Most liked posts in thread: WRC: Video, in-car w/ Kris Meeke at Rally Germany

Dang I need a cigarette after that, pure sex!!!

Thanks for sharing the video!

 

Though the best method is to be born Finnish - in the same way all American children can handle handguns, all Finnish children can drive rally cars.

 

That was very cool. I liked the way the co-drivers voice changed when they hit that bump. :biggrin5:

I don't really understand the directions the co-driver is giving. Can anyone explain the code to me?

Jim

 

I think most of it is self exploratory, but when you hear numbers (often) is basically lets them now the severity of a turn. Much more commonly referred to as "pacenotes" :

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacenotes]Pacenotes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

The drivers are free to change out the notes as they interpret the course, and they can act more accordingly while flying through the wilderness.



AWESOME video BTW.

 

I found the navigator annoying. I understand it's important but I'd go nuts...

 

I guess that's what it takes, 'cause he's widely considered to be one of the top co-drivers out there. I'm always impressed at how he manages to keep the big picture and will pass on reminders about tire temperature, etc. And you can tell by the inflection in his voice when it would be REALLY BAD to cut a corner or brake late!

 

I think it is an amazing partnership between co-drive & driver. I'm in awe of them. The driver gets all the glory, but without a great co-driver he's toast.

 

Steve & KC Jr, Thanks a lot, as that makes it much clearer. I can see that this information is very important to the driver.

Jim

 

^ This!

It takes an amazing amount of faith in the driver to be a good navigator too.......or lack of good sense..LOL

 

So the organizer provided pace notes are similar to the books given to pro golfers, showing distances from tee to hole at various locations on the course. I can see that the co-driver/driver relationship is very important and they really are "co-drivers", rather than "navigators" any more, as they were back when the route was a secret until the actual race. I am getting into this rally stuff, so thanks for all the information.

Jim

 

OK, I hear the term "puncture" a lot. I'm sure it is not exactly the obvious, so what exactly is this?

Jim

 

I figured that, so do they use run flats or was a blow out which they had to change?

Jim

 

Did some searching. Is this the answer:

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_mousse]Tire mousse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Jim

 

Great video.
The co-drivers do the hard work. I cannot image trying to read notes, watch the road, talk coherently, and not throw-up.

 

The level of detail in pace notes are very personal to the driver - if you ever see a video of Gronholms' co-driver, he barely seemed to say more than left or right (in Finnish, obviously!), whereas Chris Meeke and Petter Solberg (although Petter is Norwegian, his co-driver uses English) seem to want details of each piece of gravel.

The lovely thing about Nagle is while he is a real pro, in extreme moments he can still let fly - elsewhere in the German rally, Meeke slid the car into a downhill corner with a big drop and Nagle screamed like he thought his life was about to end - which is maybe what he thought.

Marcus Gronholm: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJn2Tt0eIlc]Finland 2007: Gronholm Onboard SS21 - YouTube[/ame]

Petter Solberg: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHcovQblpCc]WRC Onboards: Greece 2011: Petter Solberg SS10 Requested by JoseAmnesia - YouTube[/ame]

The one co-driver that could actually speak even faster than the driver could drive was Luis Moya. Just listen to how many syllables he can fit in one second: [ame="http://www.viddler.com/explore/ponsetionline/videos/81/"]Viddler.com - Sainz-Moya Finlandia 3 - Uploaded by ponsetionline@@AMEPARAM@@http://www.viddler.com/player/f8b3c95b/@@AMEPARAM@@f8b3c95b/[/ame]

 

That was a great comparison, thanks for posting that. I am starting to get a real feel for this now.

Jim

 

The co-driver is not watching the road. He has his face planted in the route book & is watching the odo to make sure his notes match the place the car is on the road. Very important, a missed note spells disaster.

I don't understand how one can keep his lunch down doing that job.