TSD Rally and TSD School Sponsored by Veloce Motors

The first question about the TSD Rally is usually “What is it?”  TSD stands for Time Speed Distance.  In a nutshell, it is a drive where a team of two, driver and navigator, travel in a vehicle from point A to point B with the goal of averaging a specific speed while following route instructions.  Checkpoints are used along the route and participants are scored according to how close they are to the correct time.  There is no need for special equipment.  In fact, use of a GPS is not allowed.  This is a classic rally where all you need is to make sure that your Alfa’s (or rental car’s) odometer is working, and bring along a watch with a second hand.  The drive takes place on public roads, at legal speeds, and of course, we have gorgeous roads! 

A TSD Rally School consisting of two sessions is going to be conducted on Thursday, July 14, which is the day before the TSD rally.  The TSD School instructor will be the very accomplished Rally Master from Portland, Dan Sommers.  The first session will cover Fundamentals.  Attendees will learn how the rally is conducted, how to sync up with the master clock, how to read the instruction sheet and follow directions to stay on the correct route.  None of this is difficult, but it is important to understand what the acronyms on the instruction sheet mean, such as CAST (Change Average Speed To). 

The second TSD Rally School session will consist of a Classroom Workshop that will put into practice what was learned in the Fundamentals session.  Attendees will be handed instructions for a route and a diagram of the route.  For the first exercise, the instructor will walk attendees through it, explaining each instruction and showing how the route should be followed.  The second exercise will performed by the students without instructor assistance, but time has been set aside at the end of the workshop to go over the exercise and answers any questions that attendees may have.

The objective of the school is to provide everyone with the knowledge and confidence so that they may have a fun and first class TSD experience.  Participants will be divided into 2 groups: Novice (beginners) and Standard (experienced).  Both groups will follow the same route, but the Standard instruction sheet will be more challenging than the Novice sheet.  Regardless, there are no tricky instructions, and fail safe mechanisms have been put in place in case a team goes off route.  Cars will be released in 60 seconds intervals, and total driving time, even taking into account mistakes, is designed to be well under 2 hours.  

We are fortunate to have serious TSD expertise within the AROC, and it was no coincidence that after many years of absence, the chapter known for its TSD events brought back this timeless activity to the convention they hosted: Portland 2009.  Their success paved the way for Frederick 2010, and now that it is being offered for a third year in a row, we may just be able to always look forward towards a new tradition of great drives where the focus is on the driver and navigator team and their skills to negotiate real world driving conditions!