For competitors in the London to Sydney Marathon, time will be the greatest enemy.
The Marathon is to be scored on a complex system of time faults and each team will be racing against a scheduled time which has been set for each section of the route.
Before the start of the event, each team will be issued with a road book and a time card and the time of arrival at every control point must be registered on the time card by an official.
Other controls, called passage controls, are situated at intervals between the time control points to ensure that competitors drive over the entire route.
Any team that misses one of these passage controls will have 24 hours added on to their competing time as a penalty.
The time controls will be opened an hour before the scheduled time for the section elapses and will stay open for another six hours (to Istanbul) and then for twelve hours afterwards.
This should give competitors ample time to reach the control points before they close, but any team which reaches a control after it has closed, because it has missed the last ferry or been caught at a closed frontier, will suffer a 24 hour penalty.
Marathon officials believe the staff of time control points, will not be very busy before the scheduled time has passed because of the severity of road conditions in many areas.
The rules of the Marathon are stringent and are designed to ensure that everyone has the same chance of winning.
One apparently frivolous regulation states that competitors who do not pay their bills during the Marathon will be disqualified. This ensures however, that competitors will change enough currency at each frontier.
The other penalties are:
Each minute late in reporting to a time control will incur a penalty of one minute.
Failure to report to a control will be penalised - 24 hour penalty.
Departure from a time control before the scheduled time - 24 hour penalty.
Changes to either the body or engine of a car during the Marathon - exclusion.
Working on a car during shipment from Bombay to Perth - exclusion.
Failure to comply with any regulation or official instructions for which no other penalty is specified - exclusion.
Each team of entrants must ensure they know about every official notice and it is possible if driving conditions deteriorate badly on some sections, the route may be changed or extra time allowed to complete the section.
Teams are free to find their own route on a number of the sections, but on others, detailed instructions are issued that they must follow a selected route.
In practice, each competitor is told of the different routes in the "open" sections and of the hazards involved on each one.
The "route notes" issued by the organisers suggest the best road for the teams in most cases, warning that some which appear on road maps are impassable.
Whichever way they go, competitors must stop at every control point, for they run the risk of a 24 hour penalty if the miss one.
Overshooting a control and going back is no real solution because any driver who approaches a control from the wrong direction will be excluded.
Drivers who are involved in accidents, and there are likely to be more than a few, cannot claim extra time, and no car may be towed on any road, only back on to the road, after a crash.
Many teams will experience long delays at national borders, where all normal customs formalities must be completed and this may involve some time.
Some frontiers are open during the daylight hours only and while the scheduled times have been planned to allow for this, some drivers may find themselves stranded at a frontier waiting for it to re-open.
Every competitor is responsible for keeping his car fuelled and no assistance will be given by the organisers to anyone who runs out of petrol.
Before the Marathon starts, officials will check every car to ensure it is roadworthy and that it meets the standards required by the event.
The organisers also have the right to examine cars during the Marathon to make sure they have not been modified and that they are still roadworthy.
Cars will also be checked at the end of the Marathon in Sydney to ensure no modifications have been made, and to ensure their eligibility.
At the start, the order of cars will be determined by ballot, and each car will then leave London at an interval of one minute.
From then, each team will be fighting against time all the way to Warwick Farm, Sydney, where the number of penalties and the time of each car will be computed, and the winners announced.
- Keith Loveard
See the Regulations in Article format.
RULES THAT GIVE EVERYONE A CHANCE TO WIN
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