why in rally races there is a guy on a passenger seat explaining where to drive?
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For circuit racing, drivers get a detailed map of the track, they can review footage, they get test/practice/qualifying runs, they can even run laps in a simulator, before running dozens or even hundreds of laps in the actual race. It’s easy to memorize every little detail, especially when you’re racing the same track year after year.
For rally racing, there are no laps, it’s point-to-point “stages”. There is no practice, and the course changes (sometimes entirely) from year to year. They generally only get two reconnaissance (“recce”) drives through the course, in a regular passenger car, at normal road speeds. It’s impossible to memorize the entire course, let alone every little detail (like a rock in the apex, a dip, a ditch, a blind corner, etc).
On race day, they get to make their one and only run through each stage in a race car.
Those notes the navigator is reading are created on those recce trips, and read to the driver to let them know what is coming up. That allows them to push the limits and go as fast as possible.
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