Rallies are usually timed using BBC (CEEFAX) time. At each time control the current time of day is recorded. From this, given the required average speed for the section the penalties can be computed. Thus if a five mile section is timed at 30mph, you must cover the section in 10 minutes. With the exception of some regularity sections and special tests all timing will normally be to the nearest minute i.e. on the above section you actually have 10 min 59 sec to complete it penalty free.

The basic method of timing for road rallies is known as Scheduled Timing. At specified time controls the organisers will allocate a time of day at which a notional Car’0’ will arrive. This constitutes the event schedule and this time is known as Standard Time.

Each competitor can calculate their Scheduled Time at any control by adding their start number in minutes to the Standard Time given for the control. Thus if the time for Car ‘0’ at a control is given as 9:55 and your car number is 25, your Scheduled Time is 9:55 + 25 = 10:20.

You will have a maximum permitted lateness at time controls - normally set at 30 minutes - i.e. you must visit controls within 30 minutes of your Scheduled time otherwise you are deemed Over Time Limit (OTL) and will be penalised accordingly. This may be simply a Fail or large time penalty at normal time controls or may result in exclusion at Main Time controls. If you start running very late with respect to your schedule - you should 'cut and run' to a control on the route you can find in good time. By cutting out part of the route you can recover time and get back on schedule. Better to get a few Fails at normal time controls than be excluded for being OTL at a main control. Equally cutting part of a section may result in you missing a passage control or check (normally penalised less heavily than missing a time control) but allow you to make the time control with fewer penalties.

In general you should never book into a control before your Scheduled Time as this is usually heavily penalised. On occasions this rule will be relaxed in order to speed the running of the event but you should be quite sure you have been instructed to do this by an event official.

Your Due Time at a control can be calculated by adding the time permitted in the schedule between two successive controls to your arrival time at the first of these controls. This time will differ from your Scheduled time by the amount of lateness you have already incurred. So if you were running 5 minutes late at the control above i.e. you had booked in at 10:25 and the time allowed for the next section was 10 minutes - your Due Time at the next control would be 10:25 +10 = 10:35 and your current Lateness would be 10 minutes.

The situation can be complicated (you mean its not already!) by the concepts of Make-up, Delay Allowance and what happens if you miss controls out.

The general principle is that you should never be penalised twice for a mistake. Thus if you miss time control(s) you will be penalised accordingly. However, you may then rejoin the route at the next control at any time between your Scheduled Time and OTL (Scheduled time + 30 minutes) without further penalty. Therefore if you visited the above control at 10:35, miss out the next control and visit the one after, and the combined section times are 15 minutes, you may book in any time between your Scheduled Time 10:45 and 11:15 without further penalty.

If you are running late, it may be possible to recover your lateness by ‘making-up time’. Making-up is only allowed where indicated by the organisers and only then on Standard and Transport sections. The amount of make-up is usually indicated on the time cards but will not exceed the ‘³/₄ rule’. This is a complex rule detailed in the Blue Book but basically states that for section over 4 miles long you must not cover the section in less than ³/₄ of the allocated time for the section (ignoring fractions of minutes) i.e. for a nominal 9, 10, 11 or 12 minute section the maximum available make up will 3 minutes, for a 13, 14, 15, or 16 minute section the maximum make up is 4 minutes etc. There are often severe penalties for breaking ³/₄ rule so you should be clear you know what you are doing before attempting to use it to make time up.

A further complication is Delay Allowance. This can be granted by the organisers to cover situations when you have been unavoidably detained through a fault in the organisation such as a delay in starting a test. You will not get delay allowance retrospectively or from problems encountered on road sections. A delay allowance can be considered as delaying your Scheduled Time. i.e. if you have received 5 minutes delay allowance and your scheduled time was 10:20, your scheduled time becomes 10:25. Therefore once claimed delay allowance should not be made-up until the next Main Time Control where all lateness and Delay Allowances are cancelled.

On timed to second regularity sections you are penalised on the basis of seconds rather than minutes, so you must be more accurate - which is where speed tables and accurate trip meters come in. Also given that the location of the intermediate controls is not published, you must maintain the set average speed as closely as possible. Note also that the penalties for being early are usually harsher than being late. On some sections there may be speed changes within the section. However all timing is done from control to control, therefore at each intermediate regularity control you will be told how far into the section you are and how long you should have taken. This allows you to work out how much further to continue at the current speed before changing over to the new speed.

The basic procedure for regularities is as follows though many people work out their own methods based on the number of watches, tripmeters etc. that they have available. It may sound a little daunting but with practice and concentration it can be done!

