The 2022 Rebelle Rallylongest navigation demonstration in the US with all female competitors, kicked off at Incline Village yesterday with 108 riders undergo Technical Test on Wednesday and early Thursday before reaching the first base about five hours from Tahoe.
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As a competitor, Tech Test is filled with suspense, anticipation, and excitement. Race organizers are very strict about everything – from the type of modifications competitors make to their vehicles to the toughest requirement: making sure your car’s GPS is completely obfuscated.
In 2021 Rallymy navigator Beth Bowman and I were lucky enough to join Porsche, and we droneve a bone store 2020 Porsche Cayenne S. Porsche worked with us to make sure our GPS thought we were somewhere in the Pacific for the entire trip, but it’s been a major technological struggle since most vehicles today. Modern days rely heavily on GPS for everything from suspension and gear management to efficiency. Most new cars hate having their GPS messed up and it usually does other systems The car also behaves strangely.
The Technical Check also includes everything from mechanical equipment Rebelles may need to repair their vehicle in the field, to first aid kits and spare tyres. Each vehicle is equipped with a YB Tracker and an Icom satellite phone for emergency use as all competitors will have their cell phones and handheld GPS devices locked for the remainder of the event .
Rebels also get blue that vest competitor women wore to the event, including their team number as well as the Rally logo; Many teams decorate their vests with unique patches to make them their own.
Last year’s tech test took place at vacuuming dammake a great photo of it all Rebelle Rally Long lines of vehicles waiting for their turn. This year’s Engineering Test takes place in Lake Tahoe, where the women check their cars and prepare for an early Friday start for Rally School and Prologue. There are 46 4×4 entries and eight X-Cross entries this year, including the first Isuzu (a car) and BMW (an X5 car) to compete.
As its founder, Emily Miller, reminds Rebelles each year, distance and direction never lie. And yet, without precise distance measurements, teams struggled to find their way and score points. The competition requires teams to know exactly where they are using the title and distance. While you can use your standard odometer for this, it’s not nearly as accurate as needed to locate precise test points in the desert.
Instead, all teams run ICOs or Terratrip Rally computers to pinpoint their exact positions. Installing these and using them is like trying to learn another language, and they almost always turn off in one way or another. Here is the manual for the ICO calculator, as an example. It’s more like Morse code than anything human can read.
When my team held the rally in 2021, our Terratrip never powered on, so we have to rely on our backup ICO calculator, which has less (and often less accurate) features. The trip calculator uses your tire diameter (which you have to figure out how to set using the Morse Code mentioned earlier) and a magnet or wire near the wheel to determine the exact distance.
Getting your rally calculator to dial exactly was a constant struggle as teams flew up or down to tackle difficult terrain. It’s common to see teams get under their cars to fix sensors to be it is close (or far) enough to read the rotational speed of the tire. Many groups help each other when the sensor becomes loose or stops working as that is often the case.
Once everything is sorted out at Technical Inspection and the vehicles have been closely inspected, the teams will travel within a 5-hour drive to the first site. Friday morning, teams will start Rally School at 7:00 a.m.m., then go to the Intro stage of the event. The prologue and track are not scored, and are instead used to warm up teams to return to driving practice and navigate using paper maps and compasses.
Unfortunately, one team had to abandon Rebelle at the last minute of this year due to a vehicle incident; one The team from Kenya who are driving Mobius will not participate in the competition as planned this year. That reduces the opponent’s field from 110 to 108.
Stay tuned for more from Uprising as the competition kicks off Friday, morning and early. We’ll have more coverage as we progress.
