How to be a Rally Co-Driver
It Takes Two To Rally
While rally drivers get all the glory, their co-drivers are some of the sport’s unsung heroes. Far from being passengers, co-drivers play an important role in a team’s success. Autosport’s Rally Editor, David Evans, gives us a glimpse of what makes a good co-driver.
Organised? Motivated? Ultra-competitive? Able to read a book, tell the time and hold a (functional) conversation on the Pepsi Max Big One? If the answer is yes to the above, there’s a seat in a rally car waiting for you – and possibly the most exciting career you could ever dream of.
Being a co-driver, or navigator as they were once called, is just as important as being a driver; one simply can’t work without the other. Co-driving starts with telling the person next to you – the one with the wheel in front of them – to turn left or right at the next junction and ends at opposite end of the spectrum with the management of everything going on in the car. You’re the boss, everything – except the driving – is down to you. You win the rally, it’s up to your driver by how much. In terms of job satisfaction, there’s not much to compare with co-driving.
And Britain is, and always has been, an absolute hotbed of co-driving talent. We’ve had four co-driving world champions, two more than we’ve had drivers, and we’re still well represented at the highest level.
The job of a co-driver is that of the office manager. At the start of a rally, you’re given several vital pieces of paperwork. Lose any one of them and you’re out of the event. Being organised is an absolute given. Talk to co-drivers of any repute and you’ll notice one character trait uniform among them all: preparation. Oh, and an un-natural tendency to keep looking at their watch. Spontaneity is simply not an option for a good co-driver.
As well as the ability to plan for every possible scenario, co-drivers also need to be able to keep a clear head and be ready for the unexpected. Not long ago, one of the world’s top drivers rolled his car off the road. The car landed on its wheels in a cloud of dust and a clatter of twisted metal. In the split second that the driver was collecting his thoughts, his co-driver said: “Come on, start it, let’s get going…”
That’s the level of clarity of thought that’s needed.
That and some practical experience – and the best place to find that is at your local motor club. Ystrad Mynach Motor Club have a wealth of co-driving experience. Past and present members include Peter Watts, Paul Wakely and Nigel Gardner to name but a few.
Road rallies remain the best place for a co-driver to learn their craft. These events take place through the night on public roads at average speeds well below the speed limit. The events are not about speed, they’re about the navigation. You are, essentially, dumped in the middle of nowhere, given a set of maps and a set of instructions and told to get from point-to-point by an allotted time. It’s under this kind of extreme pressure that you’ll find out if co-driving’s for you.
It was for Go Motorsport ambassador Robert Reid. He won the World Rally Championship alongside Richard Burns in 2001. Reid is now the performance director for British motor sport’s governing body, the MSA, which also demonstrates the worth of a retired co-driver in the industry. He’s also a mine of information about getting started. And it might not be quite what you’d been expecting.
“Orienteering,” says Robert. “That’s a good place to start. It’s all about map and compass work. And running between the points keeps you fit. After that, it’s time to get in the car. As a co-driver you need 100 per cent respect between you and the guy sitting next to you. If you’re telling him to go over a blind crest, in the fog, the dark and the rain, at over 100mph he needs to have implicit trust in you. That’s the kind of relationship, which can only be built over time. Another really important aspect is the regulations involved. All of the WRC rules can be downloaded off the internet, so up-and-coming co-drivers should be reading them all. I used to use them to get me to sleep on a long-haul flight! ”
At 16, you’re good to go for stage rallies. This is where the real fun and fever starts. This is where you get to go between the trees and down the lanes flat chat. This is where you’ll start to put the maps away and turn to pace notes. Pace notes are a short-hand description of the road ahead. You and your driver will have been through the stage, during a period of reconnaissance, and the driver will have described the road to you. It’s your job to read that description back to him at rally speed a day or so later. Anybody can read notes, but like Reid says, it’s all down to the relationship.
“I knew,” says Robert, “to call the next corner a split second before Richard was wondering what it was. That might sound like trying to hit a moving target. It’s not. It’s something you learn through experience. And you don’t need to be on an event to learn notes with your driver. Every time the two of you go out, be it to the shops or whatever, you should have a notebook and he should be making notes.”
So, what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us toady for a totally new motor sport challenge.
Original article courtesy of the GO Motorsport Initiative. www.gomotorsport.net