NIGHT OWL

A Road Rally Log

by Bob Glickstein

Note:

This is the first in a planned series of monthly logs recounting the adventures of myself and my rally partner in each month's Blue Ridge Mountain Sports Car Club's (BRMSCC) Road Rally. I'll be glad to provide any information about the monthly road rallies to anyone who's interested, and I encourage everyone to give rallying a try. This series of logs is intended to convey the experience of participating in a Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) rally. Since this is the first in a series and will be read by a number of non-rallyists, I will include (in this log only) a good deal of explanatory text where rally terminology isn't clear to the layman.

This month's rally

I was the driver for this rally and Steve Webster was our navigator. The "Night Owl" rally was held on Saturday, March 18th, 1989. Normally, BRMSCC rallies are held on Sunday afternoons, but since this was a night rally (Steve's first night rally and mine [but our fifth rally overall (and only the third we've actually completed)]) which didn't end until around 11pm, Saturday was a better idea. The rally began on route 286 just north of route 22 at "Crusty's Pizza" (near [in?] Plum Boro). The rallymaster was Chuck Larouere, who was very wily in constructing some extremely devious traps. The scoreboard at the end of the rally was littered with MAX penalties, and Steve and I earned three MAX's ourselves, falling right into Chuck's traps.

There were two unusual aspects to this rally apart from it having taken place at night. First of all, the majority of route instructions were referenced to official mileages. Second of all, all the controls were open controls (checkpoints), and all the controls were of the "Monte Carlo" type. The 1988 BRMSCC Road Rally Regulations (or RRR's) does not define "Monte Carlo" controls, but the General Instructions ("generals") for this rally explained the operation of this type of control.

A Monte Carlo control is a cross between a DYL control and an open control. The checkpoint sign is there, as is the checkpoint crew, and the rally vehicle is required to pull over and report to the checkpoint crew. However, it's OK to arrive early at a Monte Carlo control. When you arrive at this type of control, you calculate the elapsed time for the leg and report what you think is the correct in-time for your car. The checkpoint crew marks the actual time you arrive, and uses the later time of your arrival time and your calculated time. In other words, as long as you arrive before you're supposed to be there, they'll use your calculated time, which if you've done everything right, should be the official time for that leg. Monte Carlo controls are easy.

Steve and I were rally car number 8, and for us the rally began at 7:08pm (7:00 plus your car number in minutes). By the time we started the rally, a light snow was falling, which quickly turned into a genuine snowstorm.

Before the rally

At the suggestion of Rick Lerner (our first rallymaster), I purchased the Q-Beam "Blue Max" dashboard spotlight; plugs into the cigarette lighter and hurls a powerful 300,000 candlepower of brilliance into the night sky from a hand-held unit. At times during the rally, Steve used it to spot landmarks (or to impress the rally cars around us with our landmark-spotting technology). I also purchased some red acetate which I placed over my dome light so that Steve could do his near-continuous calculations at night. We drove the entire rally in this low red light which felt very much like a red alert aboard a battleship. Finally, about an hour before leaving for the rally, I realized that our usual rally calculator would simply not suffice for this night rally -- it's solar powered. We rushed out and bought a battery-powered calculator.

The Route Instructions

Following is the numbered list of route instructions. Comments explaining the terminology are in italics. The course-following priorities for this rally were fairly standard, and were: 1. Execute an instruction with an official mileage at that mileage.

2. Execute the next numbered instruction unless priority 3 takes you in the same direction.

3. Follow the Main Road according to the Main Road Determinants (MRD's).

The list of MRD's for this rally was fairly short: 1. Protection

This specifies that the Main Road leaving an intersection is the one with no stop or yield sign on it. This usually requires rallyists to recognize stop and yield signs from the back. This only applies if there is exactly one road leaving the intersection (aside from the one upon which you enter) with no stop or yield sign.

2. Straight as Possible

When MRD #1 doesn't apply, proceed through the intersection as straight as possible.

Without further ado, here are the route instructions.

To get to the start, go right out of the parking lot, and straight through the traffic light.

00.0	1. Begin the OCZ at "SPEED LIMIT 40".  Take 30.00 minutes 
to complete instruction number 9.

The number at the far left is the official mileage for this instruction; it is to be executed at mile 00.00 (in other words, at the first sign with the words "SPEED LIMIT 40" on it, I zeroed the trip odometer). The generals for this rally stated that the official mileage reverted to zero at every control. The OCZ is the Odometer Calibration Zone, an easy section of the route in which the main goal is to figure out the difference between your odometer readings and the ones that the rallymaster got when he measured the course. Our OCF (Odometer Calibration Factor) was 1.018 (or something like that), and we had to use the OCF to back-convert our mileage measurements to official mileages. It's very nice if you happen to get an OCF of 1.00, but alas, not this time.

