why in rally races there is a guy on a passenger seat explaining where to drive?
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The co-driver or in Rally terms – navigator – is there to, navigate. There are two reasons for this; rally originated from long, multi-day, multi stage epic events where racers could cross continents over weeks or even months. Navigators were used to ensure they literally went the right way. Also, in the origins of motor sport, co-drivers were used to literally help drive the car, from pumping fuel to fixing mechanical issues, to operating certain aspects of the automobile as it was being driven.
Modern, rally racing takes this concept and uses it to make sure that the driver is fore-armed with information to take the route as quickly as he/she can. So calling out corners, hazards and other information, as well as starting and stopping clocks/timers, assisting to change wheels when punctured – these are all jobs of a modern co-driver in rally.
It’s not altogether different from how we used to drive before integrated maps in our cars, nav units, etc. The passenger’s title is literally navigator. I can remember road trips with a truckers atlas or fold out maps that you had to buy at the gas station of whatever new town you were in.
If you’ve ever driven through an unfamiliar place and maybe you told your passenger “tell me when to turn” and then they say things like “take a left at the next light”.
As a driver, it helps you focus on the driving and trust somebody else for the navigating.
Rally racing is like that, except times 1,000
[So that you don’t ‘watch and drive’ like Samir](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9-voINFkCg).
At these speeds, the pilot must ‘know’ the track, not ‘react’ to it. It’s hard to memorize it, so the 2nd guy has a map and recite the track to the pilot
Eli5: reacting when you come up to things in racing is slow, being able to commit to inputs prior to reaching them is fast.
Most racing is done on circuit courses and have practice sessions. Circuit courses are usually only really 2-3mi long and 20 corners max, taken repeatedly. Cars get to test and attempt the same corners dozens or more times. Drivers know corners coming up and how to take them.
Rally is non circuit and can be several miles and a hundred corners long. Competition may only be the third or fourth time the driver sees the course. In rally, the driver and navigator (passengers seat) will predrive the course before hand and take notes on all the features. During the actual competition, the navigator will read back to the driver the notes to let them know what is coming up ahead to commit to inputs.
It depends on the team but a something like “500 hard left 5 wide exit” means to the driver in 500m there’s a 20mph left turn where you can get full on throttle at the exit. This doesn’t seem like much but if you were blind driving the corner it can be several seconds of difference.
They are running the race course with never having seen it before, the race course is different each year when ran in the location.
There is no safe way to drive 120mph through the woods in the snow on a race course you’ve never seen before.
The tracks are really hard and if you didn’t know what comes next you’ll have to drive a lot slower to be able to react, knowing what comes in advance means they can make adjustments before taking the curves for example
They act as a low-tech mini-map, so the driver knows what to expect around corners and over hills.
I got into racing video games for a while. The way to do well on racetracks is to memorize the track so you know where to brake and what line to aim for. The game Dirt has several disciplines, including rally racing. In rally races, the course is impossible for normal people to fully memorize, so the guy reading the map and calling out what turns are coming and things like road conditions makes it possible to go much faster than you would if you didn’t know what was around the corner.
They act as a low-tech mini-map, so the driver knows what to expect around corners and over hills.
I got into racing video games for a while. The way to do well on racetracks is to memorize the track so you know where to brake and what line to aim for. The game Dirt has several disciplines, including rally racing. In rally races, the course is impossible for normal people to fully memorize, so the guy reading the map and calling out what turns are coming and things like road conditions makes it possible to go much faster than you would if you didn’t know what was around the corner.
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