The First TSD

TSD = Time, Speed, Distance.

Not a terribly enticing name for a "racing" event but a couple of weeks ago I participated in my first "Timed Rally."  The concept is fairly simple.  There is a fixed starting point, ending point, and a few fixed check-in points.  The goal is to maintain the suggested  average speed  across all points between the fixed points and the end points.  This does get tricky, however, as accuracy matters much more than it does in horseshoes.

When we started chatting with others participating in the rally, they claimed a "good" run was a score of 40 points over the course of the rally. When we, myself and my navigator Andy, realized what this meant we were pretty floored.   A point is awarded for every tenth of a second above or below the target time.  A rally lasts approximately six hours.  So that means, over six hours of driving, a car was able to time their arrival times with no more than 4 seconds of inaccuracy using nothing more than the car's odometer, speedometer, and a stopwatch.

This type of racing may seem anti-climatic.  For me, it is a bit.  There is quite a bit of math, quite a bit down time, and the speeds that need to be maintained are only a struggle because of the conditions provided by the road.  However, Andy and I are taking it all in as a part of a training program.

The goal is to run in September's Silver State Classic Challenge.  The race is run in Nevada on closed public roads.  The course is 90 miles long and the goal is to travel the course at a given average speed.  The minimum class speed is 95 MPH.  This means, over 90 miles, the goal is to average 95 MPH.  There are twists and turns across the 90 mile course and we'd like to run in one of the 100-110 MPH classes.  To do this we established a bit of a plan:

1.  Train our navigator/timing efforts.  This is why we were doing a "TSD Rally."  It helps develop a communication system, a vocabulary, and coping mechanisms for when things are going right or wrong.

2. Get the car ready.  The intent is to run with the M3.   The validity of this as a "good idea" may or may not pan out but it's my preference to run the car I've been tweaking for a year.  The car is still untested, undyno'd, and has never seen a rolling speed of greater than 80 MPH.  We may need to find some time on some private roads.   Or at least a dyno cell.

3. Get the logistics ready.  We are coming from Minnesota and will need to plan on transportation of ourselves, the car, and everything we need to support the car and ourselves.  This will probably be the most difficult part.

So, the boring part, learning to navigate is step one.  We did reasonably terrible at our last TSD and are hoping to do a few more in the coming months.