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Guide to JCNA Club Rallying & Program Rules
Chapter 12 - Rallymaster Guide to Planning, Organizing and Running a Successful Club Rally
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are planning a rally for qualification under the JCNA Rally Program, THE RALLY MUST COMPLY WITH ALL THE RULES LISTED IN CHAPTER 11.
Without exception the Official Mileages as recorded by the Rallymaster's odometer MUST BE UNCONTESTABLY ACCURATE! To exactly determine the accuracy of your Jaguar or other odometer and to find its odometer error: find a highway or parkway that has mileage markers and drive smoothly down the center of one lane, without cutting corners, for exactly 10 miles as precisely indicated by the markers. At that point write down your odometer reading and calculate your MILEAGE CORRECTION FACTOR as per the formula in Chapter 5. You must apply this factor to all rally distances to be published so that all route instruction distances are 100% correct.
1. SELECTING A STARTING POINT.
One of the first things you have to do is decide on the area over which you wish to run the rally. Then you need to select a place to begin and "start" the rally, and a place to end (and possibly "finish") the rally. The place where the rallyists will gather and begin the rally is important for several reasons. The place should be large enough to safely accommodate many cars, have rest room facilities and perhaps a place to eat. There should be easy access to traffic lanes for the rally cars.
One of the best places to begin is at a Jaguar dealership parking lot or in front of its showroom. We (the authors) have had concerned dealers open their showroom doors to enable rallyists to browse, have coffee and doughnuts, and access to washrooms.
Diner parking lots are also excellent as they provide all the previously mentioned amenities, and are generally near gasoline stations. Parking lots in public parks are also good, but in all cases, make sure that permission is granted by the owners or operators of such places. This is usually not difficult to obtain when you explain that the event will be conducted in a conservative fashion by a Jaguar club, and that you will have Jaguars parked there for a relatively short period. Emphasize that there will not be a "competition" nor any other such dangerous activity taking place. Be aware that owners of private property may require you to supply a certificate of insurance to prove coverage of club members while on site.
2.SELECTING THE FINISHING POINT.
The end location of an enjoyable rally should be at a restaurant or meeting place that can accommodate the number of rallyists, guests and club members who not only ran the rally, but may join you at the finish. Select a place with a wide variety of foods available. Many restaurants outside of the cities have adequate parking areas and private rooms which they will be delighted to make available to you. After all, it represents a big increase in their regular business. The finishing place depends on the sort of rally you are running. Some very successful rallies have ended at a beach or an apple picking orchard with everyone bringing along a picnic and bathing gear. Or it could end at an accommodating members' home with a pool party and barbeque. Having made your decision, discuss it with the management or the owner.
3.PLOTTING THE ROUTE.
Having selected your "beginning" and "end," now is the time for some home work. Obtain a good map of the area you intend to cover and start making a route to be followed. Check the area for interesting places, quiet but challenging roads, parks, farms selling produce (good spot for a break), historic areas, etc., and make notes of things to check out when physically setting up the route.
Armed with several pencils and lots of notepaper, go to the starting point and start driving the route, writing down the directions clearly in sequence as you go. What appeared on the map as a passable area may in fact no longer be so, for reasons ranging from road construction to housing developments. Therefore, you will have to return to the last "good" direction, and cross out the last instruction. The entire rally has to be driven, checked, kept or discarded in this way many times over before a perfect route can be compiled and finalized. Rough distance measurements can be taken from the start but the final actual measuring of the course must be done when the complete route is established. Take care when establishing your average speeds that they do not exceed the posted legal limits.
If you wish to include a lunch break, search for a suitable spot along the route and allocate a specific time period for the break. Many rallies have very interesting lunch spots where participants can enjoy or appreciate something special, like an old village with antiques and sidewalk stalls, a historic museum, etc. Unfortunately, many rallyists do not take advantage of this and use the time to compute their times and work out figures for the next leg of the rally. However, it is still good to have an interesting area for a lunch break. Don't forget to plan for refueling.
Setting up the course of the rally is the most time consuming part as all roads have to be driven and decisions made as to whether to keep that particular road or discard it for an alternative. At the end of a day's run the notes you have made of route instructions should be re-written clearly in double spacing so that next time out you start with a clear set of instructions to which you can add.
