Devizes and District motor club

The following guidance has been produced to support all members on DDMC events by David Bardwell.

No 1 – Bring the correct Gear

Before entering a 12 car [ or a scatter ] check that you have as many as possible of these items for use in the car

1. Properly prepared maps; If possible,
   •  The cover removed and map number re-written within the border
   • The wide paper edge trimmed off up to the black and white border
   • “ Date of last revision “ [ written in the text at side of the map ] noted down within the border
   • [all these notes are best done close together, such as in top right corner, in bold marker pen ]
   • Really important –all spot heights highlighted with a marker pen
   • Really important –grid line numbers on the map [ pale blue ] over-written with bold black-but don’t obliterate any useful information
   • If possible; mark the map with which maps join on each side and if you own those adjoining maps mark up any overlap with bold lines on the gridline
   • Don’t – rub out or reuse maps too many times ! Details can easily be lost

2. Map board large enough to be useful, but not too big to get in the way of either crew. Not so hard as to injure !
3. Time card board, clipboard size, just to hold the timecard and to be able to pass out  to marshals
4. Bulldog clips  to generally stop loosing necessary paper items
5. Pencils ;Bring enough so you don’t need to re-sharpen]
   • Many use 2B or 4B hardness.
   • Bring a sharpener.
6. Rubbers bring at least 2 or 3 [ close to hand, as they always get dropped ! ]
7. Romer essential for accurate plotting, many keep these on a string round the neck
8. Magnifier  / or a “ potti “ . A full size potti may get in the way on plot and bash events , a cheap LED illuminated magnifer is often very suitable.
   • Try using a headtorch as well.
9. Accurate Watch [ or in car clock if it has a seconds display ]
   • A phone clock is ok if it can be readily seen [ such as when entering a control because you mustn’t be early but you don’t want to waste time either ]

No 2- Plotting and marking the route

Whatever you have decided is the correct route needs to be clearly marked up on your map

1. The route you intend to follow, use a line each side of the road you have chosen [ tramlines ] [ some do use a single line ]
2. Put an arrow on the line to show which way you are going
3. When a control needs to be marked use a clear way of showing it. Many use a circle around the actual point and a pencil dot on the actual spot. Clearly label the circle with “ TC 6 “ or “PC B” etc, if possible close to the road of approach.
4. Blackspots , Quiets and Give ways should all have been clearly marked as soon as given out
5. But in all cases of marking up the route don’t draw on top of any detail that might be useful, so a circle might be drawn as a broken circle to avoid blanking out a road junction or a tight bend, or as a weird shape that avoids obscuring some important stuff.

No 3 –Calling the road

First priority to go the correct way, and only then ;

Second priority to warn of all road features ahead that allow driver to go quicker or slow down

1. I’ts a two man job !
2. Drivers , after “ reading out the route “ during plotting , then have a vital job to report back what they see ahead, so that the navigator can interpret the map.
3. The navigator informs of what is drawn [ maybe how far ahead ] on the map  the driver then confirms when its in sight
4. Cross off each item with a pencil stroke or ‘squiggle ‘ on the map, its vital that if the navigator looks up , such as at a control , you can then resume where you were
5. There must be constant conversation in the car !
6. Never blindly follow the car ahead – unless – that’s actually where you want to go ! They maybe wrong !!
7. Never assume that the road ahead is the ‘ major road ‘ . what appears on the map as a straight on at a cross roads ,  could be a turn left off a major road that actually itself turns right.
8. Try to develop a logic that at every junction , counting the roads either side of the car  , so , “ leave two on left , “  means you would turn right at most X roads .
9. Don’t let the white lines , or Stop / giveway signs confuse you , rely on the map.
10. Items that  can be read out ;
    • Approaches to a bend, Stop / give way ahead , passing a building, entering a village, ‘down hill’ / ‘uphill’ / into trees / over or under a bridge- can all help the navy know exactly where they are on the map
    • and of course code boards and C boards before a manned control

When you are used to all this ;

start to “ call “ the angle of a bend and how “ sharp “ ( some 90s can gently sweep round gently , others can be “ tight and need proper braking ! )

Finally ,  Keep an eye of distances and times between times controls if you can.