[derek]

There is another post that asks if notes are fair. Here I would like to get a better understanding of the mecanics of the notes. I have the option of buying notes at OT but I do not know if I will or not mainly as I do not understand how they work.

How are the notes made? Does a human drive the stage and make a guess at the speed I can drive a corrner? What about the skill differance between me and say Mark Higgens? I would guess the note maker is not trying the stage at full rally speed so the expericace of the note maker must be very important to be able to judge if there is a crest etc worth noting.

Does the navagator basicaly read the notes all the time and thus not realy use the milage but to check they are still on? Even on Blind rallies with millage some times it can be hard to tell if that was the sweep left in the book or is that it right ahead. My navagators have all gotten lost in the book at least once a rally.

So are notes in the format of

L6 > R3 100 R6 K do not cut

Do I understand that as very fast Left into medium right then about 100 meters to a very fast right with some sort of issue worth a caution on the inside?

Are juctions still called like 90 Right or Acute Left and the numbers only stand for turns over 90 deg?

Thanks for the help, I want to try them sometime it would be an intresting experiance that I would like to have but I do need to understnad them better and decide when the time is right to give it a go.

Derek Bottles

 

[Bruce]

First off, the notes are COURSE or STAGE notes, not PACE notes. This is an important distinction. Course notes describe the physical configuration of the stage road in great detail...pace notes would tell you how fast you can go at a particular spot.

The course notes are to be made using a machine that includes an acelerometer...thus the speed that the notes-making car travels - while relevant - does not have to approach rally speed. The operator will add cautions and other basic things from the route book.

My understanding is that they will be supplied in both numeric and decriptive format with a glossary, and a chunk of road will be provided with its own notes so you can see how they work before the competition starts.

How the information comes from the right-hand seat, I'll leave to others more experienced...I can't even stay on the right stage in a route book.

You still have to drive the road you see.

Bruce

 

[jaimedp]

I'll try to answare, in my experience, your question. I'm a rallyst from Mexico and we have been using notes since they were used in europe. We have totally free recce in the national championship (any number of passages), so here it goes.

First I totally agree with Bruce on the semantics, they are COURSE or STAGE notes and not PACE notes although everybody still calls them pace notes. To make the notes, a human driver and codriver go through the stages and the driver basically calls everything, here the experience of the driver is a big difference, but the main thing is to describe the physical aspects of the corner/hazard and not how fast will you go during the rally.

The codriver calls the notes all the time without using the trip, some people add the milage at the begining of the line in case they get lost. Once you get used to the notes is harder to get lost because you are couting all the corners.

I don't know the system that is used by the organazers for the notes, but be sure to understand all the symbols and meanings of everything. There are a lot of different systems but I think the basic structure of the two most used systems (in english) are:

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 where 6 is very fast, and 1 is very thight

and

Flat, Fast, K, Medium, Squere, tight, hairpin (or some sort of description like this)

Juntions are usually called as "turn ... left" so a 90 deg junction would be something like "turn 90 left" or "turn 3 left" or "turn squere left".

Hope this helps and in any case I would say give them a try! notes makes you drive safer and faster.

Jaime

 

[JGZ3869]

Out of my personal experience, I came across 5 or 6 different forms of notes. Three most popular are: one based on which gear you are getting into the corner, 5/6 being fastest and 1 being slowest, tight corner. Another one is based on angle of the corner, in relation with analog clock, where one o'clock is fastest corner, three will be 90 degrees, and six, tight slowest corner. Third is based on key words: slow, fast, tight, cut or don't cut, square etc. Other systems are mix of those with some personal touch and modyfications, it's wryly up to you as long as you understand the message from the right side. Some drivers like tons of info coming, and some like absolute the safest minimum. Again, whotever works for you. Now, your co driver needs to write them down, using letters, numbers, icons, and drawings if necessary to code the message. Rest is only a practice. I started with key words system went to angular, and ended up mixing and combining them both. It is true, that notes make you drive faster and safer, but notes make rally more expensive to. You need to drive all stages at list twice, to write them down. Extra day or two, plus extra mileage = extra $$, but again, if you only new, of that rock in a ditch, where you cut that corner.....

just my $0.02

 

[Flyboy]

Off Subject a bit, but Franko makes a good point. One of the sticking points of adding notes to the championship is the extra time and cost involved. But if we factor in that the result of those notes may be safer running with less damage, does it really cost more to run notes in the end?? At CT '01 we nailed a hidden rock on stage 3 that sent my Eclipse down a mountainside. Did $3k worth a damage, plus we spent all the money going there, entry fee, hotels, etc... and only got run a few miles. If I had done the recce, I probably would have not hit the rock, but I "couldn't afford" the recce. Hmm, for 3 grand I could have missed a few extra days work and bought lots of hotel rooms and beer.

OF course,if we are all worried about car damage, we could all just run blind rallies at 7/10. But doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose?

Just something to think about.

Dennis Martin
[email protected]
920-432-4845