by Izzet Inak

Created on: December 17, 2009

In the first years of rallying, the only person in the car was the driver. Exploding tires, getting lost at the country side and hard to fix mechanical problems made the drivers find a solution. They started to take their friends (which are usually mechanics) with them in the car so he can assist the driver during the rally. As the rallying get more sophisticated, co-driver's role got more important. When we watch rallies, we see them reading the road notes but what we don’t know is they are the heart of a rally team.

Majority of the motorsports events in the world (except the illegal ones) are being held with the authorization of FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile). There are also national racing federations. Both of these have yearbooks which explain the rules and regulations that the teams need to follow. Like the other personnel in the team do, it is also co-drivers responsibility to study and remember them. Co-driver also let the team know if there are any changes, organize the rally weekend schedule and have a recon program. A mistake made by co-driver can lead the car or the team to be disqualified.

Who likes the paperwork? The co-drivers handle all the paperwork. They need to prepare a lot of forms and fill in applications. FIA is very strict and everything has to be accurate. If the team is not a professional team and there is a not personnel that is responsible for insurance or customs, the co-drivers do it.

The co-drivers always study their lessons for the next rally and also for the next year’s championship. The driver’s job is to drive the car as the co-driver makes the strategy. As he prepares the strategy and studies the rally/stages, he makes the final corrections with the driver. The driver must know what time he needs to arrive to the stage start or leave the service area. Co-driver also needs to follow weather forecast and national news as the weather or road conditions can change during the rally weekend.

When they receive the road book, they start studying it carefully and make necessary adjustments. Not all the road books are accurate. Sometimes the maps or the information are totally wrong so the co-drivers often use Google Earth or alternate maps. In some rallies, the co-drivers have the chance to recon the stage. This way, the pacenotes will be far more accurate. The driver and the co-driver start preparing pacenotes according to the stage/rally map. As the co-driver read the pacenotes to the driver during the rally, the driver knows what turn or obstacle is coming next. Each co-driver have different way of preparing the pace notes. But a generality of the co-drivers use the scheme of ‘’1 to 6’’ which 1 refers to straight and 6 is usually a 90 degree turn where the drivers use handbrake technique.

The co-drivers also work together with the mechanics of the team. The co-driver prepares the service schedule and the team works with that. During the stages, the co-driver also acts as a mechanic and tries to fix the car with the help of the driver if there is any problem. Not to mention, they need to be in shape in order not to bring extra weight to the car.

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