While setting up the route watch out for historical plaques or signposts and items of interest which can then be incorporated into the route instructions at the appropriate place. It is interesting to know some facts about the area you are covering when running the rally. Also, if entrants are to be asked questions as part of the rally, hunt now for the things you want to include and make sure they are written in the rally route instructions at the correct places. Make sure you have the correct answers on your own copy for checking final results.
4.LOCATING CHECKPOINT SITES.
Make sure there is a suitable place for your checkpoint personnel to park and observe the rally cars. If the checkpoint is of the open variety and cars will be stopping, you you will need A LOT of space. Choose a spot that will not create a traffic hazard.
The timing line for an open checkpoint should be clearly indicated by a mark on the road, or an identifying sign.
Never locate a checkpoint within your odometer check leg. Contestants have insufficient information at that point to properly maintain an average speed.
Closed controls, which do not require cars to stop, can be operated with fewer personnel. It is a good idea to place the timing mark in advance of where the checkpoint crew are located in order to give them sufficient opportunity to record the time and be certain of the car's number.
Checkpoint personnel (a minimum of three is recommended) should be given a Checkpoint Package which you have prepared in advance consisting of a map and instructions which take them DIRECTLY TO THE CHECKPOINT LOCATION. Do not expect them to get to their station by following the rally route instructions, and give them ample time to arrive and set up before the first car is due. A good rule of thumb is to have the checkpoint operational 20 minutes before the first car is due to arrive. Normally, checkpoints remain open about 20 minutes after the last car is due.
5.TIMING THE RALLY CARS.
Checkpoint personnel should be provided with pencils, scrap paper, timing slips (if you are going to issue them to the rally cars) and timing equipment (watches). Instruct your checkpoint volunteers in the use of the timing equipment. Every checkpoint must be provided with a Checkpoint Result Form. This should be made up in advance, showing the checkpoint number, and columns headed "Car No.", "Time Due", "Time In", and "Error" ( the number of seconds the car is early or late). The Rallymaster should fill in the "Car No." and the "Time Due" column before giving it to the checkpoint personnel. As rally cars pass the checkpoint the car number is taken and the time recorded (perhaps on a piece of scrap paper). The time is then inserted in the "Time In" column next to the appropriate car number. While waiting for the next car, the calculation can be made to find out how many seconds early or late they were when compared with the "Time Due", and the number placed in the "Error" column.
6.SCORING THE RALLY.
At the end of the rally, the checkpoint personnel will hand in their result forms to the Rallymaster who will then calculate the final results by adding all the Error numbers from each checkpoint for each car and insert them on a master result form. This should consist of Columns headed "Car No.", "Checkpoint 1 Error", "Checkpoint 2 Error", etc., and "Total Error." A further column marked "Place" can be included so that 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc can be determined according to the lowest numbers in the "Total Error" column.
7.OTHER TIPS.
Never underestimate the amount of time it takes to formulate a rally. You should select the date at least 8 weeks in advance. Plan to make a MINIMUM of 4 runs through the proposed route before you can consider it finalized.
Be sure the rally RIs are clearly typed in double spacing with mileages and average speeds noted where appropriate (see the example at the beginning of Chapter 3).
Be sure all peculiarities of the rally are written into the GIs.
Give the GIs and RIs to a rally team that has not had anything to do with laying out the event, and have them run it on the same day of the week that the rally will take place. If your checkers have had any problems with your RIs now is the time to rewrite them.
The rally route must be rerun in its entirety the day before the rally to make sure that all roads are still open and that such unpredictables as road construction, or flooding have not made any sections impassable. Remember, the more legs there are to your rally the less chance there is of it being ruined if a leg must be thrown out due to unforseen complications.
If something unsuspected has occurred to the rally route, you MUST hold a drivers and navigators meeting at the start of the rally to identify any changes that must be made to the route instructions. Prominently post the changes to be made. It is a good idea to have prepared "emergency" rerouting signs with the club initials on them which can be posted along the course if, for example, a road sign has fallen down. If you post an emergency sign, remember to include the RI number affected. A sample emergency sign should be posted at the start so contestants know what they look like.
It is a good idea for the Rallymaster to "sweep the course" (run the rally route) 30 to 45 minutes after the last rally team takes off, in order to assist any rally cars that might have had a malfunction, accident, flat tire, etc., along the route.
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© 2001 JAGUAR CLUBS OF NORTH AMERICA, INC.
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