1.15	2. Right at "PIERSON RUN ROAD".

1.77	3. Keep right at the next intersection.

3.43	4. Right at stop.

When a landmark is referred to in "quotation marks", it refers to any sign containing the quoted words. Without quotation marks, it refers to the actual object. In the Glossary of the RRR's, a STOP is an official, octagonal stop sign requiring the rally vehicle to stop. If the instruction were Right at "stop", then we might have been required to turn at a "Bus Stop" sign, or a "Stop at Joe's" sign, or something.

4.75	5. Left at stop.

6.14	6. Right at "RENTON ROAD".

8.28	7. Right at stop.

9.43	8. Left on Hankey Church.

10.21	9. End OCZ at the second

CAS means Change, Continue, Commence or Current Average Speed. Instruction 1 told us that to reach instruction 9 should take 30.00 minutes. Since we know that instruction 9 occurs 10.21 miles into the leg, we can calculate an implicit CAS instruction at the beginning of the rally of 20.42 miles per hour (10.21 miles / 30 minutes * 60 minutes/hour). Rally instructions will always specify the correct speed for the rally vehicle, although in this case, since we were using Monte Carlo controls, any speed was fine as long as it was safe, legal and faster than the CAS.

10.21    9. End OCZ at the second "[Picture of a curved left arrow]". CAS 25.

	10. Left at stop.

This was our first instruction without an official mileage. Such instructions are to be executed as soon as possible after the preceding instruction, as long as its execution violates one of the MRD's. In this case, following the MRD (MRD #2, since #1 didn't apply) would have taken us straight through the intersection, so turning left is a valid violation of the MRD in effect.

11.47	11. Right at the second opportunity.

11.81	12. Right on Turkey Ridge.

13.74	13. Right at stop.

	14. Left at stop, right.

14.38	15. Right at "GILMAR".

14.85	16. Right at the second opportunity.

15.97	17. Right at "SR 366".  CAS 30.

	18. Left.

16.53	19. Control

This was very odd. Normally, controls are completely unannounced. The fact that one appeared in the route instructions, as well as the fact that it was given an official mileage (16.53), allowed us to calculate, even before we started the rally, what our in-time for the first control should be (we had to assume that this would be the first control). Since the leg consisted of 10.21 miles at 20.42 mph, followed by 5.76 miles at 25 mph, followed by 0.56 miles at 30 mph, we calculated an elapsed time for the leg of 44.94 minutes (and an in-time of 7:08pm + 44.94, or 7:52.94). This turned out to be exactly right, and we earned a zero on the leg -- kudos to Steve, the navigator! Of course, we actually arrived at the control at 7:42pm, a full ten minutes ahead of time, and our in-time was recorded as 7:52.94, since it was the later of the two times (arrival and calculated). Strangely enough, although we were "in" at 7:52, we were given an out-time of 7:48, so that we left the checkpoint before we ever arrived! (Well, not really.)

0.29	20. Left at stop.  CAS 44.  Begin free zone.

The official mileage for this instruction is 0.29; remember, official mileage reverted to zero at the checkpoint. A "free zone" is a section of the rally in which there are no controls.

3.93   21. Right on George Dr. (just after stop)  CAS 27.  End free zone.  
           Pause 1.00 minute.

Comments in parentheses have absolutely no status in rally instructions, although they are usually helpful hints in following the course. However, since parenthetical comments are officially ignorable, they sometimes (though rarely) contain misleading directions to confuse the rally team! This would be a simple example of a trap. In general, always treat parenthetical comments as non-existent, or at least highly suspect.

	22. Left at stop.  Pause 3.00 minutes.

	23. Right at stop.  CAS 44.  Begin free zone.

	24. Right at stop.

1.61	25. Right at crossroad.

Note that the official mileage here is lower than the one in instruction 21, which means that somewhere between 21 and 25, a checkpoint must have occurred to reset the odometer. In fact, one did. See: they're usually unannounced.

1.70	26. Left at stop.

	27. Right on Young.  CAS so as to reduce your speed by 1/2.

4.11	28. Right (may be a straight) at the second stop toward "10 TONS".  (at 
Fox and Walker)

	29. Pause 1.00 minute at "WALKER".

No two consecutive rally instructions may ever be executed at the same intersection (according to the RRR's), so although there was a sign saying "WALKER" at instruction 28, we had to wait until the next sign saying "WALKER" before we could legitimately pause 1 minute. In actuality, we never paused at all, preferring instead to finish the leg ahead of time.

5.05	30. Right at stop.  Pause 3.00 minutes.  CAS 44.

