INSTRUCTIONS: To compete successfully in a car rally requires more than just fast driving. You must plan your route carefull taking many things into consideration: the weather, longest or shortest routes, which are'fast' roads, which are 'slow' roads. Drive quickly, but drive carefully. You must always be on the look out in case spectators or farm animals have strayed on to the road! The rally takes place in three stages over three gruelling days or nights. To win a cup you have to come in the top three after the third and final stage. The competition is tough. Only the top seven competitors can proceed from Stage I to II, and just the top five go through to Stage III from Stage II. Each stage contains a number of Time Controls (these are marked on the map which accompanies this program). You must drive through each Time Control in order to complete the stage. There are a number of different routes you could take to go through each Time Control. It is up to you to use your navigation skills to choose the best course. Choosing a Course Before you start to race study the map carefully and decide which will be your quickest route. You are not allowed to drive along all the track shown on the map. The roads which you can use are clearly marked. Several of these roads are not always open: for example the Marquis of Harker Hall only occasionally allows rally drivers to take a shortcut along his private road through the Harker Hall estate. Sometimes the weather conditions will cause roads to be closed. For instance after heavy rain some roads may become flooded. To find out which roads are closed and which are open you must stop at the Time Controls. Here the marshals will inform you of any changes to road conditions. When you have completed a stage you are given a score. This consists of the time it took you to complete the stage in minutes and seconds (from the start to the last Time Control in the stage) plus any time penalties you have incurred. The lower your score, the better you have done. Time penalties are recorded on the navigator's clip board at the left of the dashboard. Between the Time Controls are Passage Controls. These are simply boards with some letters written on them. When you reach a Time Control the marshal will ask you what the letters on the last board were. If you do not enter the correct letters, you will incur a 20 second time penalty. Note: sometimes it maybe to your advantage not to stop at a Time Control, Although you incur a 50 second time penalty you may save yourself valuable time by not stopping. However you may also miss important information about road conditions. You can also incur penalties for: 1. crashing your car (30 seconds, or 5 minutes if you were travelling too fast); 2. going off the allowed roads (30 seconds); 3. trying to go in the wrong direction (30 seconds); 4. hitting animals or spectators (5 minute). Competing in the firststage Step 1: The Leaderboard The Leaderboard appears. This lists the names and positions of the previous ten competitors. To qualify for Stage II you must gain a high enough score to get amongst the top 7 on the Leaderboard. If you are playing on your own you can race the same course as many times as you like. If you are playing against other people each person can take a turn at competing in the stage. Enter the name of your first competitor if you make a mistake press 0 (zero). When you have entered the name correctly, press ENTER to continue. It is not possible to enter the same name twice. Step 2: Weather reports The next screen displays a weather report for the first stage of the rally. The weather conditions will affect the roads as follows: Dry - Conditions good for rallying; roads firm, few pools of water or patches of mud. Damp - Roads wet and greasy; some pools of water or patches of mud may cause skidding. Very wet - Danger of flooding on some roads. Press ENTER to begin the rally. Step 3: Driving your car The screen shows the view out of your car's windscreen and your dash board. Passage Controls and Time Controls. As you drive along the roads you will notice boards. These are either Passage Controls or Time Controls. A Passage Control is simply a notice board with two letters written on it. You do not have to stop in order to find out what the letters on the board are, but you must be driving at at less than 45 m.p.h. You should make a note of these letters to avoid incurring time penalties at the next Time Control. If you drive past a Passage Control at faster than 45 m.p.h. your navigator will not be able to read the letters and you will not be told which letters they were. Time Controls are where the marshals wait to check that each competitor has followed the proper course. a. To stop at the Time Control, you must bring your car to a halt within the two lines marked on the road by the Time Control board, b. If you stop too soon, you must drive forward. If you stop too late, you will incur a 50 second time penalty. You cannot reverse or turn round and so you must continue with the stage. c. When you stop at a Time Control the marshal asks you to enter the letters on the last Passage Control board. d. Type in the letters. Then press ENTER. e. If you have entered the wrong letters, you will incur a 20 second time penalty. f. The marshal may now give you information on road conditions. When he or she has told you that you can go, press 9 to start your car and continue with the stage. What happens if you crash When you drive your car close to the edge of the road, the border of the screen will flash. If your car goes too far off the road then you will crash. If you are going too fast, then your car will be wwrecked and you will incur a severe time penalty. At slower speeds you will incur a less severe penalty. After a crash your car will then be placed back on the road. Accelerate to drive off. How to avoid crashing your car You will soon learn how to control your car but here are a few hints: * Corners should be safe taken at about 30 m.p.h. until you are competent at steering. * Sometimes you can use the handbrake to get you round a corner more quickly, Accelerate into the corner then press 3 to apply the handbrake. As the car rapidly decelerates steer yourself round the corner. Remember to press 3 to release the handbrake as soon as possible after the corner. * Mud and water on the road can cause you to skid - so drive to suit the conditions. Step 4: The end of the stage When you have completed the gage, the Leaderboard appears again. If your competitor has qualified, you will see his name appear on the Leaderboard. Otherwise your competitor will be eliminated from the rally. a. Enter the name of your next competitor as before. Note:- you will not be allowed to enter a name which is the same as your last competitor. b. If you do not wish to enter another competitor, press ENTER and the program will proceed to the final results. Step 5: Final results of the stage When all of your competitors have raced, the top seven competitors on the Leaderboard go through to Stage II. If none of your competitors has qualified for Stage II, you must start the rally again from Step 1 of Stage I. If some of your competitors have qualified, then a new Leaderboard is displayed showing the top seven previous competitors and their times. You must race each of your surviving competitors in turn. a. The competitor who must start first is highlighted. b. Press ENTER to get the weather report before you continue your rally. The same procedure applies for ruing in Stage III (but only the top five competitors qualify). Good luck and good rallying! Starting again. If you wish to abandon the rally at any stage hold down CAPS and press A. Using a joystick You can use a joystick only when driving your car. On the Leaderboard and weather conditions screens you must use the keyboard as described in the preceding pages. Note: You can steer and accelerate or brake at the same time. For example, to steer left and accelerate, push your joystick diagonally up to the left. Joystick Controls Up - accelerate Right - turn right Down - brake Fire - apply/release handbrake Left - turn left Originally released by Five Ways Software. Originally published by Hill MacGibbon Ltd. 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