One thing I haven’t seen mentioned is that traditional race circuits are meticulously designed for safety. For example a lot of corners are unsafe to take going in reverse because there isn’t enough gravel or other clearance or barriers going in the opposite direction. They’re very controlled and understood environments.
Rally routes pretty much throw all of that out the window, so having someone remind you exactly what’s coming up helps push the limits without being caught unawares I’m sure.
They are required to have someone. One guy, Mark Fischer, (A driver) got some flak for saying that he had no idea what the guy was saying and it meant nothing to him. In one race his ‘guy’ wasn’t there so he abducted some random homeless dude and strapped him in. Oddly the only way it was found out is someone watched the recording and realized he was basically just screaming ‘oh shit’ the entire race instead of reading any kind of notes
To maximise speed. It’s kind like having the ability to read the future.
The co driver (person you’re asking about) has notes about the road they’re driving on.
The notes say how fast the driver can go in a system that they each understand.
There’s a lot of trust in the co driver and the notes. And the contrived is also trusting the driver will follow the notes!
This one i can answer! I do this for a living. There are many different types of corners that need a different technique to get through them faster.
It’s very unlikely that a driver will remember every corner. if a corner is very tight, he will need to change down a couple gears or go wider than he would for a more flowing corner.
He will also need to find the right line to take the corner, wide, cutting in ect. This is especially important if you’re a 2 wheel drive, as they will need to take a different line to 4 wheel drives, but the 4 wheel drives kick the gravel out to the side (the 2 wheel drives line) The goal is to find the smoothest route around the corner to minimise the amount of time spent on the track. You don’t want to slide to much, as that just creates wheel spin. (Makes you slower)
So a co driver essentially tells the driver what type of corner is coming up, to the driver can get the right speed and line.
The co-driver in rally uses stage notes to call out to the driver on what to do. Usually before stages they can drive the track to get their notes, but at a limited speed. They generally explain to the driver the severity of corners (I.e. 1 left would be almost essentially a square left turn, which in of itself is a call used) some other calls could include “don’t” or “don’t cut” which literally means don’t cut the corner. Stay on track. You’ll loose a wheel or worse. Or “caution” means beware of less than ideal road conditions ahead. Essentially they tell the driver what to do in advance so the driver can focus on driving as fast and mostly safely as possible.
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