Rally meters

A key feature of rallies is tracking distance. In the rally instructions, the location of all questions is given by way of the distance (in miles and kilometres) from the start point. So you need to know how far you have travelled in order to know when to look for the answer to a question.

This can be done simply with the car's trip odometer (I have done several rallies in this manner). However, sometimes the odometer is not totally accurate, so you will have to manually calculate the gain/loss over distance (a correction chart can help with this). More importantly, if you make a mistake, or take a wrong turn (and you will!) you will have to allow for the extra distance travelled, and so recalculate the location of every question.

This process is greatly simplified if you have a rally meter installed in your car.

What is a Rally Meter?

Terratrip
Terratrip

Like the odometer, a rally meter tracks the distance you have travelled, but it has a number of sophisticated features - most notably, the ability to be reset not just to 0, but to any number you like. This means that if you do go off track, but then work out where you are meant to be, and so find the next question, then you can reset your rally meter to the exact mileage/kilometreage for the question. You will therefore be tracking correctly again for the subsequent questions.

There are a number of different rally meters available on the market. Examples include:

  • Halda Tripmaster and Twinmaster
  • Brantz
  • Terratrip

Once you have bought a rally meter, you will need to have it installed in your car, and you will have to calibrate it.

Rally Meter Instructions and Aids

Halda
Halda

You may find the following downloadable documents helpful.

Terratrips

Haldas

Other useful links and information

Halda accessories (as at 31 Jan 2006):

  • Ken Smith
    Cootamundra
    Phone: 02 6942 1197
    Huge range of Halda gears, cables and T pieces for sale


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