
For
a printable version of the guide click
here.
What
does the navigator have to do?
The navigator has quite a few things to occupy him. Before the event
he must obtain the correct map and ensure that he has all the essential
items. During the rally, it is the navigator who works out the correct
route from the clues provided (usually with some help from the driver)
and then directs the driver in the right direction, making sure
not to lose his place on the map and warning the driver of any disastrous
bends which lie ahead. Whilst doing all of this the navigator has
to keep track of how much time is remaining for the section and
tell the driver to speed up or slow down accordingly.
The Map
All BUMC rallies are run on 1:50 000 OS maps (sheet 172), readily
available from either Waterstones or Blackwells.
The Roamer
A
useful item as it allows very accurate plotting of grid references
using the 'pointy' bit, whilst the collection of holes in the middle
are of sizes corresponding to radii of 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m
on the map and are useful for plotting 'Black Spots' and 'Quiet
Zones'.
Roamers
can be bought from motorsports shops, but can easily be made from
cardboard and sticky backed plastic etc.
The Map Board
Another item essential to being a good navigator, as it will enable
you to draw the route on the map without ripping holes in it. Whilst
providing a solid base to write on, it also needs to be collapsible
in the case of an accident and this will be checked at scrutineering.
The ideal material for a map board is corrugated cardboard, two
sheets stuck together with the "grain" in opposite directions
should be sufficient. The bigger the board the better, although
it must fit inside the car, 18inch square is ideal.
The
Map Light
Although crews have won rallies with a hand-held torch, it is useful
to have both hands free for navigating. If you do fit a map light
in the car, it is worth spending time getting it positioned properly
so you don't have to sit unnaturally to use it.
Also...
Pencils,
and lots of them to allow for breakages and losses. Soft ones (2B
are ideal) will not rip the map. Always keep one handy, along with
a good rubber.
And finally, a stopwatch to keep track of the minutes. A watch will
suffice and can sometimes be easier to use.
BEFORE
THE RALLY
The entry to a rally opens 3 or 4 weeks in advance, allowing you
to sign up (and pay!) guaranteeing you a space. Supplementary
Regulations (SR) will be issued a week or so in advance of the
rally. These will detail when the rally takes place and which map
you will need, also the rules and points scoring system.
It will also give details of signing-on and scrutineering, which
you must attend. This will be on the night of the rally, a few hours
before it starts (typically 6.30pm in the university precinct).
You will be expected to present your insurance details to the secretary
of the meeting and also pay the entry fee, if you have not already
done so. Meanwhile the driver will have to present the car to the
scrutineer to ensure that important things like lights, horn and
brakes are working etc. In the past, this has always taken place
in Queens Building, but this car park will be closed to the publice
in the near future, so we will have to use a different car park.
This will be notified in advance.
You
will then be issued with Final Instructions, an important document,
as it will tell you the start location and time, any amendments
to the SR's and also the list of Black Spots and Quiet Spots.
Black
Spots are sensitive areas, and entry into one will result in exclusion.
Quiet zones may be used after switching off any spot-lights, and
whilst travelling in as high a gear as possible. In addition to
those given on the final instructions, all 30mph and 40mph zones
are designated as quiet zones.
Now that you have your map, roamer and list of black spots and quiet
zones the process of marking up the map can begin. Everybody has
their own way of marking the map, but the essential things to get
down are the dreaded black spots and quiet zones. These are usually
given in one of two forms:
-
Grid squares, or parts of grid squares - e.g. (5734) or (5734)
SW quarter
- A
six figure reference and a radius - e.g. (571347) r 100m
Most people mark black spots with heavy shading to obliterate them
completely but quiet zones only need light shading, so you can see
the roads in the area, as the chances are you will be passing through.
Some people also highlight such things as grid numbers, spot heights
etc. in order to make them easier to find in a hurry.
So, now you are ready for the start of the rally.
NAVIGATION
- THE TRICKY BIT!
The first thing to realise is that anything goes! It has often been
a favourite pastime of rally organisers to devise their own interpretations
of any existing types of 'nav' to fool those amongst us who are
called (often laughingly) expert navigators. If you're new to this
game, then don't worry too much as you will be classed as novice
and will receive relatively simple nav.
A FEW GENERAL POINTS
The route will be unambiguous, but if it isn't then always take
the shortest route consistent with the information given. This is
a rule governing nav. The route should never cross itself at all.
There is an apparant anomoly with this rule, concerning crossroads:

