Rallye Tips

• OD Correction Factor

The OD correction Leg or OD Leg is used to adjust for the fact that car odometers are not 100% accurate. Tires, wheels and gearing cause variations in measured miles by as much as ± 5% or more. Because of that, one (or more) Legs on a Rallye are compared to the Rallymaster's mileage over that same distance. The ratio is called the Odometer Correction Factor, or more simply the OD Factor.

For example, if the Official Rallyemaster's mileage for the OD Leg is 10 miles and my car registered 9.5 for the same real distance, then my OD Factor would be 9.5/10 or .95. All the rest of my Leg mileages would be divided by my OD Factor to adjust them so that they could be compared to the official (Rallyemaster) mileages. Let's look at another Leg to see how it works. I get lost and travel 38 miles in a Leg where the Rallyemaster's mileage is 35 miles. If the factor wasn't used, I would be penalized 3 miles or 300 points. If the OD Factor is applied then my mileage over the route is calculated by 38/.95 or 40 miles. My penalty then is the correct 5 miles or 500 points. For me to have gotten a perfect score I would have traveled 35/.95 or 36.84 That's a big difference.

• Basic Points

  • If it weren't for the OD Factor, cars with low reading odometers would be penalized less for the same mistake as cars with high reading odometers.

  • The OD Leg can occur anywhere in the Rallye. It is not necessarily the first Leg although it often is because of the need to get the teams out in the country.

  • It is important to make the OD Leg easy, with few turns. If teams get lost on the OD Leg, the OD Factor is wrong, and cannot be used. Another Leg or unadjusted mileage would have to be used.

  • The formulae used in Scoring are

    • MyOD/Rallyemaster's OD = OD Factor.

    • MyLegMileages/My OD Factor = My Adjusted Leg Mileages

    • My Adjusted Leg Mileages - Rallyemaster's Leg mileages = Leg Error in Miles

    • The sum of the absolute values of  each Leg Error mileage x 100 = Total Error Points.

• Signs vs. Objects

  • An often used trap is to call for a turn after a named road. Here is such a trap. The instruction read L FOPP after "PEQUEST RD.". If you click on the thumbnail picture, you'll discover that the sign is on the near side of the intersection. The correct execution would be to turn on Pequest Rd. since it is the first road after the sign. If the instruction had read L FOPP after Pequest Rd., you should continue straight here looking for the next OPP to turn L. The difference is the caps and quotes. That indicates that the clue is a sign not an object.
    
     

  • Here's another example. An instruction reads L FOPP after STOP.  A STOP is an object, an intersection; consequently you must go past the intersection completely before you look for the FOPP. Esentially you could read this instruction as L FOPP after the STOP Intersection. Contrast that with L FOPP after "STOP". Assuming the "STOP" sign is on the near side of the intersection, correct execution would be to turn at the STOP intersection since it after the "STOP" sign.
     

• Unpaved vs. Paved

COURSE: The rallye course is on THROUGH, PAVED, PUBLIC roads. Roads other than these do not exist, unless the factor that makes them nonexistent is specifically overridden in the route instructions. ......When a numbered instruction directs you onto a road by name or number, by way of the use of the word 'onto' or the glossary term PU (Pick Up), follow that road by name or number until the execution of the first action of the next numbered instruction regardless of road surface.
click to expand	Please consider this intersection: You've been put on an unpaved road (from the bottom of the diagram) and your next instruction calls for "L at T". You arrive at what appears to be a crossroad but the road on the opposite side is unpaved. That road does not exist according to the General Instructions and hence the intersection is a T. Correct execution would be a left.
click to expand	Please consider this intersection: You've been put on an unpaved road (from the bottom of the diagram) and your next instruction calls for "R at T". You arrive at a paved road on your left but the unpaved road continues. Because the Generals calls for paved road, you make an automatic left turn onto paved a continue looking for your next instruction.
click to expand	Please consider this situation: Your previous instruction puts you onto Jones Rd. Becuse of the word onto, you must make the left to stay on Jones Rd., even though it's unpaved until you can execute the next numbered instruction. The street sign showing that Jones Rd. goes left may be on the right, SOL or MBCSOL, but there must be a street sign.