10.16	31. Right on Alcorn.  CAS 25.  End free zone.

	32. Left at T on Sportsman.  (sign on left)

A T is a T-shaped intersection as approached from the base of the T. It is impossible to go straight at a T.

	33. Left at stop.  Begin free zone.

2.21	34. Left to cross bridge.

2.39	35. Right at stop.

2.47	36. Right at "BANK", then right at stop.  Pause 25.00 minutes prior to 
instruction number 40.  This overlaps.

The 25 minute pause was an intermission in the middle of the rally, to allow people to gas up, eat or find a bathroom. The term "overlap" means that you continue executing part of this instruction while executing subsequent instructions. Normally, all parts of an instruction must be finished before the next instruction can even be considered.

2.68	37. Left at stop.  (gas here)

2.77	38. Right at "stop".  (keep left at the next intersection by protection)

4.64	39. Straight on 380.  (identified before the intersection)  
            "RESTAURANT"  (restrooms here)

The occurrence of a landmark (like "RESTAURANT") in an instruction without a course-following action (like turn left) simply means that you should see the landmark at the indicated mile (4.64 [for us, it was 4.72 after figuring in the OCF]).

5.46	40. Left.

	41. Left on Sportsman.

	42. Right.  CAS 40.

	43. Right on Palko 2.16 miles from the previous instruction.  CAS 25.  
            End free zone.

This means that we have to be sure to record the mile at which we execute instruction 42 if we're going to know where to execute instruction 43.

	44. Left at stop.

	45. Right at crossroad.  CAS 40.

	46. Right at stop.

	47. Left at stop.  Watch for police radar traps in the next 2.25 miles.

The "watch for radar traps" hint is actually a trap in disguise. It means that this instruction won't be considered complete until 2.25 miles after it is begun, so we better not try to execute instruction 48 before then.

	48. Left on Evans.  CAS 20.

0.05	49. Left at stop.  CAS 40.  Begin free zone.

0.91	50. Right at stop.

	51. Left at stop.

	52. Right after crossroads.  CAS 20.  End free zone.

	53. Right.

	54. Right.

	55. Left at "SR 286".  (look sharp)  CAS 40.  Pause 1.00 minute.

	56. Left after "[crossroads sign]" onto Ashbaugh.  CAS 25.

	57. Right at stop.

1.17	58. Right at stop.  CAS 30.  Pause 1.00 minute at each "stop" on your 
road until the end of the rally.  This overlaps.  Do not count the "stop" at 
this intersection.

