Skip to content

United Kingdom: HERO-ERA and Motorsport UK

British regularity restarts the clock at every timing point. The app can do that, but several British events ban devices like this one.

Several UK events ban this app

  • HERO-ERA Standard Regulations 2025, article 3.3: only GPS-driven trip meters may have an average-speed function. Ahead/behind indicators, electronic speed tables and time-offset features are banned.
  • Flying Scotsman 2025, article 14.4: smartphone apps and GPS may not be used to hold an average.
  • HRCR Clubmans 2025, articles 9.1 and 9.2: GPS, smartphones and electronic speed tables are banned.

The Ideal Time with + and - is an ahead/behind indicator. Do not use this app at an event whose regulations say this. Read your event's regulations first. The Motorsport UK wording was taken from a 2020 yearbook mirror and was not checked against the current edition.

Not yet checked by a competitor

This page comes from the written rules. It has not been read by a UK competitor yet.

How this format times you

The ideal time is re-based at every timing point. You are compared with the time at the previous control, not with the start.

  • Motorsport UK 10.4.3: adherence is assessed "by comparing the time of arrival at any Intermediate Time Control or the Finish Time Control with the time of arrival at the immediate preceding Time Control".
  • HERO 17.3: a due time is based on the time at "the immediately preceding control, whether this was the start control or a previous TP".
  • John Brown's HERO guide: in British events, if you are late or early at one control you must be the same amount late or early at the next. Some events in other countries require you to get back to the original schedule.
  • Speeds. Up to 30 mph (Motorsport UK 10.4.5, Flying Scotsman 18.10). HRCR: whole-number averages between 15 and 30 mph.
  • Speed changes come in three kinds: by distance ("After 4.6 miles change to 26 mph"), by elapsed time ("After a further 3 minutes 53 seconds change speed to 27 mph"), or at a landmark ("As you cross the railway").
  • Checks. Timing points are secret, with no warning board. The crew stops astride the line and a marshal times it. They are at least 2 miles apart (UK) or 2 km (abroad). Stopping or slowing within sight of a timing point costs 1 minute.
  • Precision and penalties. To the second. 1 second per second, early or late the same, capped at 1 minute per timing point (2.5 minutes if missed). Flying Scotsman records the previous full second (11:44:56.8 becomes 11:44:56). Some events have a joker that cuts the worst penalty to 15 s.
  • Minute-timed controls. The time is read to the preceding full minute. Timing for the next section starts from the start of the minute at which you arrived, so the base can be up to 59 s before your arrival.
  • Start. Manned on a :00 or :30 with a countdown, an allocated start time written at the previous control, or a self-start written in H:M:S on a :00 or :30.

Stage setup

See Turning the roadbook into a stage.

  1. In Settings > Units, set Distance to mi and Speed to mph, so that the chart takes the miles and mph from the instructions.
  2. Stage type Regularity. Start signal Time, at the :00 or :30 you are given.
  3. One section for each speed. Enter the Distance and the Speed from the Jogularity or roadbook.
  4. Speed change by elapsed time. The app switches sections by distance. Enter the section with its Speed and its Time, and the app works out the distance. Keep Auto-switch sections by distance on: the switch then happens at that distance, which is where the schedule changes speed if your trip is accurate. Do not switch by hand with Next Section at the elapsed time. It also sets the stage trip to the worked-out distance, so unless you are exactly on schedule it moves your trip away from where the car is. The app has no section change triggered by elapsed time.
  5. Save the stage.

Button recipe

  1. Start. Load the stage and press Start. The Ideal Time shows the start time and counts down the last 30 s.
  2. Between timing points. Drive and read the Ideal Time.
  3. At each timing point. Stop astride the line, as the rules require, and press a TC when the car arrives at the line, not when the marshal releases you:
    • If your timing points are at section ends, press Sync + Restart (Next Section + Restart with Auto-switch sections by distance off). The TC is stored at the section end.
    • If the timing point is secret and somewhere inside a section, long-press the Ideal Time (or press the TC button in a custom layout). The TC is stored at the current trip and the Checkpoints sheet opens with it. Edit the Distance to the figure on your slip if you are given one.
  4. Leave the Restart time at 0. The ideal time then restarts from your arrival.
  5. Minute-timed controls. The control counts from the start of the arrival minute. In the Checkpoints sheet, set the TC's Restart time to Set and enter the time with the seconds at 00 (for example 10:05:00 for an arrival at 10:05:20). The ideal time then restarts 20 s before your arrival.
  6. Last control. Press Finish.

Pitfalls

  • A running cumulative clock is wrong after the first timing point unless you were exactly on time. If you do not press a TC at each timing point, the Ideal Time carries your earlier error forward.
  • Press on arrival. The next section is already running from your arrival while you are stopped. The app's ideal time also keeps running while you are stopped. Pause stops distance only.
  • Arrival or the marshal's recorded time? HERO 17.3 says "their time at the immediately preceding control", which is the time the marshal records. It is not confirmed whether it is your arrival or the recorded time (open). The app uses the moment you press.
  • Trip and slip disagree. The organiser's distance at a timing point may differ from your trip. Open the TC in the Checkpoints sheet and edit the Distance, so that the next section is timed from the right place.
  • Units are app settings. Distance and Speed apply to every stage, not only this one. For an event abroad in km, set them back. If you only want to read the roadbook in miles and keep the stage in km, set Trip 1 to mi under Trips instead.

How well the app fits

Partial. The re-base itself works. The gaps:

  • no time-triggered speed changes (use the workaround above);
  • no automatic "start of minute" anchor (use Set);
  • the base is your press moment, not the marshal's recorded time, and the app keeps its fraction of a second. Flying Scotsman records the previous full second, so the app's base can be up to 1 s later. If that matters, use Restart time > Set with the whole second;
  • no per-timing-point cap, joker, or 1-minute penalty for slowing near a point.

Legality note

See the warning at the top. Several UK events ban devices like this one, and the Ideal Time ahead/behind display is the feature most clearly banned. Do not take the app to those events. At events that do not say, ask the organiser.

Sources

Article numbers in brackets.

  • Motorsport UK Yearbook 2020, Section R (third-party mirror; current wording not checked) [10.4.1-10.4.5]: PDF
  • HERO-ERA Standard Regulations v10, Jan 2025 [3.3, 11.2, 12.2, 16.2, 17.2, 17.3]: PDF
  • Flying Scotsman 2025 regulations [14.4, 18.10, 18.11, 19.4]: PDF
  • HRCR Clubmans Regulations 2025 [3.5, 9.1, 9.2]: PDF
  • HRCR Road Rally Novice Guide 2017 [7.2, 7.3]: PDF
  • John Brown, HERO regularity guide: hero.org.uk/regsec.htm