Guide to JCNA Club Rallying & Program Rules     Chapter 8 - Your First Rally

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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

Success in rallies depends to a great extent on paying attention to a multitude of tiny details. It means being in the right place at the right time, following a given route without actually knowing where you're going, and adhering to prescribed average speeds.

Bringing home a trophy from your first rally will more than likely be good luck rather than good management, but it's never too early to lay down a pattern of good management to follow in the future. See Chapter 6 for recommended equipment.

At the starting area, look for the Rallymaster or Registration Desk where you can register, pay the entry fee, and be assigned a car number and a starting time. You may have to affix large, easily visible numbers to one or both sides of your car, or identify your car by some other means provided by the Rallymaster.

Now that you've registered and received a set of General Instructions, CHECK ALL THE PAGES TO ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE THEM ALL AND THAT THEY ARE LEGIBLE. Be certain to ask if any last minute corrections to either the GIs or Route Instructions have been posted. If so, copy them down carefully. The navigator should check his/her watch against the Rallymaster's official radio time signal or timepiece.

Get back into your car and start reading. READ THE GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY; THEY ARE THE GROUND RULES FOR THE DAY'S EVENT, AND MANY A RALLY IS WON OR LOST BECAUSE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THEM. GIs are a topic in their own right, and we have devoted Chapter 2 to them. If you have not given Chapter 2 your full attention, go back and re-read it now!

About 10 minutes before your vehicle's start time make sure that you know where the starting point is located. Cars are normally started in numerical order, so look for the car that starts just ahead of yours and get in line behind it. Check your watch again and if you still have a few minutes, walk up to the starting line and observe which way the cars head as they leave. This may save you valuable seconds when it's your turn to take off.

Just before you start you'll be given a set of Route Instructions ( sometimes referred to as "route sheets" ), detailing the course you're to follow and prescribing average speeds to be maintained. THE NAVIGATOR SHOULD QUICKLY LOOK THROUGH THE SET OF RIs TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED ALL THE PAGES AND THAT THEY ARE LEGIBLE.

The first few instructions on any JCNA rally are designed to get you to the end of the odometer check leg without losing you, so relax and pay attention to the instructions.

It isn't easy to read the driver route instructions and changes in average speed while figuring out if you're ahead of time or behind, but don't make the common mistake of being so concerned with average speed that you forget a turning. There's nothing to be gained by being right on time but in the wrong place.

Once you have arrived at the odometer check, make note of any discrepancy between your odometer and the official mileage. You will have chosen your method of correcting for odometer error as described in Chapter 5; this is the time to begin applying it. Keeping to the stated average speed is done in part by the skill of the driver, but mostly by the navigator using the odometer, or reset table trip odometer, the mileage counter that's part of your speedometer.

In a rally the navigator must check the team's average speed by computing time against distance (see Chapters 4, 5 & 7) -- your watch against your odometer. Dividing miles covered by minutes elapsed and multiplying the result by 60 will give you your average speed in miles per hour.

EXAMPLE: Assume that your odometer reads exactly 21.6 miles when you've been on the rally route for 54 minutes. Dividing 54 into 21.6 gives a quotient of 0.4, which is your speed in MILES PER MINUTE. Multiplying 60 by 0.4 shows your average speed to be 24 miles per hour. If the prescribed average speed at that point in the RIs is 24 miles per hour, you're right on time.

This figuring can be done in various ways: with a mechanical or electronic pocket calculator, or a slide with tables or a circular rally indicator such as the Stevens or Blackwell Rally indicators (see Chapter 4). You may also use a US Air Force E-6B or civilian aviation "dead reckoning" calculator (themselves forms of slide rules).

FOR YOUR FIRST TIME OUT, CONCENTRATE ON FOLLOWING THE ROUTE AND LEARNING HOW THINGS ARE DONE, KEEPING AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE AVERAGE SPEEDS IN THE SIMPLEST WAY YOU CAN. GOOD LUCK AND DON'T GET LOST.

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Previous: Chapter 7 - Timing
Next: Chapter 9 - Wlnning Rally Rules and Techniques