Introduction to Rallying

On a warm Saturday just into the start of summer, we achieved another of our goals for the year. Saturday the 7th of December 2013 marked the launch of our new rally navigator/co-driver course.

Our first willing participants were keen to start rallying in 2014 and felt they needed a good base to understand how a rally works before they lined up at the time control of their first rally and we were only to happy to help.

We covered the theory of navigating, how a rally worked and exactly what a navigator needs to do during an event. The participants asked many questions as we looked at everything from time controls and reading a road book through to the what if scenarios that are often encountered in a rally.

After lunch with the theory all covered we started part 2, the practical.
Driving around a rally stage at low speed We had simulated a rally at our venue with; time controls, SOS radio points, proper rally stages a road book and time cards.

The first few passes of the stages were completed in a normal road car at low speed. The idea was to get used to time controls, book in procedures and to learn how and when to call route instructions. With each pass, a different scenario was also included, such as another car booking in at the same time, passing another competitor with the OK sign out and stopping for an SOS sign on a stage.

Near the end of the course it was time bring out a full rally car and tackle the 7km stage at speed with an experienced rally driver behind the wheel. Now our participants got a feel for navigating in an actual rally at pace with a rally computer and road book to contend with.

At the end of the day our participants said they had enjoyed the course, learned a lot and they felt more confident with what to do on an event.

Whilst we have targeted our new course for co-drivers, the course is also of great benefit for drivers too. Indeed our first participants intend to both drive and navigate so they were able to swap seats during the practical and be able to read and listen to route instructions.

As a wider benefit, our new course can also be used to train rally officials such as controls, SOS, rally base and many more.

Designed for those with little or no rally experience, participants do not need a rally car, helmet or even a CAMS license (our course will help a lot with passing the online lecture for a rally license too).

You can find our online rally co-driver course, click here for more info.

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