As
the diagram shows, turning left twice at the same crossroads from
opposite sides is permissable, since although you are visiting the
same junction twice, your route does not actually cross itself.
However, turning right twice at the same crossroads is not allowed,
since the route is crossed. Note - You are allowed to travel down
the same road, in opposite directions.
Navigation
is always 'as map' and not 'as road'. In other words, if you arrive
at a junction and it doesn't correspond to what appears on the map,
the navigation will fit the map and not the road. White roads and
paths are ignored for the purposes of navigation, unless they form
part of the route, in which case it will be made clear that the
road is white (whites are shown as dotted lines on herringbones,
grid squares, tulips etc.).
Complicated
junctions, particularly roundabouts and dual carraigeway junctions,
will be treated in the nav as several smaller junctions which go
together to make the complete route. For example, 'Take the 3rd
exit from a roundabout' would be treated as: Turn left at a T-Junction
(onto roundabout) Miss a left side-road (first exit) Miss a left
side-road (second exit) Take a left side-road (third exit)
VIAS AND AVOIDS
These are the most elementary forms of navigation and basically
just define a set of points to go via or to avoid, the shortest
route consistent with the information is the correct route. The
points defined could be grid references, spot heights on the road,
grid lines crossing the road, a letter in a place name written across
the road, in fact, just about any symbol, line etc. on (or very
near) the road. In the case of novice nav. the vias and avoids will
probably be in order, for experts they will often be listed randomly.
TULIPS

Tulips
are another extremely simple and easy to follow form of nav. Tulips
are basically just an illustration of the junction as it appears
on the map. For novices, there is a dot indicating the direction
of entry to the tulips on the left. For experts, the tulips often
don't have the dots and arrows, and sometimes only every other junction
is shown. Tulips are often shown in a different orientation to the
map, so a little spatial reasoning may be required!
GRID
LINES
With
this form of nav, all you will receive is a large collection of
numbers, a lot of which are very similar in value. These numbers
represent grid lines which the route crosses, in the order given.
In the more complicated nav, these numbers may be reversed or stuck
together etc. It is usually easy to spot grid lines as a type of
nav, as distinct from spot height, because you will see several
repititions of the same numbers.
DIRECTIONS
Here
the navigator gets a long list of directions (N, S, E, W etc) and
these will represent one of two things: The side by which the route
leaves the current grid square, in which case compound directions
(NW, SE, SW etc) will be rare but not non-existent (you can leave
a square via the corner). The direction in which the route leaves
the next junction, in which case there will be lots and lots of
compound directions.
HERRINGBONES
The best way of explaining a herringbone is to think of it as a
piece of string laid out along the correct route, with all the junctions
indicated as lines either side of the string in the appropriate
positions. The string is then pulled taut into a straight line,
showing all the roads missed on the section.

Studying
the herringbone above, the first junction could be one of two things.
It could mean 'carry straight on missing a road on your right' (which
is how it appears at first sight), or it could also mean 'turn left
either at a junction or into a side road'. Similarly the second
junction means either 'go straight on' or 'turn right'. The third
junction is obvious, and means 'straight on at crossroads'. The
fourth junction means 'turn right at crossroads'. Since every junction
appears on the herringbone, it is a simple matter to follow through
one by one and plot the route, mistakes will be obvious if you make
them, as the junctions will cease to fit! Now for the infamous Circular
Herringbone:

The
main problem is that you obviously have a choice of two directions
to choose from. The dot is not necessarily the start of the section,
but can be specified as something on the route. If you know that
the dot corresponds to the start of the section, then it is easy
to deduce which way round the herringbone you are meant to go, you
simply try it one way and if it doesn't work, you go the other way!
If the start point is in the middle of the route, it becomes more
difficult, as you could be travelling either way on the road at
that point, and you still have to decide which way round the herringbone
to go! That gives you four possibilities to go at.
If the organisers are feeling really sadistic, they could reverse
the meaning of each juction by putting the spars on the opposite
sides. Another confusing tactic is showing only every other junction
on the herringbone. This is when the map becomes in danger of being
torn to shreds! The secret to herringbones is to keep a cool head,
take it junction by juncion and keep telling yourself "It's not
really difficult, is it?".
TRACINGS
These
really are very simple, consisting of the correct route traced onto
the nav. sheet. All you need to do is take your sheet of tracing
paper, trace out the nav onto it, and somehow make it fit the map.
There may be a few complications such as the route is split into
two pieces, rotated or reflected etc. then rejoined, but once you've
made part of it fit, the rest is usually easy to figure out.
YELLOWS
'Yellows', as they are known, are groups of the letter 'Y', 'R', 'B',
and occasionally (but only if required) 'W'. These letters stand for
yellow, red, brown and white respectively. Each group represents one
junction on the map. The first letter of each group indicates the
colour of the road you enter the junction on, and the final letter
indicates the colour of road you exit the junction on. The letters in
the middle indicate any other roads at the junction which are not part
of the route.
For
example: YBBY YYY YYY YYYY YYY YBYB BRR
'YBBY' usually means straight across a brown road at a crossroads
from a yellow road to another yellow road. 'YYY' means turn left
or right at a junction with three yellow roads. Clearly it is necessary
here to look ahead to find out which way is correct! For instance,
if the next junction features 4 letters on the nav, then you can
look ahead for a nearby crossroads. 'YBYB' means turn left or right
from a yellow road onto a brown road at a crossroads.
In
more difficult standards of nav, the junctions nay all be grouped
together!
For example, the above sequence would become: YBBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYBYBBRR
In this case it is necessary to try to split the code up into the
original junctions. The main problem comes when there is a large
string of 'Y's in a row. this is quite a common occurrence since
most of the roads used on rallies are yellows. The trick is to count
up any long series of 'Y's and divide by three to find out how many
junctions you must go through. From here you simply find a route
which has the correct number of junctions along it.
TL's
AND TR's
These
are very straight forward and simply indicate the direction to take
at each junction. TR means turn right, TL means turn left and SO
means straight on. Any of the above may be followed by the letter
'X', indicating the junction is a crossroads, for example SOX means
straight on at crossroads.
For example: TL TR TRX SOX SO
TL's and TR's may be further complicated by being given in code:
AF AB ABC DEC DE
or
AFABABCDECDE
Code: (T=A, R=B, X=C, S=D, O=E, L=F)
For novices, the code should always be given, for experts this is
often not the case.
SQUARES

