Navigation

The tools you need to navigate during the Morocco Desert Challenge, depend on the category you registered for:

  1. Rally PRO
  2. Discovery-RAID

Rally-Pro​​​​​​​

Roadbook

For each of the 8 stages you get a road book, in color, personally assembled by our own race director. The road book is conform the international standards of the FIA and the FIM. How to read it, the language in which it is written and the symbols that are used, are identitcal to that of other big rallies. In the “Race Rules”, a document that will be sent to participants one month prior to the start of the rally, you will find a lexicon with all used symbols and abbreviations.

GPS UNIK 4 & built-in SENTINEL

Like the Dakar and other rallies, the Morocco Desert Challenge continues to innovate. This means that we said goodbye to paper in 2023 and switched to digital road books. ERTF, the provider of the GPS Unik, switches to the new GPS Unik4 and therefor digital roadbooks, in color, for the truck, cars & buggy's and SSV categories. These roadbooks are automatically activated half an hour before the start. Motorbikes and quads will still use the GPS UNIK 2 in combination with a paper roadbook.

The GPS UNIK turns itself on when you get close to the waypoint, registers speeding violations and automatically tells the race direction whether you have passed the waypoint or not.

Built-in this device is also the “Sentinel”, a kind of alarm/warning system which allows safe overtaking. If you want to overtake another rider you push the button of your Sentinel, the pilot driving in front of you gets a warning on his device (alarm & stroboscopic light) and knows a faster vehicle wants to overtake him/her. Those who, after 3 warnings, refuse to give way, automatically get a penalty time.

The biggest change with the GPS UNIK 4 is the integration of a digital roadbook. From now on you will no longer receive your roadbook on paper the night before, but the roadbook instructions will be on the tablet of the GPS UNIK 4. One of the main advantages of the digital roadbooks is that changes by the opening car can be  implemented automatically by the race direction. No more cutting and taping paper roadbooks in the desert. This system also excludes the use of the 'map man', making the rally more fair and equal for all.

All participants in the Rally-Pro category are obliged to rent this device themselves (you cannot buy it). The rental is not done via the MDC organization but directly from ERTF, the French manufacturer of these GPS systems. What you are required to purchase is the installation kit (bracket, antennas and various cables). This kit will be sent directly to your private address. The device will be given to you during technical checks before the start of the rally.

A) Accessories and installation kit for cars & trucks

For more detailed info on the GPS UNIK 4 go to www.ertf.com

B) Accessories and  installation-kit for motorbikes / quads

For more detailed info on the GPS UNIK 4 go to www.ertf.com

TRIPMASTER/ ICO

A tripmaster is a device that measures the covered distance but more accurately than the standard trip of your vehicle. It also allows you to manually correct the shown distances. Often is shows two figures: the partial distance and the total distance. These two figures correspond to the distances in your roadbook.

All types of tripmaster are allowed, both mecanical models, connected to your gearbox or wheel, as well as satellite-based models. The latter often contain a set of maps, which is not allowed. Needless to say those devices have to be emptied before being shown at the technical scruteneering

Discovery-RAID

Navigation in the RAID category is done using a TRIPY. This device, a combination of GPS, digital roadbook and tripmaster, makes navigating a lot easier. Seen the fact that the roadbook is digitalised and the machine has a GPS-function, the TRIPY puts you back on track after you’ve made an occasional navigation mistake. The rental of a TRIPY is included in the registration fee.

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