WHAT IS A TSD RALLY?
sponsored by Odometer Gears
Oktoberfest Odometer Gears TSD Rally
Forget all the horror stories you may have heard about TSD rallying! Those tales are all about trap rallies—but the Odometer Gears TSD Rally is a straightforward touring rally, with no trips, traps, or “gotchas” to make you feel like you’ve wandered into a middle-school math class. Nope—rallymasters Mike Windham and Greg Flint have laid out a pleasant 3½-hour course that will take you through beautiful Alabama landscapes and deliver you to world-famous Talladega Speedway. And yes, the route contains bathroom breaks!
Best of all, there is probably no way to get lost—the bane of rallyists in some other events where it seems like the rallymasters want you to get lost! “We’re not like that,” says Windham. “The rallymaster is really the host of a great party—and like any good host, we just want our guests to have fun!”
In fact, Windham and Flint have added one element to the TSD rally that we’ve anticipated for years: GPS measurement. Since the advent of GPS navigation devices, people have wondered when they would be incorporated into time-speed-distance rallies. But while our rallyists will be provided with GPS data in their route instructions, the rally has also been prepared to the exacting standards of the most demanding rally geek, measured with rally odometers reading to the distance of a grasshopper’s fetlock, and calculated on the basis of those rolling measurements.
But you don’t have to be a rally nerd to enjoy the Odometer Gears TSD Rally. You don’t need fancy rally computers or auxiliary odometers. In fact, you don’t even need a GPS unit. BMW CCA has three rally classes for rallyists using different levels of rally equipment:
A (Unlimited): No limit is placed on the equipment you may use. Teams using devices that perform both measurement and computation (i.e. rally computers) must compete in this class. Here’s where you’ll see TimeWise and Alfa Pro rally computers—and the nerds who know how to use them!
B (Equipped): Measurement may be derived by auxiliary odometers and/or GPS devices. Any computational device is allowed, provide it does not have a direct interface with the measurement device. Rallyists using hand-held or laptop computers, smart phones with computer functions, Curta calculators, and aftermarket GPS units compete in this class; it’s also the venue for navigators who run their own calculation programs on laptop or tablet computers. This year we expect to see a few Garmin and Tom-Tom-equipped cars running in this class, too!
C (Unequipped): Original-equipment odometers, speedometers, and onboard computers are allowed, along with factory-supplied navigation systems. Any four-function calculator with a single memory is allowed. Hand-held or laptop computers, smart phones with computer functions, Curta calculators, and aftermarket GPS units are not allowed in this class. But just by resetting the average-speed calculator in the onboard computer, Class C rallyists have finished past Oktoberfest rallies with amazing scores! It’s a great way to start rallying on a more sophisticated level rather than just driving around hoping for a good score.
At every O’Fest, the TSD rally gets an informal start with the Rally Board, a bulletin board set up in the registration area. Here rallyists sign up for their preferred starting times; they also post notes looking for rally partners. The Rally Board will also contain information about the pre-rally orientation meeting held Tuesday evening, as well as pinpointing the location of the rally start Wednesday morning.
All rallyists must sign in at rally registration on Wednesday morning; it opens at 8:00 a.m. Rally packets will be issued until 8:30 on a first-come, first-served basis; latecomers may receive packets after that time if registration personnel are still around. Cars will officially start the rally at 9:00 a.m. plus their car numbers.
If you’re a first-time rallyist, hang around after the rally orientation meeting Tuesday for some useful advice from the experts. And if you’re a seasoned Class A veteran, start working on the excuse you’ll need when a Class C beginner team gets a better score using their onboard computer!
