Crazy Ken Block Rally sesh!

[SL3VIN]

Watch video footage of Subaru Rally Team USA driver Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino setting the record stage time for Concord Pond at the 2009 New England Forest Rally in their Vermont SportsCar prepared Impreza WRX STI rally car for the Rally America National Championship series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTFcyeZMEds&feature=popt02us12

[blackaccord]

i can never understand what the co-driver is saying
and makes me wonder if the driver actually listens to him
but then i guess u have to with all those blind turns

[Garu]

i can never understand what the co-driver is saying
and makes me wonder if the driver actually listens to him
but then i guess u have to with all those blind turns

I was wondering about the same thing. :chuckle

[royroy]

lol me too =) i just hear a bunch of numbers... i will b very annoyed if someone was talking like that to me while driving.. hahaa

[SL3VIN]

lol me too =) i just hear a bunch of numbers... i will b very annoyed if someone was talking like that to me while driving.. hahaa

not completely sure but i think the numbers b4 each turn ie 5 right, means how hard the turn is by angle. 1 being a slight bend and 6 being a hairpin, then crest or jump means exactly that. Either a big hump or small crest in the road and the numbers like 100, 200 to crest usually means the distance to that jump or turn in meters or yards, and fianlly the co driver might give time intervals (that row of numbers in front of him) and let him know of any ground changes ie gravel to tarmac also he might notify him of any land structures in the course ie bridges.... lol got Dirt2 to thank for this knowledge

[marvin24k]

Cool video, crazy skill. Amazing how some ppl are inches from the car as it flies by.

[optiklenz13]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTDNLUzjkpg&feature=sub:headbang

[gabbygenier]

this is awesome

but then again, what do you need tracks for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av0VsTxJd78&feature=player_embedded

[rallyboy]

Rally pace notes 101:

Each corner is described by a number, direction, notes (if any):
eg: 5 right tightens= wide corner (usually 1 to 5 related to which gear you take it in), right or left and if necessary other info such as tightens = decreasing radius; opens= increasing radius, don't cut = a ditch or rock or other hazard on the inside of the corner etc.
Then comes a number for the distance (usually in meters) to the next corner.

The instruction the co-driver gives is not for the corner they are in, but the next or two ahead so the driver knows how to set up the car from the one he is in. Usually pace notes are given by the driver to the co-driver on a slow speed "recee" (reconaissance) of the stage beforehand.

So what you get is something like "5 left tightens 100 into 4 right, don't cut, 20, small crest, 75, 2 left into 4 right, opens, keep in...."

Sometimes in the WRC you will hear a driver give a pace note correction to the co-driver while in a stage, as he wants it changed for the next pass/ next time through, whcih is incredible that they can do that while driving and processing the notes they are hearing!

[Cardinal Fang]

Sometimes in the WRC you will hear a driver give a pace note correction to the co-driver while in a stage, as he wants it changed for the next pass/ next time through, whcih is incredible that they can do that while driving and processing the notes they are hearing!

Yeah that's truly amazing. When I watch the WRC on SPEED I'm floored by the quickness these guys have to make the changes on the fly.