions. For example, if it says start at 1:45pm plus your car number and you are car #9, change it to 1:54pm so you don't have to calculate it later. There might be several places in the rally you have to do this.

7) If you have time, read through the routes and make sure you understand everything. If not, again, ask an experienced rallyist.

Finally you are ready to go. Oh wait...make sure you have enough gas!

Now as has been mentioned in past posts, the first section of the rally is the odometer check. The odometer check is a non-timed (meaning there is no average speed requirement, but there usually is a time limit to complete it) section of the rally, the purpose of which is to sync up your odometer with the rallymaster's. In the case of this rally it is exactly 10.00 miles and is 20 minutes long. So you would start the odo check and take 20 minutes to complete it. 1:54pm plus 20 minutes is 2:14pm (did you write that down already in your instructions?) So basically you need to be at the end of the odo check by 2:14 to start the timed portion of the rally. Most rallymasters will time the odo check such that if you left at your assigned time, travelling within the posted speed limit, you would have a few minutes at the end to make your adjustments (what adjustments, I'll cover in a minute). Now, given that this part of the rally is not timed, there is no reason to leave exactly at 1:54pm (unless parking is very limited at the end of the odo check), so it is common for participants to actually leave a few minutes early just to be sure. We just ask that you leave no more than 5 minutes early to avoid a backup of cars at the end of the odo check.

So as I mentioned, the purpose of the odo check is to sync your odo up with the rallymasters. The thing about TSD rallies is that all the perfect times are calculated based on mileages to each checkpoint. That takes any variation out of the equation for slowing around corners or at stop signs, etc. In fact, technically speaking if you encounter a stop sign, the rally assumes that you will decelerate to 0mph for your stop in 0 seconds, and the instantly accelerate to your CAS in 0 seconds. Obviously this is unrealistic! But that's what the times in the rally assume.

So if you are a sophisticated rallyist and are trying to get 0's for your score by mimicking the calculation technique, then it is important for you to have an odometer reading that exactly matches the rallymasters's.

But even if you are not a sophisticated rallyist, you can still get into trouble if your odo doesn't match the rallymaster's. If you get to the end of this 10.00 mile odo check and your odo reads 10.1, then your odo is reading high by 1%. That may not sound like a lot, but if you get to the end of a 100 mile section, your mileages are going to be off by a full mile! And if there are mileages in the instructions that you need to execute AT THAT MILEAGE, an inaccurate reading like that may be intolerable. So what you would do is create an odo "factor" of Your Mileage / Official Mileage. In this example, it would be 10.1 / 10.00 or 1.01. You would then multiple all official mileages in the routes by this factor to get what your odo will read at those places.

Now those of you with digital odo's (is there anything else these days?) I'm not sure how much credence I would put into this. Unless you are watching WHEN the digit clicks over and are able to somewhat interpolate whether you are closer to 10.1 or 10.2, then you are probably not going to be able to get an accurate factor anyway. My advice would be to just use the value as it shows on your odo. It may be inaccurate, but it's better than assuming too high.

Corrected: if you are running unequippped, you won't have access to a calculator anyway so doing detailed calculations is not really an option. The best you can hope for is getting a sense for for how high or low your odo reads compared to the rallymaster's.

Fortunately with this rally, the sections are not 100 miles long and it shouldn't make too much of a difference. Plus when you get to the end of the rally and you are seeing a lot of mileages to help you find the party, look at the difference between two landmarks rather than the absolute mileage itself.

So, getting back to the mechanics here: you would probably leave a minute or 2 before 1:54pm. Most importantly, you want to zero your odometer (trip odometer for most of you) at the point indicated in the instructions, to coincide with what the rallymaster did.

Then you follow the instructions one by one until you get to the instruction that says: End Odometer Correction Section at "END ODO" on the right. Basically there will be a sign out at this point that marks the official end of the odo check. This is exactly the point where you want to read your mileage to calculate your correction factor. Also note that it says to zero your odometer again here. Again, you want to do this exactly at the line (but read your odo reading before you do this!) Then, move out of the way and park your car on the right side of the road. Other competitors and traffic will be coming behind you and need to stop at the line as well.

The end of the odo check instruction says to leave this point at 2:15pm plus your car number (for car #9, that's 2:24pm--did you write that down?) From this point until the break the rally is timed and you will be given average speeds. Leaving on time from here is imperative! When it says 2:24pm, you leave at 2:24.00 (I hope your clock is synchronized!) and go the exact speed specified.

