streeter@theory.lcs.mit.edu (Kenneth B. Streeter) (03/11/91)
I have a Sharp PC-1500 that I have been using for Time-Speed-Distance automotive rallying. I've been trying to find others that use programmable calculators for Time-Speed-Distance rallying, possibly to share any tricks that they may have found. If anybody else out there is using a handheld for such a purpose, I'd be glad to hear about it. For those uninitiated to Time-Speed-Distance rallying, it is an automotive sport that requires following navigational instructions to follow a previously unseen course over public roads at legal speeds. Each vehicle should maintain an exact average speed over each section of the course. The primary aim is to reach checkpoints (whose location is not known prior to finding them) EXACTLY on time, neither early or late, based on the average speed that should have been maintained over each section of the course. It is helpful in TSD rallying to be able to provide information as to whether the team is running early or late. This is where the usefulness of a handheld comes in. I have a series of programs for my Sharp PC-1500 that, given odometer mileages and average speeds, indicates the correct time. Furthermore, the PC-1500 has an internal time clock, so it can compare the computed time against the actual time of day and indicate how early or late your car is. I also have a set of these programs for an HP-41 and HP-32. These don't provide slick prompts like the PC-1500 program, but the HP-41 has a more accurate clock. (The HP-32 has no clock, and times need to be compared to an external clock.) Porting the programs (the total less than a page, even when nicely printed) to another programmable handheld is a pretty trivial task. -- Kenneth B. Streeter | ARPA: streeter@im.lcs.mit.edu MIT LCS, Room NE43-350 | UUCP: ...!uunet!im.lcs.mit.edu!streeter 545 Technology Square | (617) 253-2614 (work) Cambridge, MA 02139 | (617) 225-2249 (home)