Two Guys Rally

What is a Co-Driver? [ April 18th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Unlike most motorsports, in Rally Racing you have two people in the car. That second person in the car is called the Co-Driver, or sometimes the Navigator. They are not dead weight either, they serve an extremely important purpose: to tell the driver what is ahead. They will remind the driver of how fast to take the next corner and what the corner after that is, in order to setup for corners.

While a closed circuit where drivers drive countless laps of the same eleven corners may be memorizable, in Rally the cars might see the same corners twice (depending on how many times a stage is run). A single Rally stage could have a hundred corners, so memorizing them is out of the question. The Co-Driver will read notes to the driver, describing the corners and what to expect (Jumps, bumps, trees on the inside of the corner). In some rallies the notes are provided, in others the drivers and co-drivers will have a Recce, where they drive the stages at slow speeds and write down every bump, jump, corner and danger. The accuracy of the notes by the best co-drivers is so good that a good driver can drive solely off of the notes.

Of course, since reading notes and keeping your place in them is not hard enough already, the Co-Driver gets stuck with other tasks too. Some of these tasks include, pulling on levers as you enter a water crossing (Subarus on the SWRT), watching so many gauges an airline pilot wouldn’t know what to do, activate the wiper blades, be blamed if anything goes wrong, push the car out of anywhere it is stuck and of course dealing with the rally officials.

With all the stress a Co-Driver takes, they have to be a pretty relaxed person. They also have to be extremely organized with everything related to the car, because they tend to be the ones dealing with people not on the rally team. So next time you see a Co-Driver, thank them for everything they do (even if they’re not doing it for you).

An Explanation of What Rally Racing Is [ April 13th, 2008 ] By:Charles Smith

Mark and I took for granted that you probably knew what Rally Racing was if you were here, and we’re sorry about that. So here is an explanation of what Rally Racing is.

The Basics of Rally Racing

Rally Racing is a motorsport that takes place on public type roads (ie not race tracks) while using street-legal cars. The race is not done in a head-to-head manner, but in stages that are timed. There are three types of stages in Rally: the transit stage, the special stage and the super-special stage.

The Transit Stage

In order to get to a special stage, the Rally prepared cars have to travel there under their own power on roads that are open to the public (yes, you can drive next to a real race car). They have a time limit to get there and are limited by the speed limits and the laws in that area. If they fail to make it to the special stage on-time the competitor car will incur a time penalty for their overall time or possibly a disqualification.

The Special Stage

A special stage is where the actual racing happens. The competitor car starts the special stage and must make its way to the end of the special stage as fast as it can. The time it takes to get to the end of the special stage is recorded and added to the total rally time. After the completion of the special stage the competitor moves on to the next special stage. Special stages are normal roads closed off from public car traffic, and are often lined with spectators watching the stage.

The Super Special Stage

I know I said there were no closed racetracks and no head to head racing in Rally, but I was lying a bit. Special stages are the majority of a Rally, while Super Special stages are often the final timed portion of a rally. In a Super Special, two competitors race head to head, but on separate tracks (much like a drag race but more twisty and dirty). The race takes place in a closed loop that has a crossover section so the two competitors that are racing race the same distance. The time it takes them to complete this stage is recorded and added to the total rally time.

How a Rally is Won

The winner of the Rally is determined by the least total time. This is calculated by adding up all the special stage times (including super special stages) and the time penalties incurred. That’s it? What makes it interesting? You just see one car race around all alone and then times are compared and a winner is declared?

Good questions, but what makes it interesting was already written down: it is raced on normal roads and not racetracks. So what is a normal road? Normal roads are not always smooth tarmac like we normally drive on, but they included single lane gravel roads, dirt paths we can legally call a road, snow covered tarmac and even what you would consider a normal road. This may not seem to be an interesting race at first, but when you see what a ‘normal’ road turns into when going 60-100mph you will understand. Common dips and crests will turn into jumps that send cars 6 feet off the ground. Nasty pot holes will rip car’s wheels off. Snowy roads will have cars traveling sideways at speeds that would scare you, and that’s the expected way of travel!

I am not a fan of racing for its accidents, in fact I cringe when I see the cars break, but if I were to watch a motorsport for accidents it would always be Rally. Drivers misjudging the grip they have going into a corner may slide right off the road (off a cliff even), or into a river, or if they suddenly have too much grip maybe they’ll roll their car many times. The point is that Rally has it all, and they do it on roads we can drive on our way to work.

Here’s the kicker: Rallies happen in cars that are just like ours. While they are modified heavily, they share our frames, sometimes our drivetrains and in some classes they are almost exactly like our cars with added safety features. So do a quick search for Rally Racing on youtube and check it out, I know you wont be disappointed.