Now you are competing and maintaining the proper average speeds trying to stay on course. You will encounter several checkpoints along the way. I've described the checkpoint procedure elsewhere, but to summarize you are going to cross the line, park the car, take your scorecard back to the checkpoint crew, look at your assigned start time for the new leg and then repeat.

You'll eventually get to a checkpoint where the crew and/or slip will say this is the last checkpoint before the break. You are no longer being timed and you should follow the instructions to the break area. The instructions will tell you what time of day to re-start (did you adjust your instructions for your car # here?) Feel free to visit any of the gas stations or restaurants as you wish, but be aware of what time you need to be at the start of the next section. Give yourself enough time to get back to that point at the right time. And don't forget to zero your odometer again here.

Then you'll run this section like you did the first, eventually arriving at a checkpoint that will say they are the final checkpoint. They will keep your scorecard and you'll continue following instructions until you get to the party! At that point, relax and share stories with your fellow competitors!

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:16 pm

As Gwen said, the most important items to bring (for unequipped class anyway) are:

Pencil, paper, a watch, a full tank of gas and a smile on your face.

I would probably add to that:

1) highlighters
2) several pencils and pens (you'll probably lose a few between the seats)
3) erasers
4) at least one clipboard to put your instructions on
5) Several kinds of tape. Some teams duct tape their clipboard onto their console and then put the instructions in the middle so both driver and navigator can see them. You will also need some tape to affix your car numbers to your car. I've found that masking tape works very well for this as it keeps the number on, and when you're ready to take it off it comes off easily.
6) Water/snacks. Actually you won't have a lot of time for this and the sections are short enough that you'll be at the rest break soon enough anyway, but it doesn't hurt to have it!

For the equipped class, you probably know what else to bring, but the top items there would be your rally odo or computer, calculator, rally tables, etc. depending on your technique.

In the future I might propose classes that more align with the SCCA's classes and present many more options to competitors. The critical distinction there is that you can bring pretty much any equipment you want to, but if the timing equipment is connected to the mileage measuring equipment, you are in the unlimited class vs. the limited class. There is also a "seat of the pants" unequipped class and a novice class.

So what else can you expect to receive at registration? You will receive a packet that contains:

1) The general instructions
2) A scorecard
3) One or more car numbers to be affixed to your car in the designated places.
4) The route instructions
5) Possibly an evaluation form so you can tell us what we did right and wrong (we would appreciate your feedback at the end of the rally).

Hopefully I've described all these items and their use.

Note that for this rally the finish is NOT at the start. So if you are meeting someone to compete, please be aware that there is limited parking at the start for the car you'll leave behind.

Lance Pickup · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:58 pm

Here I will post some sample instructions from a rally I did in the past. My style is a bit different than Bowie's, but it's basically the same idea. This will give you a sample of what to expect the route instructions to look like. If you are interested, this is an example of a "text rally" (this is the same format as Goblin's Go). There are other formats such as "tulip rally" where the instructions take the form of diagrams or little maps of each intersection.

Code:

0.00   1.  Begin odometer check at "The Good Times Meeting Place" (S-O-L sign-on-left).  Zero odometer.  Begin rally at 2:00pm plus car number in minutes.  Take 27.00 minutes to reach NRI 14.  Right.
0.28   2.  Turn Right at SI (signalized intersection)
0.46   3.  Turn Left at SI (signalized intersection)
0.51   4.  Turn Right
1.23   5.  Turn Left at T
2.80   6.  Bear Left at "Van Sicklen Road" (S-O-L Sign-on-left)
3.93   7.  Turn Left at T
4.12   8.  Turn Right
4.74   9.  Turn Right at T
4.94   10. Turn Left (Old Creamery Road)
6.95   11. Turn Left at slant T
8.76   12. Straight at STOP
11.86  13. Turn Right at T
12.29  14. End ODO Check at first entrance to pull-off on right.  Pull in to the pull-off and perform your odometer calibration.  CAS 46
       15. Turn Right out of pull off.
       16. "SPEED LIMIT 40" CAS 40
       17. Turn at "Blue Flame Gas"
       18. "SPEED LIMIT 35".  CAS 33
       19. Turn Left at T.
       20. Turn Right at "Arcana Gardens".  CAS 30 (CAUTION: Ruts in 0.7mi)
       21. Turn Right at T.
       22. Turn Right at STOP.  PAUSE 30 (18 seconds) 
       23. Turn at second opportunity

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