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Helpful Hints
for Novice Rallyists |
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In the first place, remember that being on time on the wrong road does not
help you win a rally. It makes sense to place your first priority on finding your
way through the route. Follow instructions explicitly. Don't try to outguess
the rallymaster. Do no more or less than the instructions require and assume
nothing you don't have to assume. Rallying is a sport in which ability to
follow instructions (or lack of such ability) separates winners from losers. In the second section of the rally (or the first, if there is no tire
warm-up section) you should establish the relationship between your odometer
and the official odometer used to measure the rally. You can find a linear
relationship (graphically) unless one of your tires has a slow leak. Mathematically, you can discover a factor by which to multiply your
odometer mileage and determine the official mileage by the following method:
Take careful measurements in the odometer calibration section (up to the end
of the Free Zone) and compare them with the official mileages. By dividing
official mileage into your mileage at several references, you should be able
to notice a consistent ratio, which, with a little multiplication, will
enable you to make predictions and perform other notable feats of navigation.
(Example: If at official mileage 10.000 your odometer reads 10.500, your
factor is 1.050, which means that at official mileage 20.000 your odometer
will read 20.000 x 1.050 or 21.000 miles, etc.) Rally navigation often includes the solving of the time-speed-distance
problem. This means that the navigator will calculate the car's due time at
various points along the route, compare the time the car actually reaches the
points (assuming calculating ahead) with the calculated time, and tell the
driver something like, "Hey! Slow down! We're a half minute early and I
smell a checkpoint around the bend!" This can be accomplished by the use
of any of several methods. Since a detailed account is beyond the scope of
this essay, we leave it to novice navigators to enter into discussion with
experienced ones usually recognizable by their haggard appearance. Those who hope to luck-in on the trophy presentation without going through
the pain are referred to the first paragraph above. Many a trophy has been
won by a team that barely navigated mathematically, if at all. This is
usually accomplished by the driver's good sense of speed in the seat of his
pants and the navigator's ability to give a reasonably accurate time check
every now and then. What wins rallys is being somewhere near on time on the
right road. Not getting lost works, especially if most of the competition has
been sucked down the wrong road by anxiety, carelessness, or any of a hundred
other reasons. Most of all relax and have fun and enjoy the scenery. Rallymasters have
the knack of finding pretty places that most people haven't had the ambition
to discover. The route will usually avoid main highways and built-up areas,
concentrating on roads that offer something other than traffic to capture
your attention. If you want to stay on course though, you'll have to notice
what the rallymaster noticed about that misspelled road sign, or the way that
the street with the strange name turned right instead of continuing straight
ahead. Go get 'em! (Editor's note: At the 42nd Parade last year in San Antonio, Joe Boucher
won the Hoffman Rally Award as the driver of the first place car, overall.
His navigator was Tom Gould, Orange Coast Region.) |