The following items are the Standard Supplementary Regulations (SSRs) for the Club Challenges.
1.1 General
These events are presented with a Safety-first approach with sensitivity towards man, machine and the environment. They are not vehicle breaking events but contain an element of fun and family involvement will form part of them while measuring different driving disciplines.
1.2 Safety
1.2.1 The number of guests/passengers in a vehicle is limited to the available working seatbelts. No passengers will be allowed on the back of a pick-up.
1.2.2 Passengers may be asked to leave the vehicle when driving through a points scoring obstacle as determined by the Marshal at that obstacle.
1.2.3 Marshals are issued with whistles which are to be blown in the event of a marshal considering a competitor’s safety is at risk or if the action of a competitor is putting the state of the obstacle at risk.
1.3 Authority of the Marshal
1.3.1 The Marshal is in sole charge of an obstacle.
1.3.2 Competitors must obey the instructions of the marshal and STOP IMMEDIATELY
should the marshal blow his whistle.
1.3.3 The Marshal has the authority to deduct points from the competitor’s score sheet in accordance with the scoring system outlined under sub-section 1.7.
1.3.4 A Marshal may deduct all the points at an obstacle if he considers the competitor has breached any of the rules.
NOTE: A MARSHAL IS NOT ALLOWED TO DISQUALIFY A COMPETITOR AT AN OBSTACLE!!!!!
1.4 Procedures at an Obstacle
1.4.1 The marshal will be handed an Instruction Sheet at the marshals’ briefing and must familiarise himself/herself with the information given on the sheet. These instructions come under the heading of Supplementary Regulations and in this instance take preference to any information shown elsewhere in this section.
Exception:
Scoring will be specified on the Instruction Sheet and may, on occasion, take preference over the points’ system presented in sub-section 1.7.
1.4.2 The Marshal must ensure each competitor stops at the STOP sign located at the approach to the obstacle where the competitor must wait until the marshal approaches him.
1.4.3 When the marshal is ready for the competitor he will signal to the competitor to approach and stop between the STOP sign and the entry gate to the obstacle.
1.4.4 The marshal should welcome the competitor and hand the obstacle instruction sheet to the competitor.
1.4.5 The marshal is not allowed to give any verbal instructions, which may assist the competitor in traversing the obstacle, to a competitor.
1.4.6 Allow competitors time to walk the obstacle. On short obstacles, the time to walk the obstacle will be limited to two minutes. On longer obstacles allow three minutes. For safety purposes, insist a competitor walks the obstacle. The Instruction Sheet will indicate if the obstacle is not allowed to be walked.
1.4.7 When the competitor is ready to tackle the obstacle, the marshal will guide the competitor so that the front axle of the vehicle lies along the line between the first two poles which designate the start of the obstacle. The Instruction Sheet will indicate when a navigator must remain in the vehicle. If no instruction is indicated, the navigator may choose to remain in or out of the vehicle but must remain as such until the driver has completed the obstacle. The navigator and all passengers are considered part of the vehicle. If the navigator or any passenger touches a pole/barrier tape, then penalty points will be incurred.
1.4.8 Before giving the signal to start, the marshal must ensure all occupants of the vehicle are wearing their safety belts, the handbrake is applied and all windows have an aperture no greater than a fist width (5cm). Occupants in a vehicle may not open a window or take off a safety belt while traversing the obstacle. Doing so would constitute an unsafe act and score zero for the obstacle.
Exception:
If the obstacle is a water hazard, then all windows must be fully opened and no seatbelts are worn. The marshal at his own discretion may request passengers to leave the vehicle while the driver and his navigator negotiate the obstacle.
1.4.9 When the competitor indicates he/she is ready to start, the marshal will give the signal to start.
1.4.10 In the event a competitor is deemed by the marshal to have driven into a dangerous situation, the marshal must blow his whistle at which point the competitor MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY.
1.4.11 If the marshal believes the competitor is driving in a way which may adversely affect the obstacle, making it more difficult for subsequent competitors, he may blow his whistle and stop the competitor. The competitor will then be allowed to take a rollback and try to manoeuvre again as long as he does not exit the obstacle at any stage. If his second attempt results in a similar situation, he must be stopped again and asked to exit the obstacle. The first stop and rollback will be scored as indicated in Section 1.7. The second stop will result in a zero score for the obstacle.
1.4.12 When the competitor’s vehicle has completely cleared the two poles which demarcate the exit gate of the obstacle, he is deemed to have completed the obstacle.
1.4.13 Once the competitor has cleared the obstacle, the marshal will mark the score on the score sheet and direct the competitor to the next obstacle.
NOTE: All scores on the competitor’s score sheet must be written in words (i.e. 10 = ten; 35 = thirty-five; 0 = zero)
1.4.14 The marshal must keep a separate scoring and sequence sheet and from time to time report to Radio Control.
1.4.15 Any incidents must be reported immediately to Radio Control and an Incident Report must be completed.
1.5 What a Marshal MUST NOT do.
1.5.1 The marshal must not give any verbal instructions to the competitor which may assist the competitor in traversing the obstacle.
