These tables do all the hard work for you. I suppose it's not dissimilar to using the logarithm tables that we used to have in school. (Log tables and slide rules? It's getting just like school maths class.)
The book is a plethora of numbers and rallye calculations already worked out for you.
The riveting chapters include: Hundredths of minutes converted to seconds. Seconds converted to decimal parts of minutes. Miles per hour converted to seconds per mile and minutes per mile. But the biggest proportion of the book is given over to the Navigation Tables. Some 89 pages of tables where each speed between 12 and 59.75 mph is listed in tenth of a mile per hour increments along with the time it takes to cover a distance between 1 and 40 miles.
About as interesting as watching paint dry to the uninitiated, but bread and butter stuff for the Rallyist. Three miles at 23 mph? 7 minutes 50 seconds.
In the past, having these facts easy to hand must have been quite helpful to a navigator if they were trying to look out for landmarks and follow Rallye instructions while at the same time being bombarded with requests from the driver about their speed and progress.
Also, you needn't go thinking that modern high tech equipment has replaced them. For one of the first things I was shown on my first Rallye, by a friendly fellow rallyist, and was advised to buy, was a set of Navigation tables on an iPad.
Also, you needn't go thinking that modern high tech equipment has replaced them. For one of the first things I was shown on my first Rallye, by a friendly fellow rallyist, and was advised to buy, was a set of Navigation tables on an iPad.
There you go, more Rallye fun, and more maths. I really should have paid more attention at school...
Rally tables for the iPad? Do you mean the Schnittabelle Historic Rallye Races item on the iTunes App Store?
ReplyDeleteFor another take on the rally computations, you might have a look at the TSD Rally Computer also on the iTunes App Store with much more for less. I have more than a passing familiarity with it having written it for fun and because it's something I've wanted to do since rallying in the '60s.
Love your blog, BTW. I look forward to reading more. This is a real boost to the sport and I hope others find it. Cheers, Mike
Thanks for the kind words about the blog Michael. Glad you like reading it. I think that might be the iPad App I was told about. It was only available on the iTunes Germany store from what I could see so I never pursued it any further. Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your App, I'll check it out. We need something to replace RallyTracks which the wife and I loved. A clean design and easy to use.
DeleteThanks again.
Ian
Ian, I'm in the process of creating a more stripped down version of the TSD Rally Computer that in honor of Reid's Rally Tables I'll call the TSD Rally Table. It's designed for those who like to keep a running check of errors by CAST leg, more like what we used to do in SOP class events and I think it should still qualify for SOP class status. As a preview, think of the new app as combining the CAST selection with the TSD Calculator popup on a single screen with quick, one-button addition of 0.01 or 0.10 miles or kilometers as you travel down the road.
DeleteThe numbers in the rally tables are all based on a 1 line formula that is easily programmed into a simple calculator. The apps, or any programmable calculator can handle storing the cast in a memory and then giving you a time based on a mileage entry. Cindy and I did rallys for years in the 70s and 80s with tables. We got very good and even were competitive in national C/S class with them. But I wouldn't recommend them these days. The app does the same thing so much better.
ReplyDeleteThat would be like Gary Starr's EZtiming method would it? Being, as you can tell, a mathematical nincompoop I've tried working with it but as yet can't get my maths to agree with his instructions.
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