

The
BUMC Crucial Guide to Navigation can be found here.
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An example of Novice Navs can be found here.
An example of Expert Navs can be found here. (Please note that the routes for these Navs are different between the novice and expert categories!)
12
Car Rally
The
rallies run by the club are proper motorsport. The challenge is
to drive the route in the time allowed - something so challenging
that it is almost never achieved! All rules of the road must be
obeyed, and all cars must be road legal. Rallies are great fun to
compete in, inexpensive to enter, and the club runs one or two each
term. The skill in winning an event is not in driving dangerously
fast, but in the accuracy of the navigating. In the past, a Renault
4 has beaten a Subaru Imprezza Turbo!
Each entry consists of a driver and a navigator, so you don't even
need a car to take part. At the start of the event, usually 6.30pm
on a Friday in Queens Building car park, scrutineering takes place
(a check to make sure all lights etc. work) and the entrants are
told the location of the start point, somewhere outside of Bristol
and always on OS map sheet 172. Once at the start, the route for
the first stage (section) of the rally is passed out, and a start
time is assigned to each competitor. All that remains is to decode
the route (navigation or nav) and drive the route to the next checkpoint
in the time allowed. We will teach you how to decode the navigation
at the table top rally, run on an evening before the first event.
You
may also find The BUMC Crucial Guide to
Nav useful.
The average speed of the event will never be more than 30mph, but
this includes the time taken to plot the route on your map and is
more difficult to achieve than you might think. Getting thoroughly
lost will cost so much time that even the fastest driver will not
be able to make it up, hence the emphasis on careful navigation.
As you drive the route, keep a look out for the Passage Control
(PC) boards put out earlier in the day. This is the way the organiser
judges whether you drove on the correct roads or not. The boards
are easy to see, are always on the left of the road, and are never
found in built up areas. There should be between 2 and 6 PC boards
per stage, and most rallies have 3 stages, with occasional longer
rallies of up to 6 stages. A PC board with a "!" symbol is a warning
sign, for instance before deep water in the road, while other boards
carry pictures of objects, symbols and other shapes. Draw a quick
sketch of the boards as you pass by, on the sheet provided at the
start. At each checkpoint, there is the opportunity to take a break,
to stretch your legs, relax or eat chocolate before setting out
on the next stage.
The scoring is simple. The winner is the entrant who misses the
least PC boards, and who does not arrive too late. See below for
more details.
Equipment
Rallies require little equipment, and don't cost much to enter.
The driver will require a car, obviously, and must fill out an insurance
form before their first rally. The insurance for the event is organised
by the club, and is included in the entry fee of £12. Also required,
for safety reasons, is a red warning triangle. These can be bought
for less than £10, and are a sensible item to keep in any car. The
club may be able to lend a warning triangle to newcomers, although
stocks are limited. Wheel trims should be removed from the car before
the event, and all lights, seatbelts, wipers/washers and the horn
should work correctly. The route will be 50-70miles, so be sure
to bring enough petrol.
The navigator will require a little more equipment, but all of it
is inexpensive. An OS map, sheet 172 Bristol and Bath (1:50,000)
is used, but the club may be able to lend a copy for your first
event. To draw the route on the map, a couple of 4B pencils are
ideal, and a good size eraser is essential! A torch is pretty handy
too, as all our rallies are run under cover of darkness. A magnifying
glass is useful but not essential. Finally, a map board to rest
the map on. This must be deformable, in case of an accident, and
is best made from two sheets of corrugated cardboard and some good
glue or tape. About 18 inches square is a good size.
Rules
Most importantly, these events are held on public roads and we have
no right to break the law. Anyone seen doing so by a marshal will
be excluded. Examples are:
-
Not stopping at stop sign.
- Not
slowing down to give way at a junction.
-
Speeding.
-
Dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
Additionally, it is impossible to find roads which go nowhere, so
from time to time we pass by houses. These areas (which will normally
have a 30mph or 40mph speed limit) are designated Quiet Zones. In
these areas, it is forbidden to use the main beam (dipped headlights
only) and a high gear should be used to minimise noise. It is especially
important to drive responsibly in Quiet Zones as there is most risk
of injuring others. As everyone is obliged to slow down for these
areas, it is only a fair competition if this rule is obeyed. Occasionally,
there might be Black Spots, areas where we are not allowed to drive
because of irate members of the public. These areas should be avoided,
failure will result in exclusion from the event.