1.5.2 The marshal must not enter into any discussion with the competitor as to how he/she has arrived at his/her score.
1.6 Definitions
1.6.1 Stop
A vehicle is deemed to have stopped if the vehicle body stops moving forwards or backwards as the case may be. A vehicle does not necessarily STOP when one of the wheels stops rotating. In the case of traction control or open differentials, one wheel may stop rotating while the wheel on the far side of the vehicle (obscured from the view of the marshal) continues to drive the vehicle forward.
Vehicles with automatic gear-boxes can stop moving if the vehicle is in gear. This is a consequence of slip in the fluid flywheel clutch mechanism.
Marshals should keep focused on the front or rear bumper of the vehicle to determine if the vehicle has stopped moving forwards or backwards.
The marshal must decide if a vehicle has stopped and NOT the driver or navigator whether or not the navigator is inside or outside the vehicle.
1.6.2 Rollback
Any change in the moving direction of a vehicle of more than 10cm is considered a rollback.
1.6.3 Obstacle Interference
If an obstacle has been significantly changed by a vehicle for example – a big rock rolling from one point to another and it significantly increases the chance for another competitor to be penalised because of this, the marshal must try and rectify the obstacle. Competitors should all have a similar chance to do the obstacle. It is not always possible due to the changing nature of the obstacle. Where glaring changes does influence the obstacle, the marshal is allowed to intervene to rectify.
No competitor will however have any say in changing an obstacle and will abide by the rules of the marshal at the obstacle. Neither are they allowed to physically change the obstacle while they are walking the obstacle.
1.6.4 Second Attempt
For 2017 second attempts, will be allowed. A competitor may only start an obstacle once. He is not allowed a second attempt from outside of the starting gate. He can roll back and try certain sections of the obstacle as many times as his points allow as long as he is not going out of the obstacle or disqualified by the marshal.
1.6.5 Obstacle Boundaries
No competitor is allowed to exit an obstacle anywhere except for the exit gate or if otherwise directed by the marshal. The obstacle is set out to test a set of off-road skills and not how clever the competitor is. Thus a competitor cannot exit the obstacle between gates, make a u-turn in the veld and use a completely different line for the next set of gates. The moment he exits the obstacle outside of the intended route, he receives a zero point for that obstacle.
1.7 Scoring System
The scoring system will be indicated on the Instruction Sheets. However, the following usually apply.
i) Stopping in an obstacle -5 points
ii) Roll back / reverse further than 10cm -5 points (A roll back includes the necessary stop before moving forward again)
iii) Touching barrier tape -25 points
iv) Touching poles -25 points
Poles have golf balls placed on the top. If the ball is dislodged and falls off, the competitor is deemed to have touched the pole. (Use discretion in strong wind).
A competitor may only be penalised once for each pole or barrier tape section. He is thus only deducted 1 x 25 points even if he touches the same pole or barrier tape area more than once.
v) Missing a gate -25 points
vi) Interfering with an obstacle -100 points
vii) 2 nd Attempt (if allowed) -50 points
The penalty for failing the first attempt is -50 points irrespective of how many penalty points were accrued on the first attempt.
Scoring starts once the competitor begins to move, after the signal from the marshal.
A competitor is not allowed to reverse from the start to gain momentum when driving an obstacle. This means he has left the obstacle and will get zero points for the obstacle.
1.8 Zero Scores
Zero scores will be given under the following circumstances
1.8.1 Ignoring the instructions of a marshal. (An incident report needs to be completed)
1.8.2 Moving more than 2 meters from his/her vehicle while waiting to enter an obstacle. (An incident report needs to be completed)
1.8.3 Accepting outside assistance (An incident report needs to be completed)
1.8.4 Failing to complete the obstacle
1.8.5 Incurring more than 100 penalty points in driving an obstacle
1.8.6 Entering into any verbal protest with a marshal (The Clerk of the Course [CoC] will make a ruling after investigating the incident). (An incident report needs to be completed)
1.9 Protest
Competitors who believe they have been unfairly dealt with by a marshal, a scrutineer or the chief marshal may lodge protests, in writing, with the CoC using the official protest forms.
The only people who can be present at a hearing are:
i) CoC
ii) Chief Marshal
iii) Driver and/or navigator lodging the protest
iv) The person responsible for the decision leading to the protest. This may be a marshal, scrutineer or other official.
The decision of the COC is final.
1.10 Recovery
The competitor must make the decision as to whether or not they wish to be recovered. The marshal must inform Radio Control and the Chief Marshal immediately when a situation arises where a recovery is necessary. The Chief Marshal will then decide on the safest way to recover the vehicle.
A recovery will follow the competitor being instructed to stop through the marshal blowing his/her whistle.
The first stage of any recovery is to make sure nobody, including the driver and navigator, is in any immediate danger.
The marshal must ask the competitor if they wish to be recovered.
The competitor may not request a fellow competitor carry out the recovery.
At each stage the person doing the recovery should indicate what he/she proposes to do and request the go-ahead from the competitor to do so.
An Incident Report has to be completed for every recovery as to what happened and how the recovery was done.