If you have seen anything about a rally event you have probably heard the topic of notes fly around, often times with "stage", "pace", "recce" and sometimes "jemba". But if you dont know what it all means, this is your brief guide to that book you see the co-driver flipping through and the whole reason for the project on this site. Im going to break the topic into a few posts with this first one about the basics that will be similar within all notes. Later on I will discuss the different types of notes and lastly how my notes project will compare to the others.

So with this first post I wanted to give any readers who are unfamiliar with rally notes the chance to understand them better. I'll be going over the basics that you will see in notes and how to read them.

Corners

Corners are an important part of notes as they are the most frequent occurance on a rally stage and often times a corner read incorrectly can result in the car going off the road. Corners are typically divided into a 1 - 6 category based on its degree, with 1 being a very sharp turn and 6 being a very fast curve. Along with the number you will see "+" and "-" symbols at times. These marks help fill in the gaps between numbers much like a B+ is a better grade than a B. On the chart below you can see the areas not labeled with a number, as those would have a "+" or "-" associated with them. You'll also see "lg", "Vlg" and "Xlg" which stand for "long", "very long" and "extra long" for turns that go beyond a standard curve. 

 This chart is not a standard used by all, but it gives a good representation of what to expect. Many teams use their car's gearbox as a turn indicator. An "R5" would mean a right turn in 5th gear for that situation.

 Often times corners will be one after another and in a variety of different mixes. There are a few ways to call these situations out. Clicking on the chart below you can see some of the situations that will arise and how they are called out in the notes.

 Crests

Think about driving over a crest, unable to see the road dipping ahead of you and having that feeling of apprehension of what could be on the other side. Now think about that situation while driving a rally car quickly through a forest. Crests can make any straight or corner much more difficult but with a solid set of notes a driver can know exactly how to navigate that difficult situation. Crests come in a number of shapes and sizes and can often be paired with curves and other elements.

If you see the note "R5/lgCr stay L" you would read it at "Right 5 over large crest, stay left". That actually paints a pretty clear picture of what is going on. Its a pretty fast curve over a large hill with an element in the road that requires you to stay on the outside of the turn. What that element is you wont know until you pass it. Sharp rocks jutting from the ground, deep ruts or exposed tree roots are all possibilites. Either way, you'll know not to take the fast inside line of the turn and be safe.

Other Elements

Of course there are so many other elements that can affect a rally stage and those need to be addressed to help provide the driver with a better idea of what is going on.  Below is a list of some of those hazards. Many of these are common and will come up often in an event.

Jumps

Jumps are common in an event and while it might seem like a pretty easy thing to master, there is a lot to the dynamics of attacking a jump. Speed, line and throttle will all change the outcome of how the car acts over a jump. You will often find other notes such as "stay R" together with "jump".

Interview with Dave Shindle

Dave Shindle has been a co-driver in North American since 1999 and has experienced a number of events. He provided me some great information about rally notes and filled in a number of gaps in my own knowledge. Many of the examples of notes I will be posting in future discussions will have come from him. I also asked him a few questions regarding notes and these are his answers...

What was your first event as a co-driver and how did you do? What were your best and worst rally moments so far?

My first event codriving was Black River Stages in 1999 with Nui Srisook in a Mazda RX7. We ended up in a ditch with suspension damage.

My best event would be winning the 2008 Black Bear rally with Crazy Leo.

And the worst event would be crashing at the 2000 Rally of the Voyaguers in northern Canada and driving home to Washington DC with broken ribs.

What kind of stage notes do you prefer? Jemba, self prepared or some other? What are the pros & cons of each type?

Jemba notes are nice because we know what we are getting and can run the event without a recce saving us time and money. Creating our own pacenotes are nice for better teamwork, a greater role for the codriver and going faster and safer.

Can you remember an experience where notes either won or ended an event for you?)

Our pace notes at 2008 Black Bear Rally won it for us but they have never ended or lost an event for me.

When there is a problem with notes, is it more often due to a misread or because the notes were marked incorrectly before hand?

Marked incorrectly before hand

With the internet and programs like google earth, have you heard of such programs being used as a way to learn the basics of a stage before an event starts (such as looking over aerial imagery of the road)? Could such a thing help at all or is reconnaissance the best way to prepare?

Those programs and maps don't help when we have notes. They did when we ran 'blind' tulip rallies.

If a stage is run yearly & the route never modified, how much do notes change regarding the stage? What would be the focus of preparing notes for a well known stage?

It depends. The most variable aspect is road surfaces (slippy, loose, icy, ruts,.. ).  Next would be road improvements (straightening or widening) if any. Snow rallies corner grading can depend on the line the snowplow driver takes.

On a well known stage, we may replace a group of linked instructions simply as a agreed instruction. Notes that would have read 'Crest into R3> tarmac 50L2<' could be called as 'Castledine's Corner' which the driver knows precisely by name.

I'd like to thank Dave for his help with rally notes and answering questions. If you'd like to see more of what Dave has done, along with pictures you can visit his site here. And if you have more questions about notes please leave a comment and if I dont have a definative answer I can forward it on to Dave.

So that pretty much covers the basics of rally notes. Lastly I wanted to leave you with a nice video that can sum up the importance of this topic. Dani Sordo at the 2006 Rally Finland showing how a wrong judgement in speed for a jump can end badly. How do you think the notes for that section would have read?

 http://www.youtube.com/v/LuDGriH_mvk