	59. Left at T.

	60. Left at T.

	61. Left.

	62. Straight at stop.  CAS 25.

	63. Right on Sagamore Hill.

	64. Right at "[checkpoint sign, a check and a point]" into Crustys Pizza.}

Leg by leg

Leg One Leg one was extremely routine. Since we knew ahead of time how long it should take to reach the control, all we had to do was follow the (easy) course-directing instructions and reach the control before 7:52.
When we reached the control and discovered that we had, in fact, gotten a zero, we were pleased but not terribly thrilled. After all, this zero was so easy to get that the rallymaster himself called it a "guaranteed zero". Despite this, we later learned that one Class B team got 173 or so, and one team actually MAXed out on this leg. Bizarre.
The roads in this rally turned challenging quickly. When we began, we were in the middle of a brightly-lit shopping complex at the intersection of two major roads. Less than three miles into the course, however, the route had turned into pitch-black roads canopied with trees and surrounded with wild growth, while the roads twisted and writhed and were only mostly paved.
Leg Two After executing instruction 22, we encountered the second control. It was there that we learned we should not have executed instruction 22 yet! Number 22 was
```
	22. Left at stop.  Pause 3.00 minutes.
```
Steve and I had encountered a stop sign after instruction 21 and had used it as the place to execute number 22. When we calculated our in-time at the control, we added the three minutes worth of pause. What we didn't realize was that the "intersection" at which we had executed the pause was not an intersection at all! Four roads met at this intersection, but two of them (ahead and to the right) were labelled "NO OUTLET", and according to the RRR's, they did not exist. An intersection is a location requiring the rallyist to choose from among two or more possibly routes. A "Left" instruction can't be executed at such a location. Thus, we should not have executed this instruction, and we should not have added the three minutes worth of pause to our leg time. Those three minutes made us MAX late at the control. Steve and I both said "ARGH!" when we discovered our mistake. Instruction 22 was the pending instruction as we left the checkpoint and began...
Leg Three The next checkpoint occurred after instruction 32. Steve fell into a calculational trap on this leg, but for some reason we weren't burned by it (perhaps we also erred elsewhere to cancel out the effect of the trap). Instruction 27 was
```
	27. Right on Young.  CAS so as to reduce your speed by 1/2.
```
Since our CAS at the time was 44, we calculated the change to mean CAS 22. In fact, it should have been interpreted as "CAS 43 1/2", since according to the RRR's, speeds in CAS instructions are always given in miles per hour. What this error meant, basically, was that between instructions 27 and 30 (the next speed change), we figured our speed to be 22 when we should have figured 43.5. Since the distance between 27 and 30 turned out to be 2.57 miles, we figured an elapsed time for that segment of 6.96 minutes when we should have figured an elapsed time of 3.54 minutes. This would have made us MAX late, except that we somehow made another error which resulted in our getting an 18 -- a very good score!
Leg Four Steve and I fell, hook line and sinker, for a tremendously FOUL trap in this leg, causing us to MAX early in much pain. We encountered checkpoint four just after instruction 41 and calculated an elapsed time of 41.03 minutes. What we had completely forgotten, however, was that we were still in a \italic{free zone}, which had begun in instruction 33! Of course, controls don't exist in free zones, so the right thing to do was to drive past the checkpoint, ignoring it. If we had properly executed the instructions, we would have been led back to the checkpoint after the free zone ended in instruction 43, traveling a much longer route (and calculating a considerably longer elapsed time). This trap was so perfect that Steve and I were crying "foul" for a long time afterward.
Leg Five After instruction 48, we encountered a checkpoint on the left side of the road. Initially unsure what to do, we decided to drive past it, since this rally's general instructions stated, "All controls will be located on the right side of the road... If you encounter a control on the left, turn around at the next intersection [and re-enter the control]." It seemed that we traveled forever searching for the "next intersection". Every time we thought we encountered an intersection, we spotted an official yellow pie-plate labelled "DNE" (this road Does Not Exist). It was 1.7 miles before we found an intersection (and a backlog of rally vehicles all turning around as quickly as they could). Since we didn't fall for this trap, I can't explain our very imperfect score of 211 for this leg. At least it wasn't a MAX.
Leg Six Until this control, Steve and I kept muttering about the FOULness of the trap in leg four. The trap in this leg, which completely took us in, eclipsed the FOULness of that trap with an utter superfluity of FOULness. The control occurred after instruction 56. Earlier, instruction 52 had us looking for crossroads, following which we were to make a right. We encountered a crossroad and made our right. We later discovered our error: the instruction read
```
	52. Right after crossroads.  CAS 20.  End free zone.
```
That's crossroads, plural. The RRR's define crossroad, singular, as a four-way orthogonal intersection. We turned right after seeing only one crossroad, when we should have waited until seeing two crossroads before making our right. Argh! We MAXed early on this one.
Leg Seven Another fairly routine leg, including a lot of driving during which we executed no instructions. Instruction 58 told us to start pausing at every sign with the word "stop" on it, which included 7 stop signs, a bus stop sign and a school bus stop sign. In a free zone, or a DYL, or a Monte-Carlo-controlled leg, the approved method of doing this is simply breezing by all the "stop"s you see, counting them up and then adding them all together at the end of the leg to augment your elapsed time figure. This is just what we did, and we arrived at the end of the rally (back at Crusty's Pizza) with a Leg 7 time of 26.88 minutes. The official time for leg 7 was 26.89. We got a 1! Discounting our "guaranteed zero", this was the lowest score we had ever earned. We hugged each other, jumped for joy, and then joined the trickle of rallyists in the dining room of Crusty's, where I enjoyed some meat ravioli, Steve had some pierogies and I gave him the olives from my salad.
Crusty's Although we were car 8, Steve and I were the third team to complete the rally. We ordered our food as the restaurant slowly filled with exhausted rallyists. Chuck Larouere tabulated the scores on a large scoreboard. While he did this, Steve and I asked Jack Chidester (January's rallymaster) for our trophies. We placed third in Class C in January (Steve driving, me navigating). Each of us got a nice plaque. Meanwhile, Steve and I learned that 1) Not everyone fell for the "crossroads" trap (argh), 2) No one (not even any Class A or Class B participants) did better than us on leg 7, 3) we placed first in class C, and 4) we placed third overall! We pre-registered for April's rally (I'm driving again, Steve's navigating) and left feeling pretty good, but occasionally grumbling "crossroads" on the way home.

Comments
Steve was absolutely brilliant in this rally; he was continuously calculating, tabulating, correcting and double-checking. All of this in near-pitch-blackness and over bumpy roads. His accomplishments, I'm sure, are beyond me, and I'm glad to have him navigating again next month. On the other hand, I drove rather brilliantly myself. All in all, an extremely good rally. Steve has proposed the idea of building a fixed mount for the calculator, and a light on the dashboard which we switch on when a free zone begins to remind us to ignore checkpoints.