Guide to JCNA Club Rallying & Program Rules     Chapter 7 - Timing

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Index Introduction (TSD) Rally Instructions and Terms Route Instructions Avg. Speed and Calc. Odometer and Tires Rally Equipment Timing Your First Rally Rules and Techniques Variations to the Rally JCNA Rally Rules Rallymaster Guide Appendix A Appendix B

In order to compute time, speed and distance problems we have to know time and we have to know distance. To tell time we need an instrument that will perform consistently in the face of vibration and the bouncing of a car on rally roads. IT MUST BE AN INSTRUMENT THAT IS EASY AND FAST TO READ. Today's digital stopwatches easily meet these qualifications. They are readily available and relatively inexpensive. Any number of stores, gift shops and electronics chain stores such as Radio Shack carry digital stopwatches with "lap" and/or "split" timing features -- and most importantly they are QUARTZ CONTROLLED WITH ELECTRONIC ACCURACY THAT WAS UNATTAINABLE AT ANY PRICE JUST A FEW YEARS AGO.

The ten-hour LCD quartz stopwatches such as the Micronta (catalogue no.63-5010) from Radio Shack that shows hours, minutes, seconds and 1/100th of seconds are so inexpensive that you may consider buying and using two of them -- one to run continuously throughout the rally and the second one just to measure the time in case you should go off course.

A decimal readout or dial watch THAT READS IN HUNDREDTHS OF A MINUTE INSTEAD OF SECONDS (that is, 1/60th of a minute), although more expensive and difficult to find, SIMPLIFIES CALCULATIONS NO END. Trying to add or to or subtract from minutes and seconds involves (for example) converting 13 minutes 24 seconds into 12 minutes 84 seconds if you have to subtract any quantity with more than 24 seconds from it. The decimal readout or dial, on the other hand, gives us 100 parts to the minute, and arithmetic becomes a simple as counting dollars and cents.

For checking out or zeroing in your watches and clocks for exactly the correct time of day, DO NOT RELY UPON AM OR FM RADIO TIME ANNOUNCEMENTS. They are quite often incorrect. Instead, check your timing equipment with telephone company time announcements or with the US Bureau of Standards time announcements on Short Wave Radio broadcast frequencies WWV 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, or 25.0 megaHertz. All good Rallymasters provide a short-wave radio tuned to WWV at the rally start point for your use.

JCNA Rally Officials will be timing and scoring your car with stopwatches that read in hours: minutes: seconds: hundredths of seconds. Arriving early or late at a checkpoint adds penalty points to your score at a rate determined by the Rallymaster. (A typical penalty would be 1 point for each second you are early or late.) The team with the least number of penalty points wins the rally.

USEFUL TIMING FORMULAS:

--TO FIND TIME IN HOURS:
Mileage/Average Speed = elapsed time in Hours

--TO FIND TIME IN MINUTES:
(Mileage X 60)/Average Speed = elapsed time in Minutes

--TO FIND TIME IN SECONDS:
(Mileage X 3600)/Average Speed = elapsed time in Seconds

--TO FIND MILES PER MINUTE:
MPH/60 = Miles per Minute

--TO CONVERT HUNDREDTHS OF MINUTES TO SECONDS:
Hundredths of Minute X 60 = Seconds

ANY ACCURATE TIMEPIECE -- EVEN A WRISTWATCH WITH A SECOND HAND -- IS ALL YOU NEED TO RUN IN AND ENJOY A RALLY.

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Previous: Chapter 6 - Rally Equipment
Next: Chapter 8 - Your First Rally