Try the “Appetizer”, a Friday Nighter by FOOTZ to introduce the use of Richta GPS checkpoints.

Are you ready?

You’ve read the quick guide, right?

You’ve read the April Friday Nighter supplement to the General Instructions, right?

You’ve installed the Competitor app, right?

You’ve got a good mounting method for your iOS or Android device, right?

Heck, if you’ve done all that you might want to start getting ready for May, as well. There is a draft of the supplementals for next month in the Documents section if you’re curious.

Read the Quick Guide. Decide which mobile device your team will use. The guide might influence your choice.

Install the Competitor app.

You won’t be able to do much with the app until the day of the event. It appears in the Event List, but you can’t open it without the password and car number you’ll receive at the event.

The value of a good windshield mount for your device cannot be overstated.

Remember that you’ll want to have your device plugged in to power during the event.

Download and review the Supplemental Generals (‘supps’) for the April Friday Nighter. You can also opt to grab the April Generals which incorporates the supps into the rule book as a single document.

If you haven’t run an NWRC Friday Nighter previously, check out the Example Rally. This takes about an hour to run and will introduce you to our instruction format. Please note: the Example Rally does not use the Competitor app and adheres to the standard NWRC General Instructions.

Ever wonder what a Northwest Rally Council Friday Nighter event is like? This short (under 1 hour) rally has been written to provide an introduction to our route instruction format, teach some basic definitions, and demonstrate the workflow used to compete in time-speed-distance (TSD) road rally.

Start by downloading and printing out the General Instructions (in the Documents section). Give them a read as these are the ‘rules’ that we rally by. Pay special attention to Section 8 (DEFINITIONS) as these are important to understanding the Numbered Route Instructions and Section 3 (THROUGH ROUTE DETERMINANTS) as they explain how to find the main road.

Next download and print the Example Rally NRI’s, if you haven’t already. These are the instructions you use to follow the route and find the checkpoint. A printed copy is handy, allowing you to cross off instructions as they are completed. 

All our Friday Nighter Rallies start from the Eastgate Park & Ride off of I-90 in Bellevue. Our series is held on the 2nd Friday of the month – registration opens at 6:45pm. You would register, get your car number, and attend a short briefing at 7:15pm. Then cars line up at the start and receive the route instructions.  For this example we’re skipping a few steps: run this event on your own schedule and run it as many times as you like. Just get to the Park & Ride with a copy of the instructions. Pick an out time to start the rally (usually at the top of a minute) and give it a try. The start of the Example Rally is at the SE corner/exit of the lot.

Here are the instructions for the NWRC Example Rally,

and a link to the General Instructions.

As promised, we’ve put together a 3-page quick guide to getting the Competitor app installed and working on your device. You’ll find it under FAQs and Guides in our Documents section.