Penalty points
Also: Penalties, Penalty
The points you collect for deviations and mistakes. The crew with the fewest at the end wins.
Penalty points are the currency of a regularity rally. Every deviation and every mistake earns you points. At the end they are added up, and the crew with the fewest penalty points wins.
What earns penalties
- Time deviation in regularity tests, often per tenth or hundredth
- arriving early or late at time controls, usually per minute
- missing stamps or passage controls
- driving the wrong route
- breaking the regulations, for example using banned equipment
Example
A possible set of rules: one point per hundredth in a regularity test, 60 points per minute at a time control, 200 points for a missed control. If you are 0.42 seconds out in a test, you get 42 points. Missing a secret check weighs more than lots of small timing errors.
These numbers are only an example. Every organiser sets their own, often with a maximum per timing point.
What to take from it
Read the regulations carefully before the event. If a missed control costs more than a few seconds, it pays to navigate cleanly rather than chase the average. The guide to time controls and penalties has more.