learn me tsd rallying

Having moved here I'm trying to get in touch with what is here. Looking into Autocross, Rally, and Car Shows. Moved from Ohio Indiana NASA to Florida. Working on trying to build up the racing side. Had a very good racing group in midwest.

We don't have a huge TSD scene, but there's lots of car stuff in Central Florida--tons of car shows, racing at Daytona and Sebring, and lots of autocross. If you need specific links, let me know.

Wallens, You run with your WIFE? you guys don't kill each other? that must be the best relationship ever...

I've heard TSD rallies are the leading cause of automotive-related divorces. I believe it.

I once did one in an MGB with a broken speedometer and a plain old wristwatch. Finished mid-pack. Equipment isn't the key. You need an even temper, a good sense of direction, and the ability to do a little math in your head on the fly.

maroon92 wrote: Wallens, You run with your WIFE? you guys don't kill each other? that must be the best relationship ever...

We do pretty okay.

We don't have very many TSD rallyes here, but Chuck and I did a couple last year. Our first one out we got 2nd out of a field of about 30, it was a pretty good time and we were just as surprised as every one else in the club that we did so well.

As navigator I made notes next to each instruction when we turned onto a road what the route number was, and the mileage count at that turn. We did have to backtrack once and that helped make sure we were back on the right course with no second guessing.

Mostly I just kept saying, "slow down" because Chuck was antsy.

my co-driver has an integral system to detaining my Lead Foot. Whenever I exceed the CAS by more than 10, he thumps me a good one in the leg...

very effective.

Keith wrote: These are tulip diagrams: http://targamiata.com/images_lrg/Brigus.pdf Basically, it shows the intersection in question. You enter from the bottom and follow the arrow.

thanks for the tulip explanation.That looks easy enough.

Was the Targa a true tsd rally or a perfromance rally/tsd hybrid? the speed specified in that link seems realy high for a stage taking place in such tight running area and short distance.

Also, in an unequipted car, is the driver actulay expected or supposed to watch the odo to keep in step with the navigators instuctions? on a stage like the targa stage in the link I think the driver would have his hands full just staying on the road and on pace. The PBX rally is mostly in the dark and in the woods, if my understanding is correct, even at a lower pace the driver doesn't need any distractions.

The "Grand Touring" class of the Targa is a proper TSD, complete with surprise mid-stage checkpoints to make sure people aren't goofing around by driving fast and then sandbagging to come in on time.

The Targa class is not a TSD, but a bit of a hybrid. You do get penalties for coming in late, and this is used basically to handicap the faster cars by giving them faster base times. There's no penalty for coming in early. Nobody avoids penalties over the entire week, so basically you end up driving as fast as you can. On the faster stages, the speeds were in the 121-123 km/h range for my class, up to 130 for the big boys.

The driver drives fast, the navigator feeds him the info he needs to let him drive fast. The Targa class driver rarely looks at the speedo and never at the odometer. It wouldn't do any good - the instruction might be "in 150 meters", so seeing the odometer reading 12.325 doesn't help much! The driver has to judge the distances.

On something like the PBX following the ODO is a driver requirement. In the dark you need to know where the turns are (or at least should be). If you want to calculate you'll need to follow it very closely... if your using it to find the turns knowing the approx tenth is all you need. The driver will be watching the speed closely so it's easy to keep track.