Your RA Holiday & RA Road Trip

Our Road trip has no speed objective. You always drive on public roads; you are bound by the applicable traffic rules, and you are always responsible for your own road behavior and the safety of yourself and other road users.

Nevertheless, we have incorporated several tasks into each stage, each of which (can) earn you points for your personal Road trip ranking. So, you are indeed “in competition” with all the other participants in a playful way. Both for each daily stage win and for the overall victory.

We can broadly divide the assignments along the way into 3 categories:

• Assignments that test your powers of observation
• Tasks that test your general knowledge
• Tasks that test your sense of driving

First, there are the route instructions in our app that you must follow to stay on the right route. If you drive somewhere wrong (no problem), our GPS tracking in the App will intervene and get you back on the right route. However, for every time we have to “help” you, 5 penalty points are deducted from your total score.

Observation skills come into play in the Photo Recognition tasks and Flashback questions. In each stage, there are 4 photo recognition scenes to spot and 4 flashback questions that score points when answered correctly.

Your general knowledge will be tested upon reaching the finish line of each stage. You must then answer 16 quiz questions (multiple choice with 4 possible answers per question) in a limited time frame. Each correctly answered question again earns points.

Finally, there are the AST tests along the way. AST stands for Average Speed Trail. Each stage has at least 8 AST tests. These are very exciting to drive. If you perform an AST test perfectly, you will earn 20 points. In these trials, you must try to match as precisely as possible an average speed announced to you in advance over a specific route. To make it more difficult for you, we have always chosen winding roads for these tests. So, you can never drive the same speed nicely all the time. So, your feel for the average speed driven will be tested. The further off target you are, the fewer points you score. As said, AST tests are fascinating to do. Having measuring devices for this is strictly forbidden. We obviously want everyone to have the same chances.

In the AST tests, we have also differentiated between experienced drivers and less experienced drivers in our RA App. For experienced drivers there is the DRIVE MODUS and for less experienced drivers the CASUAL MODUS. You decide which mode you choose. Both modes (logically) score the same points.

Finally, are you less competitive, no problem, you can simply ignore the tests and just drive the route via the RA App. This makes no difference to the experience of the beautiful nature and landscapes during the Road trip. However, in our experience, (almost) everyone ended up enjoying the tasks and the mutual competition very much. 

Because our RA App keeps track of your own score, as well as that of all other participants, from second to second and continuously updates it in a ranking list visible to all, a kind of interactive “live battle” for each ride victory is created while driving.

If you click on the online Briefing on our website, it will inform you in detail, with pictures, about all the tasks you will encounter along the way. We therefore advise all participants to study this online Briefing carefully before taking part.

NB: Our RA App is available in 12 languages! These languages are:

Arabic – Chinese (simple) – German – English – French – Hebrew – Italian – Japanese – Korean – Dutch – Portuguese – Spanish.

Each Road trip starts on the morning of the first stage day with a Navigator Briefing. In it, we explain step by step how our RA – app works. Our app is very user-friendly, and you will master its operation in no time. The advantage of the following Online Instruction is that you can study it at your leisure (at home). If you still have questions, no problem, there will be plenty of time to ask them at the Navigator Briefing on the morning of the start.

First, however, some technical tips that are important to be well prepared at the start of your Road Trip.  

Own car or rental car:

Depending on your personal situation (Where you live), you will come to the start location with your own car, or you will be forced to rent a car to participate. Rental and fuel is always at your own expense. We cooperate with a rental company (…..) that offers a special rate for participants in our RA Road Trip. You choose and reserve your own rental car. Our recommendation, if possible, rent a convertible. 

Preparing for the start:

Make sure your mobile phone or tablet is fully charged on the morning of each stage and leave your phone or tablet plugged into a charger in your car throughout the stage. You otherwise run the risk that your battery will not make it to the end of the stage. Before you start a stage, also switch off your screen saver. This will prevent your screen from closing suddenly at potentially crucial moments, possibly missing an entry or information.

Driver & Navigator:

You drive this Road trip in pairs. This is necessary because you are driving on public roads and the driver’s full attention should be focused on driving. (Traffic rules & road safety) The Navigator operates the RA App and fills in all the answers. He/she also informs the Driver about the route to follow and the assignments.

Using the Roadbook in the app:

Driving a Road trip according to the Roadbook in our app is easy. You can see all route instructions on your mobile phone or tablet one by one on your screen with a swipe. Our advice: don’t walk ahead but follow the route instructions one by one and only swipe once a route instruction has been completed. The app automatically starts at the 1st route instruction. All directions are numbered. For each route clue, you must consistently follow the following steps: 

The trip meter in your car (!) is your most important (and only permissible) measuring instrument here!                     

• Always look first right at the distance indicated in the square and stay during that distance on the road you are on at the start of the route indication.
• When you have driven this distance, (see trip meter!!) you will find the drawn road situation.
• The dot represents the position where your car is now.
• The arrow marks the direction of travel (road) you should now follow.

