Conference terri::cars_uk

    Hi There,
    
    I don't know if this suggestion will work for car rallies but I'll
    explain how things work at Vintage motorcycle rallies.
    
    It's basically a time trial, but its not the fastest that wins but the
    person who stays closest to a fixed average speed.
    So as the organiser you know the distance of the route (in bike rallies
    about 60-80 miles)whereas the participants don't (you keep the route
    secret until the day when you give out route cards) 
    Competitors start off at say minute intervals, and along the way you
    have secret time check points. so if say at an average of 20 mph you
    have a check point 30 miles into the route, then competitors should
    take 1.5 hours to get there. A minute late and they lose a point, a
    minute early they lose 2 (to discourage sppeding!). And so on.
    
    At the end of the run, the person with least points wins!!
    
    I can assure you it's very difficult to do on Vintage bikes, I know
    because I ride a 1926 Sunbeam 500cc in such events.
    
    
    Huw.

Ahhh Gi'day...�

    The ones I've been in usually have questions about things on the route.

    Questions that identify landmarks, anagrams of road signs etc etc

I've set up quite a few gimmick rallies in the past (answer stupid questions
along the way).  I've also participated in the Time-Speed-Distance events
(described in .1), but we usually got timed down to the second, not the minute.

There are lots of variation on the gimmick rally theme.  One that I used a few
times that was interesting was you gave the competitors two set of sheets.  One
set included all the route instructions, in order.  The other set included all 
the questions they have to answer, also in order.  The trick is, they don't know
how the questions and route instructions match up.  That means they have to be
looking for a question and a route instruction at the same time, throughout the
whole rally.  This makes it easy to stay on course, but keeps both driver and 
navigator fairly busy.

While setting up one rally I found a neat way to avoid the problem where a bunch
of cars end up following one another so when one car finds a clue (and slows
down) everyone else gets it as well.  The course I found provided a few places
where different routes could be taken to get to the same place.  I basically
made 3 different versions of the route, with equal number of questions on each
'loop'.  Every third car got the same route.  Most of the route was identical,
but if two cars got together, they would eventually split onto different roads,
wondering why the other car went the other way!

I would also scout out the small dirt roads in the area, which didn't always
please the competitors, but I had fun!

One more twist I used a few times was the 'Bridge Rule.'  Everytime you crossed
over a bridge (I'll give you our definition of a 'bridge', it isn't as easy as
you think...) you make them take a turn.  Your Bridge Rule sets up which way
they turn.  Once we had them take the first right after every bridge, unless the
next route instruction came up.  If there was no right before the next bridge,
they would then have to take a left, unless the next route instruction came up,
and so on.

Definition of Bridge (from memory):

A elevated section of roadway that spans a waterway, other road, railroad 
tracks or other obstruction and has interconnected vehicular restraint devices
on both sides.

This eliminates the little back country culvert with a single wooden post on
one side and other questionable 'bridges.'  Wooden posts with wire strung
between them on both sides does count, as does full fledged guard rails.

Dave

    	I am assuming this is a sort of "treasure hunt" rather than a
    "real" rally but (in either case, actually) you would do well to break
    the route up into a number of sections. The shorter the sections, the
    more difficult your job and the easier for the competitors.
    
    	You can then vary the style in each section. Among some ideas for
    styles :
    
    * a section with a series of TR, TL, SO instructions for every junction
    encountered. A variation on this theme is to then change all the TRs
    into SOs, TL's into TR's and SO's into TL's - that's nicely confusing!
    It is then possible to run a "straight" section early in the rally and
    then come back towards the end with the same-looking thing with the
    changes. Some folks just will not read the instructions carefully
    enough!!!
    
    * a section where you just give the start and end points but make them
    pass through a certain defined point en route (where you could, if you
    have enough helpers, have a check - deduct points for those who do not
    appear). A variation on this theme could be to have three such points
    and time the section so that point 1 is easy, point 2 more difficult
    and point 3 very difficult to achieve in the allotted time - add points
    for reaching a mid-section marker (more points for the more difficult)
    and deduct points for lateness.
    
    * a section where "Fred the Crow" flies (as the crow flies!) from A to
    B and "sees" or  flies over certain features on his way (eg a railway 
    line twice, electricity pylons, the M-way, a piece of high or low
    ground, anything that is unique on the map)
    
    * another possibility is to direct them along the route purely by
    contour heights - ie "climb away from the startpoint to 235' then drop
    slightly before climbing again to nearly 400' and then dropping steeply
    away to 123'." Again, you must make sure there are no ambiguities on
    your chosen stretch of route.
    
    	Hope this helps. Good luck. It's fun making up rally routes
    although it does take a LOT of preparation to make it foolproof. One
    last point to remember, the objective is not to get everyone lost!! The
    most rewarding result is when EVERYONE is able to make it to the finish
    by themselves but there is only one winner. Oh, and (last tip!) I would
    certainly put the finish reference in a sealed envelope so that, if
    folks do get seriously lost they can at least make it to the finish.
    Also, you may wish (and I would do this, personally) to put the
    reference of each section in a sealed envelope (with a hefty penalty
    for openeing it!) so that, if a car gets hopelessly lost on one section
    they can at least join in the rest of the rally.
    
    Cheers,
    	Colin