What exacly does the co-driver do

I was watchin the Speed Channel (aka now officialy NASCAR dominated:mad: ) late at night and im the wee hours of the morning and I managed to watch some WRC. But when they show us thel like "in-car view" all I hear is the screeming of the engine and the co-driver spitting out phrases like "six right, left twenty seven...right eighteen" and I don't know what all that means!!! Someone please educate me.

Basically it's the co-driver that controls the driver. Before the rally co-drivers are driven through the stages (slowly) and they make notes. They write what kind of turns there are (hard, medium, easy, long, tightening, opening), the distance between the turns, obstacles (you can sometimes hear them say: "... easy long left don't cut" - meaning that there is something on the inside of the turn - a tree, some rocks, parked cars, etc). Basically they do this so that the driver knows what's ahead and dirves accordingly. In a recent interview Nicky Grist (Colin McRae's co-driver) said something to the effect that although the co-drivers' bank account is not nearly as big as the drivers', it's the former who actually control the speed of the car and the angle of the steering wheel. Hope this helped :) Ask more if you need to.

Alex

OMG that makes perfect sence. Im having like an epiphany. Thank you soooooooo much.:D

No problem ;)

I personally think they are crazy. i mean i trust in my ability, but for some reason, my co-driver puts all his faith in my driveing skills. I asked him the other day how he deals with it and he responded, "I just try to go limp" l:rolleyes:

I have always wanted to rally. There just aren't any roads long enough or secluded enough to do it here in Jax. The one you can do it on are only half a mile or a mile long. :mad:

I couldn't have explained it any better myself ;) . That also means that the driver is able to push very hard even in "low visibility" conditions like at night or under foggy conditions.

Explain better than who? ;)

Originally posted by ales
Explain better than who? ;)

then you my friend ;)

Well of course, buddy! :p

Depends who the co-driver is reading the pace notes for. For instance it seems the primary function of Colin McRae's, and Francois Delecour's co-drivers is in-car scapegoat! :hehe:

I once saw Freddy Loix explain on Belgian tv how his co-driver uses the distance meter (or whatever it is called in english) when there is a lot of fog. In his notes he has all the distances between the several turns and everytime Freddy takes a turn he sets the meter back to 0 so Freddy can almost drive 'blind'.
The incar footage was really spectacular. That showed perfectly how some of the co-drivers really 'coach' the drivers.