• At the start of the regularity zero both your trip and stopwatch.
• Start the watch as the marshal tells you to GO.
• As you proceed, at every tenth of a mile check the elapsed time on the stopwatch with the ideal time for the set speed in the speed tables.
• If the elapsed time is greater than the ideal you are running late and should speed up.
• If the elapsed time is less than the ideal you are running early and should slow down.
• Try to get into the rhythm and avoid letting large errors build up. Drivers need to develop a smooth approach to driving regularities and need find a comfortable revs/gear combination to drive at the low speeds required.

When an intermediate control comes into view - Don’t Panic!

• Any time error on that leg is now history and you should forget it, cruise into the control and take the time the marshal gives you.
• Stop and restart your stopwatch as soon as you stop at the control. Ideally you should restart it at the precise moment that the marshal presses the button on his clock.
• Present your time card to the marshal and collect the slip, which tells you how far and how much time that the previous section should have taken.
• Note down your trip reading and then zero the trip.
• Proceed into the next section at a slightly higher speed than demanded to catch up the time sat at the control. Remember controls on the public road must be at least two miles apart.

Where timing is to the minute you have a one minute window within which to arrive at the control. It is therefore a good idea to aim to run 20-30 seconds late to ensure you are well into your allotted minute and to avoid incurring penalties for arriving early at the control. Remember though that timing for the next section will have commenced from the start of the minute at which you arrived at the control - anything up to 59 seconds before your actual arrival time.

Speed changes can occur during each section. If they occur at the intermediate controls you just have to select the appropriate speed table for the section.

However speed changes can occur between controls. These can be defined at a set distance - " After 4.6 miles change to 26 mph", or at a set time -" After 3 minutes 52 seconds change speed to 27 mph" or at a defined point - " As you cross the railway change speed to 26 mph".

An example set of instructions for a regularity section could be as follows:

The simplest solution is to be exactly on time everywhere so that you can simultaneously reset stopwatch and trip as you arrive at the speed change point! For lesser mortals it is advisable to have a strategy, which copes with being baulked on the route or wrong slotting etc. This involves use of another watch accurately set to BBC time.

Where you are told the time or distance (use the speed tables to calculate a time) to a speed change you can calculate the exact BBC time at which the change should occur by adding the required elapsed time to the time you arrived at the previous control. You may have to work out the distance to the speed change using the information on the slip given to you at the previous control.

As you approach the speed change point zero your stopwatch and observe the BBC time and the trip meter. When the trip reaches the required distance, reset it and when the watch reads the calculated BBC time restart your stopwatch. These actions may not be simultaneous but you will carry forward the outstanding time error at the speed change and can work to reduce it at the new speed.

For speed changes at points not defined by distance or time, you cannot prepare in advance. When you reach the point you should read the trip and then reset it. You can now calculate how long you should have taken to reach the speed change and the equivalent BBC time. A rapid calculation will allow you to reset and start your stopwatch exactly 1 minute later, and continue on the new speed table mentally adding one minute to the stopwatch every time you read it.

If you forget to reset your stopwatch or trip at a control, you can use a similar procedure to the above to recover the situation by resetting the watch 1 minute after the arrival time at the previous control or resetting the trip 1 mile after the control and then mentally compensating the minute or mile each time you check the speed table.

You may encounter different forms of regularity section. Whilst the basic principals are the same the presentation of information may require a different approach

Jogularity is a system developed by John Brown who has been behind many innovative rally organisation techniques since the sixties. Developed to support ‘LE JOG ‘- the Land’s End to John O'Groats classic reliability trial - and adopted by a couple of major Historic road rallies including the Targa Rusticana and the Bristowe, Jogularity is intended to allow novice competitors without the benefits of accurate Haldas etc to do regularities reasonably accurately.

The basic system provides the navigator with a route card, which contains landmarks along the desired route.

Typically the information will be tabulated as follows:

Where:

Reference Number: is the unique number for that landmark.

Intermediate Distance: is the distance between consecutive landmarks

Total Distance: is total mileage from the start of the ‘Jogularity’

Description: describes the landmark

Set Average Speed: indicates the speed to be used from this point onwards.

Intermediate Time: is the time taken at the set speed between consecutive rows

Total Time: is the total time elapsed at the set speeds from the start of the Jogularity

When using this form of jogularity, you will be supplied with the navigation in some other form (map refs, spot heights etc). However intermediate controls will only be located at one of the indicated landmarks. Therefore by cross referencing your plotted route against the table you can double check your progress both in terms of route and time and keep an eye out for likely control locations! When you arrive at an IRC you must remember to add (if late) or subtract (if early) the error at the IRC from the total elapsed time in order to keep an accurate cross check.

A variation on this theme includes the navigation element of the Jogularity within the table. Thus:

Another method of regularity replaces Intermediate Regularity Controls with Intermediate Regularity Checks where competitors are not required to stop. The marshal at the check records the arrival time on a check sheet as the car passes. The car is not required to stop, so timing is continuous from the start of the regularity section rather than between intermediates. The regularity is concluded by a Regularity Finish Control where times are recorded on the time card in the normal way.