Squares are an illustration of one or more grid squares along the
route. Once you have located the appropriate squares on the map,
the shortest route through the squares is always the correct one.
If there are any ambiguities or deviations from the shortest route,
these may be indicated by dots on the entry to a square or arrows
on the exit.
CLOCKS
Clocks are another pictorial form of navigation.

The hour hand usually indicates the direction of entry to the junction,
and the minute hand the direction of exit, remember "In on the hour
hand, out on the minute" and you shouldn't have any problems.
Another interpretation of the same theme is the digital clock, where
the time is given digitally, and you have to visualise the corresponding
clock face to establish the directions of entry and exit.For
example, the above sequence of clocks would become:
3:00 9:10 10:30 12:25
To further complicate things (usually for experts) it is sometimes
stated that your clock is wrong. For example the above sequence
could be written:
2:30
8:40 10:00 11:55
YOUR WATCH IS HALF AN HOUR SLOW
Twenty four hour digital clocks may sometimes be mixed with twelve
hour ones to add to the confusion!
As indicated at the beginning of this guide, it is also the navigators
job to keep track of the elapsed time for each section. The twelve
car rallies that this club runs are classed as navigational events,
and as such the maximum permitted average speed is 30mph. This may
not sound much, but once you've spent a couple of minutes stationary
working out the nav, you only need to go off route once to make
it difficult to make the average for that section.
ROUTE
CARD

The
illustration above shows a typical route card. The route card is
filled in as follows:
At
the start, the marshall in charge will enter your departure time.
Any passage Control boards (PC boards) noted while driving the section
from the start to TC (Time Control) 1 must be written in the boxes
provided. On arrival at TC1, the marshall will enter your BBC time
of arrival in the appropriate box. He will also put a line through
any remaining blank PC boxes and sign the sheet to ensure that PC's
are not added after. If you are the only crew at that TC, the marshal
will write your departure time in the next box and give you the
next piece of nav to wrestle with.
KEEPING TIME
At the start of the rally, you will be given a list of references
for the TC's, the length in miles of each section and the time allowed.
It is a good idea to pencil in your target times on the route card
so you don't have to fish around in the footwell for the inevitably
crumpled piece of paper with the section times.
Now you know how long you have for each section and what time you
departed, it is a simple task to establish your desired time of
arrival at the TC. How you get your driver to achieve this time
is up to you. The simplest way is to drive as quickly as feels safe,
and if you arrive early at the TC, wait outside until your time
comes up and then go in.
It is up to each individual how they decide to keep a track of the
elapsed time on each section. Some use a stopwatch, which is reset
on leaving each TC. This is good as a rough guide of the time taken,
but care must be taken, as by using this method, you don't take
into account the reading of the second hand on the marshal's watches,
and can lose/gain a minute here and there. Therefore, your watch
is the only accurate guide, provided it is synchronised with that
of the organisers!
SCORING AND PENALTIES
The scoring system is described in detail in the Supplementary
Regulations, but a brief outline will make you appreciate the
importance of timing.
Teams receive marks for minor time infringements (1 mark per minute
late at a TC for example) and fails for more serious mistakes (1
fail per missed PC board, or 3 for arguing with a marshal - take
note!). Clearly, therefore, fails are more serious than marks when
results are calculated, and the crew with least fails will win.
Hence, more importance is placed on following the correct route
than racing between TC's at breakneck speeds missing all the PC
boards because the navigator is hiding under the dashboard!
So, goodbye and GOOD LUCK!
Adapted
by Paul Willies from The BUMC Crucial Guide to Navigation booklet
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