Silent controls
Unmanned controls that verify the route driven: number or letter codes or place-name signs that the crew records in order on its control card.
Silent controls (German stumme Kontrollen) verify the route actually driven without any staff being present. They consist of number or letter combinations – such as the so-called Baumaffen – or of place-name signs whose initial letters are noted. The crew must record the required details itself, in the order it passes them, on its control card (Bordkarte). This makes it possible to check later whether the prescribed route was followed. Silent controls are especially common on orientation runs.
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Related terms
Time card
Control card issued by the organiser on which arrival and passage times are recorded or stamped at the controls.
Control point
Defined location on the route where a control takes place – such as a time, transit or passage control.
Matching numbers
Collector term for a vehicle whose major components (engine, gearbox, axle, frame) still carry the original numbers that match one another and the factory records – an indicator of originality, not of identity.