HOW TO TRĕK

Time / Speed / Distance

You will have to be ready to handle a T.S.D. course. These three letters stand for Time, Speed and Distance. A T.S.D. rally is what all those great Scandinavian drivers (with names you can’t pronounce without spraining your tongue) compete in. They also use four-wheel drive vehicles, mostly cars though, but they also go very fast!

Our T.S.D. is a little different. Of course we use four-wheel drive vehicles (Land Rovers, what else!) and we don’t go as fast. We need four-wheel drive to get over tough terrain, not just to get a little extra bite in the gravel turns at 80 mph like our Viking friends. The trick here is consistency! The idea is to be in the right place at the right time.

You will be required to navigate a fairly challenging off-road course. Along the way there will be hidden checkpoints. You will be given the average speed that should be maintained for the section, for example a whopping 3-mph! Now the math part. It is up to you to know exactly how far along the route you should be at any given time.

We will also include some rally math questions on the written test in the morning. The math is pretty straightforward. We know that Distance = Time × Speed. With this equation we should be able to determine how far along we should be at any given time.

Example: The average speed for a section is 14 MPH. Our starting time is 9:00:00 am. At what time should we be at 1.5 miles along the course? We should be 1.5 miles along the course at 9:06:26.

How to do the calculation

We are looking for the time. Time = Distance / Speed. Distance = 1.5 miles. Speed = 14 miles per hour (MPH), or 0.23 miles per minute (MPM). We must convert MPH to MPM because we are looking for a time in minutes.

14 MPH / 60 min. = 0.2333333 mpm, or miles per minute. This tells us that we must drive 0.23 miles in 1 minute to remain on time. 1.5 miles / 0.2333333 mpm = 6.4285 minutes. The .4285 part of the time is in 10th's of a minute. To convert to seconds, multiply 0.4285 X 60min. This gives you 25.71 seconds. 6.42855 minutes = 6 minutes and 25.71 seconds or rounding up = 26 seconds. We add 6:26 to our starting time of 9:00:00, and should be at 1.5 miles at 9:06:26.

Try a number of these situations and get comfortable with your calculator. Calculators will be supplied, or you may bring your own if you are more comfortable with it.

The best method is to get your conversions done and draw a table showing your correct time at each 1/10th of a mile for our purposes. It may look something like this:

The chart is done for 1 mile at 14 mph in 1/10th increments. Now you can check your watch against the odometer and determine if you are too fast or too slow and adjust your driving speed accordingly. The course may be made up of several sections with different average speeds. Keep in mind that we will be off-road and wheel spin may be a factor.

SCORING: Penalties will be assessed for being late to a checkpoint and penalties are DOUBLED for being early to a checkpoint. REMEMBER, the golden rule of off-road driving: AS SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE, AS FAST AS NECESSARY!!!

The course will not be marked. You will be given route instructions that use TULIP CHARTS. Tulip charts are graphic symbols that show the direction you must travel. A mileage reading will be given with each tulip chart, to a 100th of a mile. This is where a feeling for distance comes in. You're probably thinking, "Hey, the LR3's odometer only goes to 10th's of a mile -- how do I know how far a 100th is?" Well, a hundredth of a mile is about 53 feet (5280 feet = 1 mile, 5280 / 10 = 52.8 feet or 53 feet), or three car lengths roughly. Between the tulip chart and the mileage readings it will be fairly obvious where to turn.

EXAMPLE:

1.88

Turn left at T intersection at 1.88 miles (odometer will read 1 mile with the 8 just turning to 9).




1.90

Turn right into creek at 1.90 miles. (Odometer will read 1.9)

When reading a tulip chart it is assumed that the drawing is viewed as though you are looking out the windshield of the car.