Rally School

Check Out "TSD Rallies – Navigating for the Beginner" by Dean Schindell

There are 2 primary skills required to TSD:

• Staying ON COURSE
• Staying ON TIME

The skills discussed on this page are those that will help a new team become competent at TSD rallying.  There are many more tricks to TSD than discussed here.  These are the basics.  I have learned not to share all the tricks; after all we may be competing against each other one day.  Once you have a grasp for the sport you will soon develop your own shortcuts and tricks.  For example I have developed methods using Calculus to reduce some of the calculations shown on this page.

This page has information relevant to the driver & navigator.  It is always good for both team members to understand each other's jobs therefore no attempt has been made to attach importance to which role the information serves.

Uniform descending order of precedence ("forced turn" or "main road" rules)

If you can't memorize these; stick them to your dashboard.  These are the HEART to staying on course.  You will need to apply these quickly and accurately a number of times during the rally.

When teams encounter an intersection for which there is no given specific instruction in the route instructions, the following descending order of priorities for proceeding should be applied:

The teams finding themselves with a choice of routes on any level should descend to the next level until only one route remains.
 

These are quite straight forward except #2 which some people have problems understanding.  The rule of thumb I use is take the route that does not have the stop sign.( IE: You come to a crossroad. You have a stop sign. The road straight ahead has a stop sign. The road to your right has a stop sign. The road to the left has no stop sign. --- You will go left.  NOTE: If all roads had a stop sign you would move to the next "main road" rule.)

Rally Terms & Definitions

Click here to go to the Rally Terms & Definitions page.

Rally Rules

Click here to go to the Rally Rules page.

The Math Part

Here is the most important formula:

Distance/Speed = Time   likewise  Δ Distance/Speed = Δ Time  where Δ(delta) is "difference"

Example Calculation

The Start Time is 9:01am for your car:
1st Instruction says CAST 10.00km
2nd Instruction says at .24km Turn Right.
What should the time be when you get to that intersection?

.24/10 = .024  .024 x 60 = 1.44minutes = 44 x 60 = 26.4seconds  The time should be 9:01am + 1minute + 26.4 seconds = 9:02:26
Another way is:
.024 x 3600 = 86.4roughly       60)86 = 1 24/60 which is 1 minute 24seconds

Believe it or Not an experienced navigator can calculate the time at every instruction in the short time they have the rally sheets before proceeding on their way.  Some have other little tricks to help them but the majority pound the math.

Take a look at the .pfd files available on the Sample Rally Sheets Page.

Here is a the KM version with 2 new columns added. Delta Distance & Time Into Stage. Notice the time in seconds that has been calculated for every intersection.  This process is called, "Pre-Calcs".  As you can imagine, pretty accurate progress can be obtained if you know exactly what your stop watch should read at every intersection.  This is primarily what an experienced navigator will try to have calculated before a stage.

Although this may seem hard and a lot of work at first; it really isn't.  On the first Rally I ever did, we had 55 demerits on the first day.  The second day we had only 4.  I learned overnight how to do Pre-Calcs.   If you can practice this prior to an actual rally, you are half way there.

Novice teams will be given a bit of help the FIRST day.  Your sheets will have the delta distance for the day and the 1st Stage will have Pre-Calcs.  Later Stages will have some Pre-Calcs put in to help you stay on track with your calculations should you decide to not go "Seat Of The Pants".

Instructions To Look For

I usually highlight these as soon as I am handed my instruction sheets for the day.  For the Novice Teams this will be done the first day. See Sample Rally Sheets Page.

ONTO - Highlight ONTO instructions.  An ONTO instruction means you must look for side roads labeled with the name that you are ONTO.  For instance Yelm Hwy. in Yelm Wa. turns off the main road.  There is a sign to indicate this.  Even though the highway appears to go straight it doesn't.  Believe me, it cost me 5 penalty points.  ONTO's are a form of a trap.  Watch out for them.  DO NOT pass any intersection when on an ONTO without checking the street signs.

BECOMES - Often used in conjunction with ONTO it tells the navigator that at sometime the current street will BECOME a different name.  If under ONTO instruction the ONTO rule still applies only using the new name.

TOWARD - Almost as bad as an ONTO, TOWARD means you must look for direction or instruction signs that direct you TOWARDS your instruction.  Commonly used on Transit Stages to move the Rally to a another town or attraction.

MR - Mileage Marker.  Don't forget this or you will have no idea how far out your vintage vehicle odometer is.  Or in my case the first day I rallied, I thought it meant make right and we proceeded down a gravel driveway into a chap's carport.

BEAR - This can be used as a trap.  Imagine an instruction that says Bear Right at 10.63Km, however at 10.57Km there happens to be a 90 degree Right Turn.  If you read the instructions you will know NOT to turn on the 90 degree turn.  Those who don't notice the BEAR will get caught.

ACUTE - Same reason as for BEAR.

OPPORTUNITIES - This one is so important.  You must count the valid OPPORTUNITIES as you pass by them.  Once you have passed it is too late.  Many teams don't notice the word OPPORTUNITY until they have gotten to a situation where they are trying to second guess how many roads they may have passed since the last instruction.  Imagine traveling for 5KM only to find 2 roads to your right almost next to each other intersecting your road.  Your instruction says 3rd OPPORTUNITY and the mileage is close enough for either to qualify.  You realize you are in a trap.  Most likely down one road is a Time Checkpoint and an OFF Course down the other.  If only you had counted the roads you passed in the last 5Km you would know which turn to take.

PAUSES - I actually highlight a strip right across the page for these.  Miss one of these when doing your Pre-Calcs and it can cost you the Stage.

FREE ZONES - Good to know when you are in and LEAVING one of these.  You don't have to worry about time in a FREE ZONE so you can scoot to the end of it and rest. Don't exit the FREE ZONE before it's time or park beyond it because you never know where the next Timing Checkpoint is.

SAFETY ZONES - Need I say more.

TIGHT INSTRUCTIONS - Look for instructions that are close to each other by distance or you may find yourself passing the road you were suppose to turn down while you are reading the instruction.

Trust Your Odometer

Rally instructions are based primarily on distance.  There are many traps that intentionally make a team want to turn when they shouldn't.  If your odometer says it is too early to turn then it probably is unless you have somehow messed up a correction factor.  This can sometimes be really hard to do, but trust it.  I have been known to be so die hard on this that with an inaccurate odometer I have made my driver overshoot a turn by only a few hundred feet.  This is due to being caught a few times by double road turns and loop roads.  I live by, "better safe than sorry".

Training Rallies

If I have enough interest I will put on some Training Rallies to expose new teams to some of the more nasty tricks.  These will be 2 or 3 hour jaunts on a Saturday or Sunday without prizes.  Entry fee will be by donation to the BC Classic Rally Series.  Any funds not used for Rally costs will be passed to the "Variety Club Show of Hearts".  If you would like to participate in one of these please email the Rally Master and if I get enough people I'll go for it.