The goal of a good recce' is to get all the competitors down every stage they will need to 'pace note' in a reasonable time. You want them to get down the stage without speeding. You want to account for all the cars that went down the stage. You want the recce' to be smooth and controlled. You want to use a minimal amount of volunteer manpower with maximum gains. You'll need 4-5 volunteer cars to run this depending on distance and routes.
TSD Style Recce'
20 cars line up in the morning for recce'.
You hand out 20 cards numbered 1 - 20 to stick on the pass side window.
You hand out 20 instruction sheets.
First car is off at 9:01 (9:00 plus the car number)
Volunteer #1 is at the gate of the first stage and makes sure that cars re-group and start in 1 min intervals at 9:30.
CAS 30 - Continue / Change Average Speed to 30MPH.
Volunteer #2 is at the finish of the first road making sure that the cars arrive in order and fairly on time. Cars that arrive extra early or late will be asked to 'keep on their minute'. Anyone who has done TSD knows how to keep CAS.
Volunteer #3 is at the start of the next stage to check everyone is in order and on their minute. If competitors want to get ahead or behind 'troublesome people' switch their car numbers. Just grab their card and switch it.
At this point everyone has started the first stage and Volunteer 1 will sweep them out. You (as volunteer #4) head to the finish of the second stage.
Volunteer #1 clears the first stage and heads to stage 3 to start it and you leapfrog your volunteers throughout the recce as much as possible.
* No lead car needed. If the first car does a 10 mile stage road in 14 minutes - assess them a penalty. They were speeding. Period.
* Everyone has time to rest and transit. The first car is not waiting for 20 others to finish and the last car gets 10 minutes to get back on course if lost, etc. Stagger the lunch break as well.
* Place a hidden checkpoint in a nice open area on one of the stages. This will let the competitors know that you are serious about speeding and conduct. Let the competitors know that hidden check points will be watching them. Keep honest people honest.
* The instruction sheets are merely a primer for the route book and which stage notes to be on. No need to re-invent the wheel or make a special route book.
Example:
Happy Rally Recce' 2006
Start time is 9:00 + your car number.
Start page 3 in your route book
Instructions 1 - 9 to the ATC
Pull off to the right and wait for your minute.
Start SS1 Happy Rally North (page 14 stage notes)
Start time is 9:30 + your car number.
CAS 30
Other Suggestions:
* You could easily run a turnaround stage with this method. One volunteer waits at the end of the stage. Sweep arrives and you assign the out time right then and there.
* I Recommend FRS Radios for car to car chatter. No one uses CB's any more and we all should be HAM's but we're not yet.
* Let people use their rally cars for recce'. We have done many TSD's with our rallycar. Rally Masters are hesitant at first - but we have never had a 'drawing too much attention' issue. We did recce' in Olympus with our rally car. Had we not been able to use the Neon we WOULD NOT have been able to recce'
* 15 MPH is not a realistic recce speed.
We're adults on public roads. We can handle CAS 30.
* Consider asking one of the local teams that are going to do the recce' to be a volunteer to start or close one of the stages. They will get to recce' while they help you out by running it. You could make them car number 1 and have them start a stage while another volunteer transits it. There are endless tricky things to keep your work force to a minimum.
* We'd be happy to help you organize this.
With a copy of the route book and mileages of the stages any TSD organizer should be able to crank this out.
Post if you have questions.
- Kris & Christine
TSD Style Recce'
20 cars line up in the morning for recce'.
You hand out 20 cards numbered 1 - 20 to stick on the pass side window.
You hand out 20 instruction sheets.
First car is off at 9:01 (9:00 plus the car number)
Volunteer #1 is at the gate of the first stage and makes sure that cars re-group and start in 1 min intervals at 9:30.
CAS 30 - Continue / Change Average Speed to 30MPH.
Volunteer #2 is at the finish of the first road making sure that the cars arrive in order and fairly on time. Cars that arrive extra early or late will be asked to 'keep on their minute'. Anyone who has done TSD knows how to keep CAS.
Volunteer #3 is at the start of the next stage to check everyone is in order and on their minute. If competitors want to get ahead or behind 'troublesome people' switch their car numbers. Just grab their card and switch it.
At this point everyone has started the first stage and Volunteer 1 will sweep them out. You (as volunteer #4) head to the finish of the second stage.
Volunteer #1 clears the first stage and heads to stage 3 to start it and you leapfrog your volunteers throughout the recce as much as possible.
* No lead car needed. If the first car does a 10 mile stage road in 14 minutes - assess them a penalty. They were speeding. Period.
* Everyone has time to rest and transit. The first car is not waiting for 20 others to finish and the last car gets 10 minutes to get back on course if lost, etc. Stagger the lunch break as well.
* Place a hidden checkpoint in a nice open area on one of the stages. This will let the competitors know that you are serious about speeding and conduct. Let the competitors know that hidden check points will be watching them. Keep honest people honest.
* The instruction sheets are merely a primer for the route book and which stage notes to be on. No need to re-invent the wheel or make a special route book.
Example:
Happy Rally Recce' 2006
Start time is 9:00 + your car number.
Start page 3 in your route book
Instructions 1 - 9 to the ATC
Pull off to the right and wait for your minute.
Start SS1 Happy Rally North (page 14 stage notes)
Start time is 9:30 + your car number.
CAS 30
Other Suggestions:
* You could easily run a turnaround stage with this method. One volunteer waits at the end of the stage. Sweep arrives and you assign the out time right then and there.
* I Recommend FRS Radios for car to car chatter. No one uses CB's any more and we all should be HAM's but we're not yet.
* Let people use their rally cars for recce'. We have done many TSD's with our rallycar. Rally Masters are hesitant at first - but we have never had a 'drawing too much attention' issue. We did recce' in Olympus with our rally car. Had we not been able to use the Neon we WOULD NOT have been able to recce'
* 15 MPH is not a realistic recce speed.
We're adults on public roads. We can handle CAS 30.
* Consider asking one of the local teams that are going to do the recce' to be a volunteer to start or close one of the stages. They will get to recce' while they help you out by running it. You could make them car number 1 and have them start a stage while another volunteer transits it. There are endless tricky things to keep your work force to a minimum.
* We'd be happy to help you organize this.
With a copy of the route book and mileages of the stages any TSD organizer should be able to crank this out.
Post if you have questions.
- Kris & Christine