[brucepick]

Each GGP event is a Time-Speed-Distance Road Rally

We have some new people with us this year so it's probably smart for me to write a few words about this.

The first year I participated in the Green Grand Prix, I was a bit surprised when I discovered on the morning of the event, that I needed to know more about road rallies than I did. Hopefully your learning curve won't be as steep as mine was.

The GGP events are organized under the SCCA Road Rally rules. I'm convinced it would NOT be possible to organize such a large and successful event without the sanctioning of the SCCA or a similar organization - though I doubt there is any other similar organization in the US. It's also no accident that Bob Gillespie and likely others in the organization, have many years of experience in the rally circuit.

I decided some time ago that in order to support the event to the best of my ability, I would do my best participating in the rally component. I've enjoyed it.

I won't try to write here, all the rules and how-to's someone would need to be a competent rally driver. Google is your friend.

But I'll write a few things that are pertinent to the two Green Grand Prix events, and especially the track event.

The basic concept of time-speed-distance rallies is, you're given a route to drive. As you follow the route, you are periodically instructed to Change Average Speed To (CAST) x mph. Sometimes it's called CAS, for Commence Average Speed. Same thing. Your success at achieving the stated average speed over the segment is what determines your score for the segment. Your score for the event is the sum of your scores for the segments.

Scoring is done by the time measured between checkpoints. In the GGP track event, each time you cross the finish line is a checkpoint. Your time is noted electronically. On the road event, somewhere between 4-6 checkpoints are located along the route. You pull in when you come to a checkpoint, and your arrival time is noted on your score sheet. You don't know in advance where the checkpoints are. So, if you know you've been going too fast, you can't slow to a crawl just before the checkpoint to even things up. You need to do your best over the long haul.

The organizers do the math ahead of time - to determine the precise time needed for each segment, driving at the stated speed. Your arrival time is measured in hundredths of a minute in the road rally. In the track event, laps are measured to thousandths of a second.

Traditional road rally scoring is like golf: low score wins. You get a point for each hundredth of a minute you are off the ideal time for the segment.

GGP track event scoring is a bit different. Here, a point is a good thing. So for this event, high score wins. The ideal lap time is 3:16. That comes from the known 2.45 mile track length and the stated 45 mph average lap speed. [If you want to do the math, remember that a minute has sixty seconds, not a hundred.] The GGP sets a window of lap times that will earn a point. In 2015, any lap between 3:14 through 3:17 earned a point. Now, with the ideal time at 3:16, I don't know why you could be under by 2 seconds and over by only one second. But that is what we found when we reviewed our score sheets after the event. This year's scoring window may be the same, or different. But I expect the calculated time of 3:16 will be at the core of whatever scoring window is set.

The next time I write on this topic here, I'll go into some detail on HOW my brother/navigator Steve and I work to come close to ideal lap times.

Two quick tips - because you need to find these in advance:

1) If you can bring a digital stopwatch with you, do so. We got ours on Amazon. It's best if it will track more than 35 laps, but any stopwatch is better than none.

2) You'll need a tool to track average speed during each lap. Suggested tools:
SpeedTrackerLite (phone app)
RallyTracks, or Rally Tracks (phone app)
If using a phone app, get something to hold your phone to the dash. Your navigator will be busy with the stopwatch so you're likely handling the phone.
Or - a standalone GPS, such as a Garmin or TomTom

The tool you use must show average lap speed during the lap, to a tenth of a mile per hour. You need to be able to reset the average as you complete each lap. In the road rally event, you'll reset it at each CAST. [Go back to the top to reread what that means!]

Details on using both of these items in a later post. But I want to give you a head start on getting your hands on these.