The South African National Rally championship is one of the most demanding forms of motorsport and often takes place in remote areas. These demanding conditions make it the perfect proving ground for Ctrack’s tracking solutions.

As part of Ctrack’s sponsorship of this Championship, rally vehicles are fitted with a Ctrack telemetry fleet management device. Tracking and tracing vehicles during rallies is vital to ensure safety and compliance with regulations.

Rallying is the purest form of motorsport, where competitors race against the clock on gravel roads on stages between 10 and 40km in length at very high speeds. The terrain varies and can include plantations, mountainous areas or farmland. It is imperative that organisers can track competitor vehicles so that race officials and medical personnel are immediately alerted to an incident and can easily locate crews in the event of a mishap.

Ctrack plots very accurate routes prior to the event, which allows race officials to ensure that all competitors follow the route exactly and that no deviations are taken.

“Each rally car, as well as safety and emergency response vehicles doing duty on the event, are fitted with Ctrack tracking units for the duration of the rally, and fans can follow their progress via Ctrack’s online platform,” comments Hein Jordt, Managing Director of Ctrack SA.

Ctrack’s online platform is used by rally headquarters to monitor all vehicles during the event. A live spectator tracking link can be shared on social media, allowing fans to follow the rally from anywhere with an internet connection.

The safety advantages are substantial too. If a competitor stops while on a special stage, organisers are immediately alerted, allowing them to implement emergency procedures and protocols immediately where necessary. A panic button on the tracking unit allows crews to request assistance at any time.

In the same way that rally organisers and fans track vehicles in the thick of competition, business owners can keep an eye on their fleet of business vehicles. Ctrack can provide all the fleet management tools a business will ever need, at an affordable cost. Intuitive software provides a top-down view of all vehicles, drivers and tasks, simultaneously. Through the effective use of Ctrack Iris cameras Fleet managers can enhance company processes, protect and educate drivers, reduce overall fleet fuel consumption, improve vehicle route optimization, increase load frequencies and hasten turnaround times.

Through the Ctrack Crystal platform, fleet managers or business owners can locate vehicles in real-time through easy-to-use map software that indicates a driver’s location and where they will be heading next, allowing for accurate estimated times of arrival of deliveries or arrival at the job site. In the real world, route optimisation assists in determining the best route between all the necessary stopping points, reducing time and distance that needs to be driven and, in turn, improving fuel consumption.

“For the seventh year now, Ctrack are proud to be associated with the South African National Rally Championship, the demanding conditions and remote locations under which crews race against the clock is the perfect proving ground for the tracking and tracing capabilities of our fleet management systems,” said Jordt.