Immediately after entering the new road designated by the arrow, set your trip odometer back to “Zero“. Now go to the next route indication and look again first at the distance over which you should continue to follow the newly driven road. Etc. etc.

Error driven:

Your car (app) is being tracked by us via GPS tracking. If you have taken a wrong street or turn, after 30 seconds our GPS takes over control and puts you back on the right route. For this “help” you will be charged 5 penalty points (each time). The advantage of this is that you always get back on the right route. So, you also always drive via the correct route from start to finish. 

The Assignments along the way:

General:

All photo and flashback assignments, are exclusively on the right side of your car. You will be given the photo scenes to spot along the way during the Briefing before the start of your Road trip.

Photo recognition scenes:

All photo recognition scenes (4 in each stage) are therefore always to your right along the route and are on an A4 VEL received at the start. Each photo is given a code (2 letters and 2 numbers). If you have spotted a photo scene, enter the corresponding code directly, in the app. NB! Before pressing “confirm”, check that you haven’t made a typing error in the code. This is because you can only enter a code once. Immediately after each entry, you will see whether your answer was right or wrong. For each correct answer, you will also immediately see the points achieved. 

Flashback questions:

Flashback questions appear automatically in the app. These questions are always about a (GPS) situation that has just happened along the road. You will always be asked a question with 4 possible answers. (multiple choice) You only have a limited time to answer. At the top of the app’s screen, a timer starts running to indicate how long you (still) must answer. Once the time is up, the question will disappear, and you will not be able to answer it. So be on time with answering. Running back is (timewise) aimless. 

Quiz questions:

There is always a quiz at the end of each stage. This consists of 16 questions (each with photo and 4 multiple choice answers) for which, again, you have limited time to answer. At the finish location, park your car first and only then take the quiz. You can start it with a “Start button” in the app. After the quiz, you will immediately see your achieved points and the stage is over. When the last team has arrived and completed the quiz, the result of that stage is immediately visible in the app. The app automatically closes this stage at 4pm.  

AST trials

AST (stands for: Average Speed Trail) trials are challenging to do, they are sections of the route where you are asked to match a certain average speed as exactly as possible. The target speed is announced to you in the app, shortly before each AST trial starts. So, you know in advance what the requested target speed is, but not how long the route is measured over. And the roads are chosen so that you can never drive the same speed consistently. AST tests are always driven on bending and low-traffic roads. Sense of speed and communication between driver and navigator determine how successful you make these tests. The use of measuring devices is strictly forbidden.

Before starting each stage, you can always choose between 2 modes in the app for AST trials.

• The CASUAL mode
• The DRIVE mode

If you are an experienced driver we recommend the DRIVE mode, otherwise choose the CASUAL mode, which always has a lower average speed as target. Regardless of which option you choose the principle and the number of points to be gained from a test always remain the same. In rainy weather, we advise everyone to always choose CASUAL mode. 

1. You are always obliged to abide by the applicable traffic rules even during AST trials.

You are always personally responsible for your driving behavior and the safety of other road users.

TIP. If there are any crowds in front of you (cars, cyclists, or an agricultural vehicle), do not risk pass them. If the road in front of you is busy, wait a while and give the traffic in front of you a sufficient “head start”. Also accept(!) that you may score fewer points in one of these tests if traffic in front of you is still driving. Remember, you are and always will be responsible for safe driving.  

AST tests are announced in advance (GPS) in the app. You therefore know that an AST test is about to start. At that time, the app also informs you of the TARGET SPEED you must try to match at the upcoming AST test.

The moment you pass the starting point (GPS) of the AST trial, the app confirms that the AST trial and time measurement has started NOW. 

The app also confirms the moment you pass the finish line (GPS) of the AST trial. 

The app now calculates your exact realized average speed and also immediately shows you the number of points scored. The app then informs you whether your speed was too fast or too slow. 20 points is the maximum possible score for an AST test. You have then driven exactly the requested target speed. The faster or slower you drove below or above the target speed, the fewer points you score. At 0 points, you were unfortunately too far off.   

Your “live battle” with all the other crews in the Road trip: 

In the app, you will see 3 horizontal bars for MENU at the top right, by clicking on these you can call up the current rankings. You will then always see the current position in the Road trip and can thus follow exactly where you are riding and how your competitors are scoring. NB: The fact that you can see your own scores and those of your opponents throughout the stage in this way ensures that each stage turns into an interactive “live battle” between you and the other teams. 