• Instructions and Intersections

R, L, AR, AL, BR, BL, and S can only be executed at valid intersections, Consider the instruction R to avoid dead end.
click to expand	The instruction can only be executed at an intersection. Therefore the first dead end elicits a forced turn since Rallyes are run on through paved public roads. A forced turn is the only route that meets that requirement. At the second dead end, two legitimate alternatives exist, either R or L. Since the instruction calls for R, that is the correct execution

• S as Possible

The third Route Following Priority is S as possible. Simply put, at each intersection, if the next Instruction does not apply and you are not 'ONTO' a road by name or number, you are to proceed by making the least possible turn. Consider the Instruction L FOPP after SOL Gas Station.
click to expand	Approaching the instruction from the bottom, there is a gas station but since the S as Possible causes you to keep the gas station on the right. Two points - the S is not the left since you haven't come to a SOL gas station. The correct SOL gas station is at the T. If one keeps the first gas station SOL, you go off-course and execute the L later. In this case the trap self-corrects.

• Odometer Reading

It's an easy thing to miss but many people do it. Some non-digital (old fashioned) odometers roll up and some roll down. If the miles or tenths are in between whole numbers, it is easy to misread them. That may not be too serious for tenths but can cost 100 points for whole miles and can cause an error in two legs. If you are ever under in one leg and over an almost equal amount in an adjacent leg and you don't think you made an error, you may have done it. It cost one of our experienced teams 200 points in September.

• onto (Priority 2) click to review the Generals

Consider the instruction. R onto Blue Street, then CHECKPOINT at "RIP "SPEED LIMIT", then R FOPP.

Most experienced Rallyists, underline or otherwise highlight that word along with PU on the Route Instructions. The important thing to remember is that it is only cancelled by the first action of the next numbered instruction. Another turn or CHECKPOINT that is part of the ONTO instruction does not cancel the onto.

• onto (Priority 2) continued - click to review the Generals

click to expand

Let's consider the situation where you are traveling on a road by name and you come on a straight as possible situation. I've used the example of Decker Road running off Split Rock Road. Important Points: The only street sign at the intersection is a single Decker Road sign indicating that is the name of the Straight as Possible road. Decker Road is straighter than continuing on the alternate. There is no Split Rock Road sign. Do you apply Priority 2 or Priority 3? The correct direction of travel is to go S onto Decker because although you were onto Split Rock Rd., there is no Split Rock Road sign at the intersection. All you know is that Decker is straighter than the alternate road. Priority 3 takes over when Priority 2 cannot be determined.

• Questions: - click to review the Generals
  Questions are answerable from the last action of one numbered instruction to the first action of the next numbered instruction. The numbering of questions need not be in order but of course you are to put the answer to a given numbered question on that number answer line on the score sheet. A more important concept is that questions need not be in order if more than one occur at a time. Effectively you have to look for all the answers in that group at the same time. If two questions are asked during a self-correcting loop, it is common that one answer is on the on-course route and one is on the off-course. Some Rallyemasters put questions in route following order but there is nothing in the Generals requiring that.
   

• Traps in General
  It is always the intention of the Rallyemaster, to have all the cars finish, even if they've been off-course. The cars measure their mileages from Checkpoint to Checkpoint and after OD adjustment are compared to the Official Mileage. The difference between the two is the error at 100 points per mile. Mileage traps are meant to reward the observant and those who know the General Instructions well. That of course means two routes; the correct one and the incorrect one. In order to bring all the teams back on course, the Rallyemaster has to be creative. One way is to use Either/Or instructions: If you see 'A' do one thing, if you see 'B', do something else. Another way, if the Rallyemaster is clever, is to say nothing and work out the route so that both routes rejoin with no additional instructions. A third way is to use pictures which are effectively Either/Or instructions, except that if you see a picture execute an additional instruction but if you don't just keep going. The Teddy Bear format uses that system.
  Experienced Rallyists realize that the pictures and Either/Or instructions are indicators of a mileage trap, so highlight those before you start the Rallye.

• More Tips and Tricks coming