In addition, all entrants should drive with consideration to their
skill and the conditions at the time. It has be known to be foggy
for rallies (we do go near Bristol Airport y'know!), and 90% of
the time the roads are wet and muddy, so stopping is not as easy
as it is in town and speeds are higher. Every driver should expect
oncoming traffic at every corner, and wildlife in plentiful on country
roads.
Some sample regulations
Marshalling
To run these events, officials are required. This is a job anyone
can do. Marshals are generally sent out in pairs in a car. They
will track the competitors movements in and out of the Time Controls,
and mark the sheets with PC boards on so that no more may be added
later. Two cars are required to drive round the course before and
after the event to distribute and collect the PC boards. Normally,
3 or 4 cars are required for each rally, and all the officials petrol
is paid by the club. Without marshals, these event cannot take place,
so if you have the time then please come along and help out. As
a bonus you will earn points in the BUMC championship equivalent
to a second place finish.
Winning
The event is scored as follows:
Each
minute early at the Time Control: |
2
marks |
Each
minute late at the Time Control: |
1
mark |
Each 10 minutes late at the Time Control: |
1
fail |
Each
PC board missed: |
1
fail |
Entering
a Time Control in the wrong direction: |
1
fail |
Failing
to register at a Time Control: |
Exclusion |
Timing is performed to the previous whole minute using BBC clocks
as a reference (eg, arriving at 8h 47mins 45seconds will result
in 8:47 being entered on the time sheet).
The winner shall be the entrants with the fewest fails. If there
is a tie, the entrant with the fewest marks will be declared the
winner. The first three places in each event will win prizes, generally
alcohol or chocolate!
Points are scored towards the BUMC championship in the same way
as for a Grand Prix. 10 points for a win, then 6,4,3,2 and 1 point
down to sixth place.
Tactics
The tactics for the driver are obvious - Give the road your full
attention.
Most navigators (even the very experienced) find it very difficult
to decode the navigation and direct the driver at the same time
and while the car is moving. So the traditional tactic is to decode
the whole stage of navigation before leaving the checkpoint. Then
the navigator can concentrate on following the progress of the car
along the route, and keeping an eye on the time. Helpful marshals
will also spot the confused at a Time Control and give them some
hints, mostly because we do this for fun more than anything else!
As you can see from the way the event is scored, arriving more than
10 minutes late at the finish is as serious as missing a PC board.
Many competitors will take a shortcut to the end of the stage to
avoid a "10 minute late" fail, especially if there have already
been 3 or 4 PC boards in the stage. It's sometimes worth the risk!
If the navigator thinks they are lost, it's often best to stop sooner
rather than later to right the problem. Travelling a long way down
the wrong road can take a lot of time, and leaves you with the predicament
of whether to go back and do the proper route (to spot all the PC
boards) or take a short cut to the correct route to avoid finishing
too late. Villages can be tricky as there are many junctions, so
finding the correct road can be confusing. The sight of a PC board
does wonders for the confidence! Other landmarks on the map such
as overhead power cables, streams and footpaths are useful guides
to which road you are using. Virtually every building is marked
on the map, which makes spotting junctions next to buildings quite
easy. Some time spent familiarising yourself with the map before
your first event is very useful. Notice what is shown on or near
typical yellow roads, and what the co-ordinates are for the different
areas of the map.
Enjoying it so far? Then organise an event yourself! If you enjoy
the clubs rallies, take it one step further by organising an event
yourself. We'll teach you how, then you can send the competitors
down your favourite country lanes and tie their brains in knots
with your navigation! All that required is a few hours spare time
to drive around in the car and to write up the route for the competitors.
Petrol is paid by the club so all it costs is your time. Points
in the BUMC championship are awarded for each event organised.
Author:
Tony Horseman - BUMC Motorclub Competition Secretary
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