CAR OF THE YEAR election

All cars that have competed in a Road trip automatically compete for the title “Car of the Year”. (Unless, for reasons of privacy, you have indicated that you do not wish to participate) At the start of each Road trip, all participating crews will be photographed. Several photos will then be taken of your car (exterior and interior) One of these photos serves to display each equipe associated with the Team Name in the rankings. The remaining photos can be accessed in the app to view each car in detail. After the second stage day, all participants will be called in the app to nominate 3 cars from their “own Road trip” for the “Car of The Year” election. Choosing along is an “obligation” for all participants. You must nominate 3 cars and rank them, according to your personal taste, at 1, 2 and 3. So the winner of your “own” Road trip will be chosen exclusively by those participants themselves. Later, when all individual Road trip winners over the entire season are known, all app users (including non-participants) may choose the “Car of the Year” from those winners.

Route directions:

The route to drive from one Parador Hotel to the next is communicated to you in the app in the form of route directions. Each of these directions consists of 4 pieces of information that allow you to follow the correct route. If you make a mistake, it will result in you taking the wrong street or exit. No problem. Our GPS tracking in the RA App records your mistake and intervenes after 30 seconds of “wrong driving” and brings you back to the correct route. However, for every time our app must assist you, you will be deducted 5 penalty points from your total score for doing so.

Photo Recognition scenes:

During the Briefing in the morning of your first stage day, you will be given six A4 sheets, each containing 4 photo scenes. (Keep these sheets carefully) * us, in a protective case or laminated. Each photo scene has a code (2 letters and 2 numbers) Each photo is taken “somewhere” in the route you will ride that day. Your task is to spot these photographed scenes. If you recognize a photographed scene along the way, you must immediately enter the code of that photo in your RA App. NB. Before pressing “confirm”, check carefully that you have not made a typing error in the code. You can only enter a code once. If your spotting is correct, the app will immediately give you the number of points (8) standing for this correct entry.

Flashback questions:

In each route, you will pass objects, signs, buildings, or other conspicuous items. At some point, a Flashback question may appear in the RA App asking you something about an object you have just passed. The question is always in Multiple-choice form, where you can choose from 4 possible answers. The moment a Flashback question becomes visible in the app, a measurement starts counting down from 20 to 0 seconds at the top right-hand corner simultaneously. When the 20 seconds have passed, the Flashback question automatically closes, and you can no longer answer. So always answer in time. If your answer was correct, you will again immediately receive the number of points (8) standing for this correct answer.

The Quiz:

At the end of each stage is a quiz. This quiz consists of 16 questions in muliple-choice form with 4 possible answers per question. The quiz also has a time limit. Like the Flashback questions, this is displayed in the top right-hand corner of the app. You have 300 seconds to answer these 16 questions. Once the time is up, the quiz also closes automatically. For every correctly answered quiz question, you get 5 points.

The app has a “Start Quiz” button. You click this button when you arrive at your hotel, but only after you have parked your car and have time to fully concentrate on the quiz. This may also be in the lounge of the Parador hotel (WIFI access) You must have made the quiz before 16:00, as the app automatically closes the Roadbook of each stage daily at this time.

If you don’t know a quiz question (for sure), “just guess” is an option. In any case, be careful not to waste too much time on a (difficult) quiz question.

AST tests (Average Speed Trails)

AST tests test your ability to match an average speed requested as a target speed as accurately as possible. Here we stress again:

• That you always drive on a public road.
• That you should always follow all applicable traffic rules
• That you are always responsible for your own driving behavior.
• That the safety of other road users and you always comes first.

We have set out several AST tests on each stage. You will drive these, each one of them, on low-traffic and bending roads. In other words, each AST test requires a necessary alternating driving behavior of slowing down and speeding up. This makes it challenging precisely because you need to develop a correct feel for your actual realized average speed. The use of time measurement devices is strictly forbidden. Everyone should have an equal chance, after all, we are testing your feel for the average speed driven.

Furthermore, you can choose from 2 different levels at the start of each stage.

• DRIVE mode
• CASUAL mode

For drivers who drive a lot, we recommend DRIVE mode. For drivers who drive less frequently, we recommend CASUAL mode. The requested target speed in Casual mode is always slightly lower than in Drive mode. The number of points to be gained is the same. In case of rain, we advise everyone to choose CASUAL mode.

How the AST test works:

So, an AST test always takes place on winding roads with little traffic. Shortly before an AST test starts, you will see a so-called AST announcement in your RA app. This informs you that an AST test is about to start and shows you right away what average target speed you should try to match.

The moment you pass the start of the AST trial (GPS tracking), the RA app will display the message “your time measurement has started“. You now know that the AST trial has started and that from then on you should try to match the requested average target speed as precisely as possible. You never know where the finish line is. It is somewhere between 1 to 4 KM away.

When you cross the finish line (GPS tracking), you will get a message that the AST trial has been completed. You will also see immediately in the app how many points you have scored. 20 points is the maximum score in an AST trial.  Finally, you get the information whether you were driving too fast or too slow. (This info allows you to improve yourself on the next AST test) Driving too fast or too slow results in the same amount of points reduction in both cases. The further away you were from the target speed, the fewer points you score.