Grand Touring: Everything you need know about Distance, Speed and Time Rallying… and didn’t know What or Who to ask Edited by John Hume Sr.

If you like the thought of spirited driving on tarmac through various terrains (towns, villages, open country roads, down fjords) with high speed and precision, then Grand Touring rallying is for you!

And just what is Targa Grand Touring Division (DST Rallying) all about? It is about driving very quickly and very accurately!

After reading this article you will have a good understanding of the Grand Touring (GT) category of Targa and all of its requirements. As result you will have the knowhow to rally effectively and competitively.

Below is a picture of my 2013 GP - It has raced Targa Newfoundland in GT class 4 times finishing 2nd twice and 1st twice. Needless to say, this type of vehicle is ideal for rallying. It is not expensive to buy or own, but great on gas, has more than enough power and handles extremely well. (Got a dime anyone? - I will show you some turns)

John Hume and his navigator at work “in the mobile office”

Targa Grand Touring Defined

The Targa Grand Touring (GT) class is defined as Distance - Speed - Timed rallying. GT is a test of accuracy and teamwork where precision in quick driving is the goal. All vehicles are assigned a base speed for each race stage. The base speed is the exact speed in which you are required to drive the stage. If a stage has a base speed of 105 kph, an average of exactly 105 kph is required. Hence, a very precise style of driving is necessitated. So, the navigator has the key role in the car. The navigator, by way of reading an instructive course book, not only calls the instructions but also monitors the average speed, elapsed time and advises the driver accordingly. The driver then needs to speed up or slow down as required. This necessitates a lot of good and constant communication and team work, since the navigator has much to monitor and relay to the driver. Risk factor A GT competitor’s goal is to maintain a specific yet very quick speed. There are stages where a GT class competitor may be averaging 115 kph. Yet, less than 5% of GT participants fail to complete the week's . The GT class provides less risk to both the team and vehicle, hence does not have the extensive safety requirements of the Targa category.

How it’s scored

Since you are assigned an exact speed to drive and the exact length of the stage is known, the organizers have calculated at exactly what time you should cross the flying finish. Calculated to the exact second, it is a measure of the time when you started the stage to when you finished. A penalty of 1 point per second early or late is assigned if you are off this target time. However, nobody is perfect so there is a margin of error that is allowed in each stage. On day one of the event, this margin is set around 12 seconds decreasing each day down to approximately 2 seconds per stage by the final day. This gives competitors some experience under their belts by Wednesday before timing becomes critical. As well there are four practice stages (Prologues) to do the day before actual racing starts. So time to hone some communication and driving skills beforehand.

Example - you have a stage that has a target time of 6 minutes 15 seconds; and you finished the stage in 6 minutes even. On day one, being 12 seconds off of target time you earn a 3 second penalty. However, by day 5, the margin is just 2 seconds you would earn a 13 point penalty. Considering that the top finishers usually have less than 25 seconds in penalties for the entire week, you can see why it is important to maintain precision.

Suggested Odometer Equipment and Digital Timers:

Any device that automatically provides average speed information, or time ahead of, or behind a target average speed is virtually a necessity in GT rallying. This includes most GPS units, virtually all rally computers, and many standard in-car computers. By providing time ahead/behind or average speed, the navigator's work load is significantly reduced. Although more equipment monitoring is required. Two common rally Odometers are Terratrip and Monit (my favorite) and see images of timers, plus odo and timer configuration:

TERRATRIP SAMPLE EQUIPMENT SETUP

MONIT TYPICAL TIMER Most cars currently produced have in car DST computers as standard equipment. These display average speed. While not required, a precision odometer is highly recommended if you want to be competitive. Also, you will require two digital timers. One is used to count up for each race, so you can track in your route book where you should be at any time showing on the timer. The second timer is used to count down each race stage. Set it before each stage to the time set for that stage (remember wet and dry times are different So make sure you know if you are racing a wet or dry race!. Use the second timer to verbally count down the last 20 seconds of stage. Don't forget to reset both timers at each stage start. Same with your odometer. You set it to Zero at each stage start. And leave it measuring distance until your reach the next race start. You will need the Odometer's distance reading to do the in between stage transits. If you reset your odometer after a stage - you will get lost in your transit! We use Velcro to affix our rally odometer and timers to the dash right in front of the navigator.

