Keeping a checksheet Keeping track of the cars for Control One of the reasons radio operators are out there is so Control can call them to help him locate cars that are not where they should be. Control and the Event Safety Officer have given great thought to your placing. They know the overall plan, you don't. They know where spaces can be left without compromising safety, you don't. So go to your allocated post and never, ever, move from your position without first asking (NOT telling!) Control. If there is good reason, which occasionally happens, then Control will tell you which alternative post to man. When a car is lost Control needs to know where it was last seen and between which cars. Your checksheet can be a piece of blank paper with nothing on it but your scribble, or it can be a purpose printed effort with spaces for everything you could possibly need to record. It does not matter. What  does  matter is that at any given time you should be able to answer the question "Has it passed you?" with either "Negative" or the full monty - "It was the 15th car out of 21 past me, between cars so-and-so and so-and-so". That's why you are there, so keep a record of everything that goes by from when the first course car goes into stage. Put course cars and official cars away from the list of competitors' cars - they will only confuse the competitor issue. Remember the first competitor car past you might not necessarily be the first one into stage, if it isn't and you have had no news of it from earlier in the stage, tell Control the second has arrived but not the first. That's when you find if everyone else has been keeping a decent checksheet! Use a space on your checksheet for noting cars that are stuck in stage and where they are, cars that will not appear for any other reason and for any other notes that will help you follow the course of the rally.   If you would like to download a checksheet we have three styles on offer: 1. A portrait bingo card type where car numbers are in a number square. You write down the car numbers in the right side as they pass and cross off their numbers in a square on the left. Opens in Word. (Thanks to Derek Machin, Silk 8.) The file is      rcs1.doc - 84Kb 2. A landscape version where you fill in the numbers down the squares and cross off the number in the first column. This is the one I use because I can instantly say (if I have written numbers 3,5,7 opposite 1,2 and 3) that car number 5 was the second car past between cars 3 & 5. And the total of cars is always the number by the last car number I wrote down. It opens in Excel - I'm not as good as Derek doing tables in Word! The file is     rcs2.xls - 29Kb 3. Same as 2 but portrait version. Cars are different shapes (such words of wisdom!) and some fit portrait better than landscape - you choose. In fact, I use this if I sit in the driver's seat because it fits better. All I need is to learn to write with my left hand, it's far easier when you are sitting that side of the car! The file is     rcs3.xls - 19Kb NOTE: Use the back button on your browser after you have saved the file if you want to stay connected.   Above all, whatever your checksheet starts off as, it must be able to fully answer that question "Have you seen car....?"