What is Rally?

Road Rally
A road rally is a time-speed-distance motoring event requiring navigation skills as well as driving ability. Competitors
drive a common route over public roads according to a set of precise written route instructions, keeping to assigned legal
speeds; success is measured by one or more timing controls where competitors are assigned penalty points for being early
or late from calculated perfect time or for being off the designated rally course. A rally is usually divided into several
sections, each of which may include one or more transit zones (or transits), where competitors are given a substantial block
of time in which to get from one point to another at their own pace; and TSD legs, where competitors are expected to
maintain precise average speeds throughout the leg. Specific, exact times are calculated from the start of each TSD leg to
a timing control, or checkpoint, at the end of the leg; this is where penalty points for early or late arrival are determined for
each team. Because cars are timed from one control to the next, any time early or late at one checkpoint cannot be made
up in subsequent legs; finding any checkpoint puts a team back “on time”.
The rally course is measured to an accuracy of at least 1/100th of a mile, and all mileages are given to the hundredthmile.
Any time-of-day notations in the route instructions or supplemental instructions may be given in conventional clock
form--hours, minutes, and seconds separated by colons (e.g. Commence odometer leg at 7:35:15 plus your car number)--
or in decimal time format (in which 7:35:15 would be written 7:35.25). All other references to time used in calculations
will be given in decimal minutes, such as Pause 1.75 to indicate a pause of one minute and forty-five seconds.
Besides the mathematical calculation necessary to stay on time, many rallies require the ability to determine the proper
rally route according to the principles and definitions contained in these general instructions or in supplementary instructions
distributed at any particular event. These general rules apply in any case where they are not superseded by supplementary
instructions.