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This web page is in part a reprint of Chapter 1 of the Road Rally Handbook:
TSD
In a Time-Speed-Distance Rally, the Route Instructions, in addition to information to keep a team on course, also give assigned speeds. These speeds are always legal, and often are below the posted speed limit. A TSD rally is a competition of precision driving - it is not a race!
The goal of a rally team is twofold: to stay on the prescribed course and to drive at exactly the given speed. The perfect team would be on course, on time at any given point along the route. To score teams against this goal, checkpoints are sprinkled throughout the course at unspecified locations. Each team is timed by a crew at the checkpoint (also called the control) and their time is compared against a perfect time (computed from the assigned speeds and exact distances measured before the event). Each team receives a score based on its time for that portion, or leg, of the course. For each fraction of a minute early or late, the team is given points. The team with the lowest total score for all the legs wins. However, each leg is independent: time late or early on one leg cannot be "made up" on subsequent legs. After being timed by a checkpoint crew and receiving a score, the team is assigned an out time to begin driving the next leg.
A variation on the TSD theme is called a regularity run. In this event, the team is free to select any speed within a given range. Teams run the same course multiple times with the checkpoints being hidden the first time around. On second and subsequent runs of the course, the team must match its times exactly to the first run.
Why Rally?
TSD rallies have become popular in North America because of the many people who enjoy driving. Most TSD rallies have a Novice Class designed for first-time competitors. The other classes, which allow varying amounts of rally equipment, provide keen competition for experienced rallyists. Many top competitors today began in Novice Class with no more than a speedometer of questionable accuracy, a wristwatch, and a hazy understanding of rally basics.
For the driver, there is the opportunity to use a skill which most people spend years developing, but which few ever get to hone or test. But, unlike other motor sports, the skill does not involve outright car performance. More muscle does not necessarily help, so there are no artificial factors of performance to plague the rules of rallying. In fact, the rules which define the rally classes tend to be quite simple and provide a level playing field for competition.
Another thing which sets TSD rallying apart from other sports is its unique team aspect. In no other sport does a pair of people need to work so closely together, yet do fundamentally different things. Of course, when a team first starts rallying, both driver and navigator are simply concentrating on staying on course. Beginning teams do the timing by feel or some very simple calculations. But as a team gains experience, the driver and navigator begin to take on specific tasks.
As the team's coordination continues to improve, so do its results. After a while, the team graduates to more difficult events where the course challenges them to their limits, not because of outright speed, but because of the frequency and difficulty of instructions, traps, or density of speed changes and timing problems. It is these events that can give a team a deep sense of satisfaction.
For all competitors, a rally provides a day, weekend, or week get-away, driving a course that often makes use of the most scenic roads of the area, and is usually followed by a social event to round out the weekend. Some say that a road rally is merely an excuse for a party!
The Car
NOTE: [In our rallies, you have two choices, "Run for fun" were you may use antique or modern cars with no right to prizes. Or "Run for money" were you could use only antique cars up to 1976. All antique cars has an age factor to compensate for moder cars. ] CLASSIC THUNDERBIRD CLUB
So you want to do a rally but cannot bring yourself to drive the family cruiser in anything close to a competitive event. Why?
My car is too slow. Almost any car can keep up the average speeds of most rallies. If the event features brisk speeds or is advertised as a performance rally, you should not consider running it as a first event.
I have to drive to work on Monday and I might break it. Not likely, if you go by past history. The fact that (organizer) insurance for these events is relatively inexpensive shows that competitors tend to be quite safe while competing in most TSD events. Consider how alert a team is on a rally compared with driving the same-old-route-home-after-work. In terms of doing mechanical damage to your car, remember that these events don't involve speed driving, but rather precision driving.
It's too ugly. Don't let your car hear that or it might start giving you mechanical trouble!
In fact, people rally in almost every conceivable form of automobile, with notable extremes including the "biscuit-tin" sized Mini-Cooper, a "stretch" Porsche Targa elongated to the size of a limousine, and a fire truck built in 1912. The car is only the tool to get you on the adventure, and if you happen to jump into the sport driving something less than "sporty", it will only make for a better story when you become a well-known rallyist.
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