Apart from turning rally navigators into jabber-jockeys, what do “pace notes” actually say...and how much faster do they enable drivers to go? Cal.
A lot faster. And a lot safer. They tell the driver, second by second, precisely “what is next” on the road at precisely the right moment.
The driver is busy enough with eyes, hands, feet, pedals, steering, gears, instruments, levers, buttons, ensuring the car delivers every atom of performance it can and keeping it the right way up in roughly the right direction.
Without pace notes he would have to see-then assess-then decide - how soon must I slow or how late can I brake – on every one of those actions, and often “back-off” to be sure...or possibly do damage.
If this aid helps the driver save even half-a-second per hazard, on a stage with 120 hazards he will be a whole minute faster. With pace notes, he has been told all he needs to know, just in time to take the required action.
The instruction is so accurate and meaningful that he can maintain speed even in thick dust or fog or torrential rain that severely reduce his vision.
At rally speeds things happen in a rapid and non-stop cascade, so the “language” of pace notes has to be quick and exact and meaningful, both when writing the notes in advance and reading them on the day. They need a kind of shorthand, and short-speak, and very clear-speak.
For brevity, they do not so much “describe” what is coming (the driver’s eyes will fill in any gaps); they focus on letting the driver know what he will have to do.
Every likely hazard has a one-word name, and there are grades of severity in every instance. So, corners, rocks, jumps, ditches, holes, turn-offs, rivers, floods, mudholes etc are rated as (here are the nine grades Shekhar Mehta used) Absolute, Max, Easy, Fast, Medium, Slow, Minus, Hairpin, or Stop.
These grades can be emphasised with prefixes of Caution (it’s trickier than it looks) Double Caution (ignoring this could cause damage) or Triple Caution (the consequences could be deadly).
After each hazard, the distance to the next is given in meters (e.g. Fast Right 100). If the “interval” distance is less than 50 metres the word “And” will be used. If no distance is spoken, the next hazard will be separate but immediate.
If two hazards are connected both will be read out at the same time (Fast Right “Into” Medium Left 50...because the driver will want to approach the first part differently because of the next, to establish the best combined “racing line”.
If two hazards are simultaneous the conjunction is “Over” or “Is”. Right Minus Over Double Caution Rocks, perhaps with a helpful “Keep Centre”, “Keep In” or “Keep Out” added. Or Turn Right Minus Off-This-Road “Is” Caution Medium Ditch. The word Turn confirms that this “corner” is also a “junction”.
So, on a stretch of a couple of kilometres the jabber jockey might say “Absolute Right Over Brow 100, Fast Left And... Tightens And... Opens 50, Fast Right And... Fast Left And... Long Medium Right Tightens Into Slow Ditch 200, Max Yump 50, Keep Left Over Mudhole Into Right Minus Over Rocks And... Hairpin Right Into Steep Up Is Caution Big Drop On Right (a cliff) ...and so on.
That’s all quite a mouthful (and earful) even on a modern special stage that only lasts a quarter of an hour. But in reality, the process is quick to learn and with practice and crew rapport (and intense concentration) becomes as smooth and precise as two people dancing in a ballroom.
In the first 20 years of the Safari pace notes were unheard of (legend says they were invented by Stirling Moss for the Monte Carlo, with such dramatic effect that he won the event and did not immediately share the idea), in the 70s they were rare, but by the 80s they were necessary.
Drivers dictated them to their navigators on recce. And as the route was 5,000 kms long, the shorthand notes written in a bumpy seat filled several fat books.
And, of course, they sometimes make mistakes, for which the short-hand phrases “On Sight” (aka I have lost my place) and “Back On” (the next instruction will be correct) have been developed.
When Ian Duncan finished ninth in the 1983 Safari in a locally assembled
Datsun Debe pick-up (against works team Audi Quattros, Opel Asconas etc) he had neither the time nor the budget to do a full recce, and used photocopied pace notes kindly provided by Shekhar Mehta (Nissan 260Z).
They were extraordinarily effective but nearly killed us twice (I was the jabber jockey, without a helmet or a microphone). Once at an instruction called “Max Yump 300”, which launched the car into the air.
Shekhar’s car did that at 180 kph and flew about 30 metres before landing. Our Debe managed about 140 kph and flew about 20 metres...into a heap of boulders which Shekhar would not have noticed while he was airborne. We exploded two tyres.
The other was in the Sisal Estates at the bottom of the Taitas, where one stretch was sooo straight and samey there was only one note in 15 kms, to help the crew orientate when approaching a T junction Turn Right. The clue was “Overhead Power Cables” 200.
Shekhar completed that section in daylight. At No 29 we did it in the pitch dark, and while looking for overhead cables we went straight on at the T junction at 140 kph, more than hundred metres (and two major spins) into a maize field.
Duncan, as always, was matter of fact. He said: “Which Way Now?” I had no idea and suggested: “Find and back-track the flattened maize”.
