Common Rally Terms and their Definitions
- Arrival Time Control (ATC)
- A manned station just before the start of a special stage that each rally team is required to check into at an assigned time. Teams are penalized for checking in early or late, discouraging them from speeding on the transits or taking extra sevice time. (also see FTC and MTC)
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- Blind Rally
- A performance rally where the exact route is kept secret until just before the start of the event.
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- ClubRally
- A local level Performance Rally that consists of between 10 and 100 miles of special stages. These events can include competitors form all over the country and around the world, but are mainly designed for more local competitors. Competitors with a limited amount of experience are required to achieve a certain level of sucess at these events before they are eligible to compete in a ProRally. Some ProRallies also count some of the special stages as a seperate ClubRally. (also see Performance Rally, and ProRally)
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- Decreasing Milage
- The milage, to the hundreth of a mile, to the next MTC, ATC, or FTC.
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- Delta Milage
- The milage, to the hundreth of a mile, from the last route instruction to the current route instruction.
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- Driver
- The person who drives the rally car. Unlike other forms of motor racing, the driver does not know the course in advance, instead he or she must rely on their navigator to tell them where the road goes.
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- Finish Time Control (FTC)
- The manned station just after the finish of a special stage where the rally team has their stage time written on their time card by the rally workers there. It is at this time the rally team is given their next ATC check in time. (also see ATC and MTC)
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- Group 2 (G2)
- This is a rally car class for heavily modified two-wheel drive vehicles with smaller displacement engines. (also see Open, Group 5, Production GT, and Production)
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- Group 5 (G5)
- This is a rally car class for heavily modified two-wheel drive vehicles with larger displacement or turbo charged engines. (also see Open, Group 2, Production GT, and Production)
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- Incremental Milage
- The milage, to the hundreth of a mile, since the last MTC, ATC, or FTC.
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- Log Book
- A small booklet that in which the competition history of a rally car is documented. Each time the rally car goes through technical inspection it is noted in the log book, as well as any major accidents the car is involved in during an event.
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- Main Time Control (MTC)
- A manned station where, at the beginning of each day of rally, the teams get their time cards. The teams must also return to the MTC to turn their time card at the end of each day. (also see ATC and FTC)
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- Navigator
- The person who sits in the passanger's seat of the rally car. Using the route book as for reference, he or she describes the approaching road to the driver.
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- Open (O)
- This is a rally car class mainly for heavily modified 4WD vehicles with turbo charged engines. (also see Group 5, Group 2, Production GT, and Production)
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- Performance Rally
- A type of car rally where the competitors run sections of the route one at a time and flat out in a specially prepared rally car. These sections of the rally are known as special stage, and are connected by transits. The winners are the rally teams that complete these special stage sections in the shortest amount of time. (also see ProRally, and ClubRally)
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- ProRally
- A national level Performance Rally that consists of a minimum of 100 miles or 140 minutes of special stages. These events include competitors form all over the country and around the world. To be eligible to compete in these events, competitors must have achieved a certain level of sucess in ClubRallies. Some special stages of a ProRally are also counted as a seperate ClubRally. (also see Performance Rally, and ClubRally)
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- Production (P)
- This is a rally car class for basically show-room stock vehicles with smaller displacement engines. Vehicles in this class are usually two-wheel drive, and non-turbo charged. (also see Open, Group 5, Group 2, and Production GT)
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- Production GT (PGT)
- This is a rally car class for basically show-room vehicles with larger displacement or turbo charged engines. Vehicles in this class are often 4WD. (also see Open, Group 5, Group 2, and Production)
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- Rally Car
- A production based automobile that has been modified with a roll cage and 5-point safety belts for safety purposes. Rally lights and a rally odometer are also standard features on a rally car. Depending on what car class a rally team wants to compete in, certain other performance modifications are allowed. (also see Log Book)
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- Rally Odometer
- A special computer installed in a rally car that measures milage to the hundreth of a mile, reads time to the hundreth of a minute, as well as a host of other things. (click here to see a picture of one)
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- Rally Lights
- Extra bright lights that are specially designed to illuminate certain parts of the road in front of a rally car. Each light is usually 100 Watts or brighter and can cost $100 to $200, or more. Each rally car uses an average of six of these lights.
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- Route
- The sequence of special stages and transits that make up the path of roads the rally follows. (also see Route Book)
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- Route Book
- A series of pages created by the rally organizers that use milages, written descriptions and notes, as well as schematic-like drawings to explain and describe the route of a "blind rally". This book is used by the navigator as a basis for describing the route to the driver.
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- Route Instruction
- An individual row the milages, written descriptions and notes, as well as schematic-like drawings in the route book A route instruction is used to mark significant corners or other important things along the route.
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- Service Area
- A designated area where a rally team's service crew is allowed to work on their car. Each service crew is given the same amount of time to perform maintainance or repair work on the car, and the team is penalized for using more than the alotted time. The time between service stops can often be hours, while the amount of time allowed at each service point can range from only 15 minutes to an hour and a half. At any other point along the way only the dirver or navigator can work on the car using only what they are carrying.
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- Service Crew
- The "pit crew" of a rally team. They travel to several different service areas throughout the lenght of a rally, as opposed to other forms of motorsports where the pit crew stays in one place. In the process of getting around to all the service areas throughout an event , the service crew can sometimes cover as many miles as the dirver and navigator do.
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- Special Stage (SS)
- A flat out racing section of a rally's route. These roads closed to the public and can range from half a mile to 24 miles in length. (also see Stage Time)
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- Stage Time
- The amount of time, to the hundreth of a minute, that it takes a rally team to complete a special stage. A team's final score is determined by adding up all their individual stage times. The rally team with the lowest cumalative time wins.
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- Technical Inspection (Tech)
- A process before each event where the rally car and related equipment is checked to make sure it meets all safety standards.
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- Time Card
- A special paper or booklet, carried by each rally team, where the FTC workers write the rally team's stage time at the end of each special stage.
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- Transit
- The parts of the route that connect the special stages. These roads are open to the public and are driven at or below the speed limit by the rally team.
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- TSD Rally (Time Speed Distance)
- A type of car rally where the competitors are drive the route at a specified set speed. This set speed changes throughout the event and the object is to be on time at certain secret destinations along the route. A team is given one point for every hundreth of a minute they are early or late in arriving, and the rally teams with the lowest point totals at the end are the winners.
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- Tulip Diagram
- A small diagram depicting the road and other necessary information about the route in the area around the listed incremental milage.
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