i'm participating in a navigational rally this weekend. it's the first time i've done something like this, and i'm just looking for some tips.

now all i know is the key is to not go too fast or too slow, and to not get lost, haha.
but they really don't give us much info, so it will be up to my navigator to make sure we can figure it out on the day of the rally.

anyways, there's a decent first, second, third prize to be won, so anyone have any advice?

 

keep your head out of the drivers lap!!!

 

Are you driving or Navigating?

The "Average Speed" functions on in-car computers of many german cars are a huge asset for these types of events. Many Volks, Audi, BMW have them.

Other than that, be sure you know your Lefts and Rights, and the Co-Driver has to speak LOUD and CLEAR!






(And no 3 point turns Aaron!)

 

lol! yeah i'll try to stay away from those ditches...

well, i will be driving. hence why i said it will be up to MY navigator
as for in car computer, unfortunately my RX-7 still has it's stock 16 year old radio, haha. so no fancy average speed for me.

 

maybe if you stopped thinking about me putting my head in certain places you would actually read my post

 

Make sure you read thouroughly, I participated in one many years ago and the instructions at the top started with "Take 10 minutes and read the instructions..." which was only a short paragraph of info. I figured it was just one of those sayings but we were supposed to wait 10 minutes before leaving the starting point, needless to say we arrived at the first check point about 10 minutes early and lost points.

Good Luck!

 

ok cool, i figured reading the directions throughly is important, as they probably aren't very specific...

i'm going to print out some good maps of the local area, memorize them, and tape them to my dash i think
at least for my navigator it might be useful...or just confuse us

 

bring a laptop and a GPS sensor.

 

Used to do these rally's on a fairly regular basis. They used to be set up by the Capital Rally Club. Was really good fun. At the end if I got one more 1st or 2nd place I would have to race in "Expert" rather than "novice" class.

Here's the best tips I can think of...

Its not supposed to be a speed rally, but barring fluke luck, I NEVER wound up at a checkpoint too early (and I didn't exactly follow the speed limit). You tend to wind up stopping every once in a while to try and figure something out, so you usually wind up behind the times.

Make REALLY sure your navigator doesn't get motion sick. If you can't read a book with your head down on a fast winding gravel road, you have no place in the Navigator's seat because you'll be hanging out the window in short order.

I started off with a clip board, and wound up using a double thickness desk blotter with a bunch of clamps. This is your writing/navigation board. It has to be small enough not to interfere with the driver. You want clamps to hold down pieces of paper.

Pad of writing paper and calculator and several PENCILS with good erasers.

Right frame of mind - if you can't stay calm you'll wind up yelling at each other like some Amazing Race teams.

Try and notice some of the cars when you start off. Sometimes if you get really screwed, you see a car you know and for lack of knowing what else to do, at least you can follow it to the next checkpoint.

Never give up. A couple of times I thought we had completely blown it, and we
ended up in 2nd and 3rd place.

Check the following on the car before starting - tire pressure, coolant, oil, lights and signals, WINDSHIELD WASHER and wipers.

Hope you have a great time. I always did. Night rally's are the best!

Rob

 

thanks Rob, that's some good advice

yeah, i was searching around the internet, and i believe another term for this type of rally is "Time Speed Distance", or TSD.

reading up on it, i have realized that a map won't do much good, and GPS is not that useful because you have to go by the official event odometer. that means if my odo is off, which it will be, i am going to have to do a calibration calculation and my navigator will have to convert all distances and times using that.

i think the hardest part though is staying on course. the directions can get really tricky, since they involve default courses of action if you come to an unspecified intersection and what not. and they even set it up so that you may mis-read a direction and take a wrong turn...it looks like the navigator is doing most the work!
lol

 

Make sure your navigator is reliable, they will basically be thinking for you, from what I hear. Keep to the rally time if you want to place highly (if its your first, don't go out there expecting a top 5) and don't be afraid to speed a little to catch up some lost time (if you end up going off route). Make sure you keep a clear head and don't get flustered/frustrated if something goes wrong.

And of course, make sure you have comfy seats, or it'll be a loooong day. Most of all, have fun!