Best Practices

The route books you will use for the week (one per race day = 6 total) are available online about a week before arriving at the event and hard copies are handed out at Targa registration; including all the instructions, speeds and stage times for the event. You may think, ‘I have detailed instructions, I have the speeds I need to travel and I know exactly how long I have to travel each stage. So I’ll just race it through the stage and slow down at the end!’ Sorry, it’s not that simple. If you drive very fast and intentionally stop to kill time and are seen by any event , penalties will be assigned. Or you may drive too fast and find towards the end of a stage you are at the flying finish too soon, then try to slow down in order to cross the line on time. Generally speaking you will not be able to erase enough time without actually stopping before reaching the flying finish (which if you do will net you penalty points and can be dangerous, as there is someone only 30 seconds behind you). Best practice is to maintain the correct "time" at each "distance interval" through each stage. Try for 3 or 4 seconds early through each leg up to end of day 3, just in case (banking time).

To ensure you maintain the correct "time" at each moment through each stage there are ITC’s (Interim Time Controls - yellow signs with ITC on them), placed sporadically throughout each run. Usually hard to spot until you are right at them. You never know when you will encounter one. If you are maintaining a correct "time" window throughout each stage, then you will pass by the ITC at the correct "time". It matters not how fast you are going at an ITC (as long as it is less than 150 kph). Event know exactly when you should be at any given point in a stage and that includes ITCs. The same penalties (and error margins) apply for ITC’s as for the flying finish. Some stages won’t have any ITC’s, some stages will have one or several ITCs. And these are not marked in the route books (so cruel to be sure).

This is why GT is called Time - Speed - Distance- The correct time at all points over a set distance.

With a rally Odometer, it is comparatively simple to determine whether you are above or below your assigned average speed. But a better way is to mark in your route books interval times throughout each race stage to keep you on time at each point of each stage. The navigators job is to advise the driver if they’re ahead or behind by referring to the odometer and timer counting up time taken. Or, if the driver is good at on the fly math the navigator reads out time you should be at a distance point and time you are actually at a distance point. It does not matter how fast you are going (just keep it under 150 kph) at any point in a race stage. It only matters what time you are at any given distance point in a race stage. There are available online computer programs that will allow you to do the interim time calculations very easily. Or, Rally Phone Apps are available to download (i.e. ARM app). Or, you can do them manually as per: By applying the formula Distance times 60 divided by Speed equals Time (D x 60/S = T), However, this is a tedious time consuming practice and you cannot do it on the fly. Nobody I know does this anymore. Best to use the program before the event and input times in your route books (Yes, both wet and dry times meaning two sets of numbers per race stage. Please note most stages have speed changes for driver and Co- pilot to deal with. Some stages will have three speed changes. And these effect the time you need to be at each point through each stage. Speed changes are added to race legs to allow overall faster GT times to be driven while keeping it as safe as possible at each assigned speed.

Any experienced GT team will spend several hours inputting wet and dry interval times in their route books prior to the event. Remember, you are given your route book info online a week or so prior to the event. You are allowed to make your own copies of the route books to use. You should have all math completed before the event begins. However, some competitors do their route book prep in the evenings after a day's racing, or on transits between stages. Best practice is to get it done before you start the week's racing. Note: there are always route changes to do when you arrive at the event, so bring tape and staples to add in revised pages to your route books!

Distance Calibration

Due to differences in car manufacturers, tire wear and tire size, no two cars will read exactly the same mileage over a given distance. As a result, there is always a ‘calibration’ stage for you to drive at Targa before racing begins, in order to calibrate your Odometer to the Targa Kilometer distance. This gives the competitor a chance to compare the mileage reading on their vehicle with that of the event organizers and determine the correction factor. You rally odometer will have a calibration set up instruction. So you can set it up to read a kilometer to match the one set out by Targa NL.

