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After 40 years with my TR3A, i have finally decided to enter a classic car rally in Portugal and I know nothing at all about what's involved!

 

My co-driver will be my 17-year-old daughter and I am pretty sure that we will get incredibly lost! As the event is in November, I thought of getting hold of old Tulip Road Maps (I think that's what they are called) in order to practice somewhere near where I live, but can't find anything online. Where should I go to get them?

 

Next, I am not allowed to use any modern equipment but I guess I can use a non.electronic-chronometer (or do I need two, so that we can plan the next section ahead?). Which do you suggest?

 

Thanks and wish me luck!

Edited by qim
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Two is good but more is better

1st for general time keeping total time/distance ( start morning section 70 km/ time 120 min)

2e for leg time/ distance ( 35 km/ 50 min)

3e for short time/distance or timed section ( 5 km / 15 min) or (1.5 km/ 5 min)

 

Marcel.

Edited by Quicksilver
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Most organisations of "classic rallies" allow "modern"(digital) stopwatches.

 

Big digit rally timer is famous brand just google for more pics.

 

we have a nameless 3 timer and works well. 1 timer countdown and the other 2 countup

something like this:

www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/trip-meters-rally-computers/pitking-products-rt3-rally-triple-chronometer-timer-countdown-clock

 

 

Marcel

Edited by Quicksilver
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Thanks Marcel

 

Looking at Roadbooks, it seems that

 

a) I need to know distance to next turn

b- time to next control (if that can be worked out)

c) total time to finish

 

for a) I need to calibrate the car's tripmeter, but as I am probably busy avoiding potholes... I guess that the ideal is to have a secondary trip meter for my co-driver. How can that be done? Is it possible to split the speedometer cable so that you get the speedo's tripmeter as usual and a secondary calibrated tripmeter with the co-driver?

 

for b- and C) your link above solves the problem.

Edited by qim
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On most rallies I only use a clock (to make sure I start sections on time, etc.) and a digital stopwatch with a "lap" capability. (I also use an accurate odometer with two readouts: one for section total and one for distance since the last speed change.)

 

The stopwatch I start at the beginning of a regularity/timed-to-the-second section and hit "lap" st each speed change so that it simultaneously stops and restarts, ensuring that it is running from the exact moment we should be at the new speed.

 

You could easily use a mechanical watch, but you need to be quick on the buttons to stop-reset-start when the speed changes.

 

HOWEVER, my #1 advice is: make sure that your navigator (you can go back to calling her your daughter after the rally!) focuses on the ROUTE before anything else. As soon as you take a junction, ask her what is next. I guarantee that you'll lose more time by taking the wrong route than you will by not knowing the speed you should be going, or how close to "perfect time" you are.

 

Rally rules:

1. stay on the road (driver's responsibility)

2. stay on the route (see above)

3. stay on time - you both work on this, but only after the first two rules.

Edited by TorontoTim
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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried out the accuracy of my trip meter and found that on a motorway stretch of 8 Km the meter read 8,1.

 

I guess that this is pretty accurate and that, assuming that my co-driver, can read the trip meter from the passenger seat, all I need is a simple, fast way of multiplying the distances on the road book by 1.0125.

 

One method would be to work it ll out in advance on a piece of paper. Another is to get a calculator that will keep the multiplier in memory, even after clearing the last calculation. Do all good calculators do that?

 

I would appreciate comments as to the accuracy of my speedo and the best way to deal with the distances.

 

Thanks

 

Camilo

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Hi Camilo,

 

Assuming the regs allow electronic calculators, you should be able to hold the "factor" in the memory.

 

Using the "stock" odo is ok, but I would expect that distances in the roadbook will be given to 1/100th of a kilometer e.g. take a left turn at 4.15km. This MAY not give you any problems, providing there aren't two junctions reasonably close together...

 

It might be worth checking with the organisers to get their input on this (they wouldn't be giving too much away). Borrowing (or buying) a rally odo might be necessary.

 

Tim

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Hi

 

I got hold of the Roadbook and a Control Card for last year's rally, but I wonder if you could explain a couple of things in the Control Card (ecven though it is in Portuguese...) that I can't quite understand:

 

You'll see PEC-8 and PEC-9. What is PEC?

PEC-8 is a PRH: HectometricRegularity Stage. What is that?

PEC-9 refers to the table at the bottom right-hand, but it does not explain what CHSP means.

Card.pdf

Edited by qim
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