Rally Co-Drivers Only Useful As Ballast

b-mak · Sep 24, 2012

http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2012/09/19/rally-driver-admits-he-has-no-idea-what-co-driver-is-talking-about/

Top British rally driver, Mark Fischer, today found himself at the centre of a storm of controversy after confessing that he had absolutely no idea what his long-term co-driver, Gethyn Davis, was talking about during races.

It had been assumed that co-drivers were reading pace notes, a series of instructions describing how to negotiate the road layout ahead, but Fischer claims the notes are total nonsense and that he has simply been humouring his co-driver all these years. Its just gibberish, he said. But the regulations say that there must be two people in the car at all times during the race, and Gethyn was a good mate so I always just took him along for the ride.

Davis is reported to be furious at Fischers statement and maintains that they were equal partners in the team, but Fisher has been quick to dismiss this.

Oh, come on, he said. I mean, 50 5-left and stop 2-right half minus braking into K-right 90 maybe and absolute crest 500′. What the hell am I supposed to make of that when Im flat out over a jump sideways at 90mph?

This is not the first time Fischer has courted controversy over the role of co-drivers. In 2009, after finding himself without a co-driver for the Jyvaskyla Rally in Finland, he kidnapped a homeless man and forcibly strapped him into the passenger seat to ensure that the two-people-in-each-car rule was complied with. The stunt only came to light when onboard footage taken during the race revealed that rather than reading the pace notes, the Finnish co-driver was in fact screaming the words Oh ****! over and over again, occasionally interspersed with other phrases including, Watch out for that house and Slow down, you mad bastard.
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AustinMartin · Sep 24, 2012

That last paragraph is pure gold.

Bas · Sep 24, 2012

Fantastic

I also must agree on whatever the co driver is saying is giberish. I'm sure some rally drivers make sense of it. Anyone ever played a rally game and understood what the co driver was saying? Not me...

Hawkeye · Sep 24, 2012

That is absolutely hilarious, thanks for posting!

GuyIncognito · Sep 24, 2012

now I know what to do with all those homeless guys in Santa Monica.

canyon run, anyone?

tervuren · Sep 24, 2012

Go watch the video of Darryl Waltrip being taken for a lap of Bathurst in a V8 supercar for some colorful commentary.

That said, I think it depends on the guy, there are lots of guys that need those notes, and can make use of them. Vic Elford worked on getting helmet headsets to help him and his co driver hear better, and also developed pace notes into a form that is still nearly used today, so I think it does matter to some.

I think its a good safe guard to have notes on the "sleeper" corners. Look at George Miedecke's rally crash in his father's old car, a pace note of losing grip from the drop off would of made a huge difference.

4re Nut · Sep 24, 2012

AustinMartin said: ↑

That last paragraph is pure gold.

Click to expand...

+1!

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