Running Equipment

Whether you are a rally computer, GPS or precision odometer, have the equipment installed at least a month before the event. Test it under a variety of road and weather conditions. Be familiar with how it works. Too often, competitors show up with a piece of navigational equipment that was recently installed and either find that it is not working properly or they don’t know how to use it effectively.

Getting Experience Before the Event

There are two aspects of that are often run at the local, amateur level which are a great aid in running Grand Touring. These are TSD rallies and auto slalom (autocross). A TSD (time/speed/distance) rally is held on public roads with speeds usually 10% below posted limits. They are sometimes also referred to as Navex rallies as the emphasis is on navigation. Speeds are low but the instructions can be cryptic. They provide good practice in communication, teamwork, steady driving and time calculating. They are also a good way of testing any Rally Odometer equipment you may have. An Auto Slalom is typically held on a parking lot with a course laid out with traffic cones. The objective is to maneuver between the cones as quickly as possible without striking any. It is a good way of learning just how your car handles and how well you can handle your car. Either one of these disciplines will aid you in running in Grand Touring and the two combined will make you much more competitive. So check and see if there is a motorsport club in your area and get involved! Tires and Pressures

Believe it or not the best all round tire for this rally is an All Season tire. Why? You will run into wet and dry conditions sometimes through one single stage. And temperatures can range from 8 C (46 F) up to 28C (86 F). All season tires offer the best overall performance in those varied conditions. Manufacturer recommended tire pressures are great for everyday driving and ride comfort. However, the cornering you do will be much more aggressive and at higher speeds than normal. Stock tire pressures will not suffice. At high speeds, there is more of a tendency for the tire to roll under the rim. a simple solution is to increase the air pressure in the tire. This will make the tire more rigid and resistant to sideways deflection. It will also improve overall handling. it is recommended running 10 PSI above stock pressures.

Dehydration - Stay liquefied!

You may think that because you’re sitting in the car all day that you wouldn’t tend to lose fluids as if you were exercising. However, there is a lot adrenalin pumping through your system during race stages and this tends to use fluids. One of the first symptoms of dehydration is a loss of focus and alertness and it sneaks up on you slowly. Not a good thing to have happen when driving competitively. Event organizers supply two bottles of water per person per day - make sure you drink it all up! And stay away from alcohol all week as you need to pass a breathalyzer test each AM before being allowed to race.

Vehicle Types and required gear for same

There is a wide variety of new and old vehicles competing in GT class. A vehicle with good handling (like a MINI) or with extra power will have a bit of an advantage over others. However, the primary factor will be the skills of the driver and navigator and how well they functions as a team. Heck you can even rent a car and race it. You will be required to equip your car with the following safety items: Tow hooks front and back, a 20 foot tow rope, First aid kit, 3 safety triangles, Fire extinguisher, Plastic drop sheet. All easy to get and total value less than $200.

Personal safety Equipment required

You are required to wear a 2010 or newer Snell Approved Race Helmet. Open face is allowed, but closed face is recommended, Racing shoes, Racing Gloves are a good idea, and Long pants. I suggest purchase a Racing Jacket value about $200. Or you can buy a racing suit (the fire rated ones cost about $1,000 but are not necessary for GT class). Wearing a race jacket or race suit you will definitely look the part while racing. If you have a noisy car then, add a helmet intercom system. In my car we do not require any hearing aids. (I just have to avoid the occasional whack from my co-pilot when I disobey instructions). Also keep on hand, Pens, Pencils, Pencil sharpener, Magic markers, Highlighters, Duct tape, Multi faceted Screw driver and Velcro. Bring along about 200 5" x 7" printed "Hero Cards' with pictures of you and your car, with specs on the car; to hand out to all the people you will meet at car shows etc. They will want to know about you and your car.

Want to see some in car videos of GT racing, to listen how to out instructions while racing, then click here and check out and of several Hume at Targa videos.

Awards

Not only is racing GT challenging and a ton of fun, you can win awards too! There is a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place plate awarded to the top three finishers. If you have less than 3 minutes in penalties you earn a silver “Trophy Time Plate” There are other trophies presented to the best 3 car team and best manufacturer (highest placing makes) and best rookie race team award too. (see picture below)

Good luck with your rallying!